The Photography Thread (cds, albums, member, quote, 2007)

[Zaqarbal]

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

I like how you combine your artistic eye and artistic hand(s) to photograph them, Zaqarbal.



I especially like your use of the in-focus/out-of-focus metal fence as the backdrop for magpie #1, because both the fence and bird have contrasting black and white. I notice, too, that the smudges of blue in the gray road pick up the shimmery blue of some of the bird's darker feathers.

Thank you. Once again, one of your detailed photographic analysis.

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

I also like the moment you captured, because you can really see from the photo that this particular bird is looking somewhere and paying careful attention to something that interests her or him, just like you were paying attention to the bird.

One day, I noticed that every time I took a photo, magpies moved their heads and looked at the camera, as if they were curious about the shutter's noise. Next day I went to the same park. When I was sitting on a bench, getting the camera ready, I saw how, for some seconds, a magpie stood still and looked at me. Perhaps he/she remembered the camera. Or maybe "that human with that black thing in his hands making that strange noise".

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

Neat birds.

Yep. In fact, two months ago I took the following picture, where we can see their aristocratic bearing:

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Apart from that, yesterday I photographed a (male) blackbird:

There are several blackbirds where I live, and sometimes I hear them singing (like this) early in the morning.

Originally Posted by CanwllCorfe

iPhone pics:

(Ode to Hiroshi Sugimoto)

(...)

Excellent! I think Sugimoto would like them.

[VEGANGELICA]

Originally Posted by CanwllCorfe

iPhone pics:

(Ode to Hiroshi Sugimoto)

Corfe, your sea-blends-with-foggy-sky photo *does* look like Sugimoto's "Sea of Japan." Both are very nice. My favorite photo of yours, though, is the beach scene above.

The sand and the piles of twigs that have washed ashore, being in focus, remind me of how so many physical, sensory details are close to you when at the beach, inviting inspection, while the amazing expanse of water stretches to unseen distances. Your photo captures that contrast well.

Originally Posted by Zaqarbal

Thank you. Once again, one of your detailed photographic analysis.

One day, I noticed that every time I took a photo, magpies moved their heads and looked at the camera, as if they were curious about the shutter's noise. Next day I went to the same park. When I was sitting on a bench, getting the camera ready, I saw how, for some seconds, a magpie stood still and looked at me. Perhaps he/she remembered the camera. Or maybe "that human with that black thing in his hands making that strange noise".

Yep. In fact, two months ago I took the following picture, where we can see their aristocratic bearing:

<---->

When you're a magpie, you always step out in style! I like this magpie photo of yours best of all, Zaqarbal. The magpie definitely has a jaunty, self-assured presence.

Originally Posted by Zaqarbal

Apart from that, yesterday I photographed a (male) blackbird:

There are several blackbirds where I live, and sometimes I hear them singing (like this) early in the morning.

I didn't realize that blackbirds' eyelids create rings of gold that match their beaks!

Their birdsong is very relaxing, sometimes sounding like a question and at other times like an answer. A lovely sound to hear in the morning.

A couple days ago I was looking at a record I used to enjoy playing as a preschooler, when I read the lyrics for one of the songs...and they immediately made me think of you and your blackbirds:

The Ash Grove - lyrics for a Welsh folk song

"Down yonder green valleys where streamlets meander,
when twilight is fading I pensively rove,
or at the bright noontide in solitude wander
amid the dark shades of the lonely ash grove.
'Tis there where the blackbird is cheerfully singing,
each warbler enchants with his notes from the tree;
ah, then little think I of sorrow or sadness.
The ash grove entrancing spells beauty for me."

And below is the tune. I have felt as if I've always known it but never realized why until two days ago when I saw the song on one of my favorite records from childhood..."Walt Disney presents It's a Small World: 18 Favorite Folk Songs."

The Ash Grove - tune


The Ashgrove - YouTube


About bird song: I wanted to think of a distinctive bird song that I could give to you in return for the blackbirds. Finally I remembered that I hear great horned owls hooting in the evening sometimes. I love the sound of their distant hooo-hooo-hoo-hooooos:


Great horned owl hooting - YouTube

I don't have a picture of a great horned owl , but I *do* have a photo that I took several years ago looking southwest from my backyard toward the forested area where the owls live near a stream and mouse-filled meadow:

[Zaqarbal]

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

A couple days ago I was looking at a record I used to enjoy playing as a preschooler, when I read the lyrics for one of the songs...and they immediately made me think of you and your blackbirds:

The Ash Grove - lyrics for a Welsh folk song

"Down yonder green valleys where streamlets meander,
when twilight is fading I pensively rove,
or at the bright noontide in solitude wander
amid the dark shades of the lonely ash grove.
'Tis there where the blackbird is cheerfully singing,
each warbler enchants with his notes from the tree;
ah, then little think I of sorrow or sadness.
The ash grove entrancing spells beauty for me."

And below is the tune. I have felt as if I've always known it but never realized why until two days ago when I saw the song on one of my favorite records from childhood..."Walt Disney presents It's a Small World: 18 Favorite Folk Songs."

The Ash Grove - tune


The Ashgrove - YouTube


About bird song: I wanted to think of a distinctive bird song that I could give to you in return for the blackbirds. Finally I remembered that I hear great horned owls hooting in the evening sometimes. I love the sound of their distant hooo-hooo-hoo-hooooos:


Great horned owl hooting - YouTube

I don't have a picture of a great horned owl , but I *do* have a photo that I took several years ago looking southwest from my backyard toward the forested area where the owls live near a stream and mouse-filled meadow:

Thank you, Erika. Beautiful music, beautiful bird-song and beautiful picture!

Guess what? I'm getting more and more interested in birds. For the past months I've been photographing a lot of them. I've taken many pictures of several species. OMG, will I become a birder? And to think that all this started when I was just trying a zoom lens....

These beauties are Iberian Woodpeckers (a subespecies of the European Green Woodpecker). Male (left) and female (right):

Green Woodpeckers are very skittish. But one day I stealthily got as close as I could to a female. I hid behind a tree and took this pic:

This is how Green Woodpeckers sing (which is NOT how Woody Woodpecker laughs, BTW ):

[Zaqarbal]

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

I didn't realize that blackbirds' eyelids create rings of gold that match their beaks!

Closer:

Lunchtime:

I've even recorded a vid. Bath time!:

This is a female (dark-brown plumage):