You're taking a pictures of ...?

"By these labels we recognize everything,

and no longer see anything."

- Frederick Frank

Why yes, yes I did!

I went to the sunrise yesterday toting my camera and my 50mm lens, and well besides loving the sun rise, this weeks lesson with the nifty fifty is landscapes. It was somewhat of a challenge as having a crop sensor it's more like a 75mm, and I'm used to being able to zoom and or get a wide angle shot.

After the magic sunrise moment was over I headed over to the boardwalk for a coffee and a little stroll and as usual I garnered a few followers. I thought it was just because they like me, but apparently they have darn good memories (aka, nice lady that has kibbles in her pocket), and I'll get to that later too, the memory part not the kibbles. See #1 of random facts below

I had stopped to watch the pelicans in the harbor when I noticed one of my feathered friends drinking from a little puddle of water. I got down on my knees to get a low shot when around the corner I hear footsteps and a grumpy woman's voice say, "You're . . . (pause) . . . taking pictures of a . . . (pause) . . . pigeon?"

Now besides her feeling the need to ask me (although I'm not sure it was really a question), it really was about how she said it.

  

I replied back, "It's all about perspective, about how you choose to see things," to which she replied, "oooooh . . . . oh....kay," in a sarcastic tone as she walked away.

We've all heard that saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Salma Hayek says, "that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look..." It certainly doesn't hurt my feelings that someone doesn't like pigeons or anything else that I like. You don't have to like the what, but it reaches a different level when you question my why because I see with my heart first and then my camera.

Labels are barriers and to really "see" anything or anyone at their true core we have to take care not to use them, if not for the shear fact that by labeling others we label ourselves.

Here are some random reasons to like pigeons: (aka the Rock Pigeon descended from the Rock Dove)

1. French scientists did research that suggested that not only do pigeons recognize people, but that they will avoid those who have in the past been hostile. (article) See #5 - good reason to never piss off a pigeon, and well they do live for almost 30 years.

2. Pigeon guano was considered a very valuable resource in the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe and used for gunpowder.

3. He is a war hero . . .and messenger. In WWI and WWII the pigeon was able to save hundreds of thousands of lives by carrying messages over enemy lines. And the earliest communication network used them around 5th century BC in Syria and Persia and was used in Roman times to carry the results of sporting events, which is why we today we release white doves at our Olympic Games.

4. They have an incredible knack for being able to 'return home' even when released 100's of miles away. Some theories say they use the earth's magnetic field.

5. They're lifesavers, one of the most intelligent of all bird species and the Navy has found a unique use for pigeons . . . since they can see color in the same way we do they have been trained to identify red or yellow life jackets when floating in the water to save us humans and they've had a high success rate. Don't forget #1

One of these days there will be some clouds again. I noticed the last couple all seem to look the same even though they are slightly different. I was trying with slow shutter speed to really slow down and blur the water again, but I got there and got set up about 15 minutes or less before the sun rose and it was getting too light. And since I got there with not much time to spare I had to pick a spot...hard to do when you know you won't be able to zoom.

Just trying a different composition here and playing with different depths of field. Now if I can get out to find another landscape besides the sunrise.

I hope you all have a really great weekend - we are under a winter storm watch here that could turn to a warning tonight as some areas may get 1/8" of ice...now that could be interesting...in a town that is not prepared for that sort of thing. All I know, is I want a snowflake photo so bad!!

Love, Kim

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