Calling a Distant Animal

Calling a Distant Animal, originally uploaded by poketypatch ~ Still Pond Photography.

Here it is once again this one note
from a string of longing

tightened suddenly from both ends
and held for plucking

tone torn out of one birdsong
though that bird

by now may be
where a call cannot

follow it
the same note goes on calling

across space and is heard now
in the old night and known there

a silence recognized
by the silence it calls to

~W.S. Merwin

The photograph above was taken during an outing I made alone to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland.  Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, located 12 miles south of Cambridge, Maryland, was established in 1933 as a refuge for migratory waterfowl. The refuge includes more than 27,000 acres, composed mainly of rich tidal marsh characterized by fluctuating water levels and variable salinity. Other habitat types include freshwater ponds, mixed evergreen and deciduous forests, and small amounts of cropland and managed impoundments that are seasonally flooded for waterfowl use. The Refuge has walking and driving trails.  I was lucky enough to capture this blue heron, as well as some ospreys.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Birdhouse - Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge - Still Pond Photography

Marsh - Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge - Still Pond Photography

The photos have been sitting on my hard drive for several months.  I don't have a telephoto lens and this makes getting good photos of wildlife very difficult.  I used my 55-250mm lens for these photos; however, it still doesn't capture the details very well.  For the blue heron at the top, I played around with layers in photoshop adding a little motion blur at the edges and throwing on a couple of textures.  I feel that it gives the photo a painterly effect - which makes it a more "artsy" type of photo rather than a good wildlife shot.  

Osprey feeding baby - Still Pond Photography

I have been reading The Shadow of Sirius by the Library of Congress's seventeenth Poet Laureate, W. S. Merwin.  It is a wonderful collection of a multitude of poems which explore the mysteries of light, darkness, temporality and eternity.  The words are so meaningful and thought provoking. I enjoy thinking about the

words when paired with my photography.  I have always been a "challenged" writer, so to have these remarkable words coupled with image is another form of interpretation.