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May 11, 2022
While I shared last week about my time photographing the Aurora in Iceland, I wanted to take the time today to share about another remarkable experience close to home. A story about how I came to capture these portrait-like images of a great blue heron, so close-up and detailed in the evening light.
I was exploring a park in Massachusetts, USA, on a walk with my mom, when I saw this beautiful bird standing stock still at the edge of a pond. Ducks and other birds moved around it, minding their own business and going about their evening routine, but the heron paid them no mind. They were none of its concern. There was a mission at hand. I could see why traditionally, herons are said to represent focus, that when a heron crosses your path, it is there to bring you a message of increased focus at that time in your life.
Picking up my camera, I focused the lens (pun intended ) and composed the image to see the heron as it stood balanced on its perch beside the water, looking over the happenings of its watery homeland. Crouching down to wait patiently, I kept the heron in frame as it changed its position multiple times and looked across the pond. As I saw a moment later, it had been considering a new vantage, which it quickly took off to find.
Soaring across to the other side of the pond, it took its time slowly entering the water like a person wading into a pool, and found itself a peaceful perch in the shallows. I walked slowly and carefully around the edge of the pond and kept my camera trained on the bird as it centered itself to wait and watch the waters. It adjusted its position and tilted its head is it sought its meal, a fish from among the murky depths. I marveled at the heron's ability to fish in the fading light, in the murky water, but these obstacles were no more of a hindrance to it than the ducks who paddled about. I stood as still as the heron, we like two pillars in the setting sun, only about 6 feet apart. My mom stood back a few feet further from me and watched peacefully, as the bird craned its neck to look around. It paid me no mind.
As I do with all wildlife I photograph, I calmed myself and stayed as still as possible, only angling my body or crouching slightly to compose the image. While I do so, I exude the intent that I only wish to “make them famous”, to “share their beauty with others”. This perspective and mindset while photographing animals is another thing I have to thank my mom for, as she is a spiritual teacher and meditation teacher and has inspired me to walk the path of this type of work that I do.
In a way, when photographing, I work to pull myself back, to pull my presence back from notice and disappear into the scenery around me, just as I keep my name off of my photography and allow the beauty of nature to shine through as the focus. But while I do, I reach out with that intention, that if the animal would represent their beauty, I will share how amazing they are with others. I also do this with flowers, plants, the Aurora and other subjects, which helps me to get into the mindset of expressing that subject’s beauty without any part of me getting in the way psychologically. Composing a good image is like looking through a window - the window must be clear, and in that case, the window is me and my work through my camera. And that evening, as well as on a few other occasions, I feel like the message was received. For the heron put on a beautiful show for us all that night.
The great blue heron spread its wings and showed its fantastic size and detail of its feathers while adjusting its balance among the rippling waters. This moment felt so special to me, to be able to capture its incredible beauty from so close and to feel as if, quite possibly, it danced in such a way to share its beauty with you all. After maintaining its wings-spread dance for a few seconds - just long enough for me to get the photo - it settled back into a peaceful position to watch the setting sun and keep an eye on the waters for fish in the fading light.
Walking calmly away, I returned to my home, with a memory card full of amazing photos to share with you all. Thank you, beautiful heron, for sharing your beauty with us all that night. I hope its beauty graces your walls and your lives for many years to come. It has in my home.
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