Wood Pigeons

Every day this winter I saw flights of wood pigeons around the house. Every morning thousands of them flew before the rising sun, to disappear in the rising fog. Sometimes they circled above the treetops, to fly away again, sometimes they came down to eat grass, the meadow become a lively grey movement. After feeding they flew away all at the same time, to land in the trees, every one finding a place amongst the other pigeons.

The birds were shy so it was difficult to approach them without using a hide. The picture here below it taken from inside, bhind the bay windows, with a 90 mm macro lens. You can use that also for photographing further away. The trees behind the bird are reflections in the window, Les arbres derrière les oiseaux sont des réflections dans le vitre, accidental but it gives depth and relief to the image. In fog, contrasts change or even disappear, so you have to frame your image really careful.

 

 

I choose black and white for the image to accentuate the graphism and to do justice to the intimate atmosphere.

Putting it on paper ‘makes’ the image, only when you print it the image is complete. On screen, it is not the same. I made two prints. For the first , small-sized (18 x 18 cm) one I chose a very thin, nearly transparent, natural white Japanese paper. A very ‘soft’ print and even the finest details are visible. The other print, larger, is on a japanese paper with long luminous silky fibers. The branches mingle with those undulating fibres, and together with the fluttering birds they give a sense of movement.