Through the years, I’ve obtained some criticism on my images, and I believe that’s factor. I’ve appreciated all of it, as a result of on the entire it has made me a greater photographer. In spite of everything, I’ve so many blind spots the place I simply don’t see issues. However there’s one attention-grabbing piece of criticism that I’ve gotten many instances, which was additionally a part of a remark in one in all my current articles: Jason, your birds aren’t doing something attention-grabbing! What do I take into consideration that?
Exhibiting Hen Behaviour
In lots of articles on Images Life, we’ve written about how incorporating conduct and even humor in wildlife images is an efficient factor. It provides curiosity to a photograph and makes it extra engaging and entertaining. Libor wrote one thing very good about that not too long ago.
I completely agree with that! Animal behaviour may be very attention-grabbing and I really like watching it myself. When animals due “cute” issues it’s additionally touching and makes for particularly engaging pictures.
Truly, this jogs my memory of a dialogue the Images Life group not too long ago did for our first on-line workshop, and one of many themes that got here up was the distinction between portrait (of individuals) images and wildlife. Specifically, we’re so attuned to individuals’s facial expressions and eyes that even unusual portraits have plenty of expressive energy. In the meantime, with wildlife, there’s typically extra emphasis on their motion – we don’t naturally have the identical capability to grasp refined adjustments of their expressions and physique language.
And naturally, chicken images specifically can have plenty of motion, particularly with flight, which has a particular attract and symbolism in our tradition. Nonetheless, in plenty of my pictures, my birds aren’t “doing something,” and I’ve obtained some criticism about it.
However the fact is, for me, a chicken sitting on a department is already doing one thing attention-grabbing. Birds are normally shifting round and doing issues, so once they take time to sit down and perch in an open and considerably susceptible place near me, it’s really fairly distinctive. And when a chicken is clearly comfy and near me, it’s a uncommon second. For me, it represents one of many pinnacles of birding. That’s why I worth such pictures, and I particularly benefit from the nonetheless and extra peaceable perched pictures of others, too.
I additionally want to not current birds in particularly flashy methods. That’s to not say that I don’t get pleasure from flashy images of birds from others, as a result of I do, and I love photographers who make them. However a extra flashy or instantly entertaining type of images simply doesn’t characterize my persona. I believe the web lately has created a tradition the place visible novelty is valued. It attracts speedy consideration, nevertheless it simply doesn’t really feel proper to me, and I’m not a lot fascinated by turning into a well-known photographer.
I additionally understand that there’s one other conundrum. Behavioral photographs – resembling mother and father feeding child birds or flight photographs – are way more interesting to the standard viewer, and I don’t deny that such photographs are enjoyable and engaging. Once more, I like such photographs myself and I’ve nothing towards them.
However for private causes, I additionally resist focusing an excessive amount of on one of these photograph. Such photographs for me characterize the phenomenon that nature is one thing “distant” from ourselves (and made extra distant with every passing day). Typically the extra behavioral pictures push an animal into the summary realm of being extra about leisure than simply being.
Truly, plenty of the time, when birds begin doing the usually “attention-grabbing” issues, I typically put down my digital camera and like to look at them with my eyes.
Closing Remarks
I don’t imply to say that I by no means shoot motion or chicken conduct. I like to take action when the second is true, however my persona is solely extra according to a delicate type of nonetheless birds.
Though motion and conduct photographs characterize the battle and the hidden lives of birds, and I definitely encourage others to seize such issues, nonetheless portraits characterize and spotlight the perfect half about these stunning animals to me: that they merely exist. In different phrases, for me, birds don’t should do something, as a result of their simply being there’s already sufficient.