Saturday Evening Post, Vol II, #01: The Return

Posted in Saturday Evening Post

Long time readers will no doubt be having “Dejavu Feelings” or as Yogi Beera once said, “”It’s like déjà vu all over again.”“

As 2024 rolls around, I’ve taken on a new writing mentor. One of their first challenges was: To write something new everday. Or photograph something new every day. As a long time collector of little snippets of quotes and snippets from a range of souces, i guess I felt the time was right to settle to a schedule of both journalling, to see where that might take me, and to have a goal of a new page here on the blog.
One of the things Saturday Evening Post was helpful to me over the covid years was an outlet for the difficulty of being locked out of travelling to our normal birding sites. Perhaps it was a bit cathartic, and I do apologise toward the end of the series as all the ‘stream of conciousness’ stuff started to dominate.

So my intention this time round is to stay to the job in hand. An image that has been recently shot, and perhaps a little about the moment.
I was asked, the other day, by a health care professional, about a response I’d made to a question, “How did you get involved in photography?” 
What concerned me in my response, was that the question seemed to seperate a number of related things. My life’s work, my current body of work, my desire to be out in the field, to document and journal the lives of various birds we encounter, the reason I’d rather take a photograph than make watercolours. And a myriad of other things. Seemed that the question was about pigeon-holing the photography, when to be honest it is the raison d’etre.

My next comment was to have them go to the web, enter Birdaspoetry, and when they saw what a body of work contained, then the reason for the question faded away. All my creative life is about words and pictures. (We used to publish a series of articles for a number of magazines under that by-line in another galaxy far, far away.)
More discussion is only commentary.

EE and I made a run to the Western Treatment Plant on Friday evening. It was going to be cloudless and the tide was a low, low tide. (Is there a technical term for that? … edit> Called Spring Tides, from the concept of the tide “springing forth.” ain’t Google wonderful!)

The mudflats would extend out in some places 200-300m and we might get some shorebird activity. But of course the real reason was—that late in the evening, golden, raking, light spilling over the subjects, for great colour and impressive shadows to build a feeling of depth.

This is not driving about putting money into the coffers of the OPEC nations. It’s sitting, contemplating and as Ming Thien has said:
“If you are waiting for something to happen to get a shot, you must be hyper vigilant at all times until you can no longer stand it or have your concentration broken for you: because the minute you turn away, …what you’ve been waiting for will happen”

Then. 
The Little Egret wafted across the sand bar and landed in the shallow tidal pool in front of us.
YAHADDABETHERE!

The big question is whether you are going to be able
to say a hearty yes to your adventure.  
– Joseph Campbell

12 thoughts on “Saturday Evening Post, Vol II, #01: The Return”

  1. A fine image of the Egret. ‘The Farm’ is a wonderful place to be – emphasis on being – in the evening!
    It has been too long since that has been an option for me.
    I hope the medic will browse through some of your work and, perhaps, gain a new perspective!
    The Ming Thien quote rings so true! And that is why, so often, Di is ringing to see why I have been out so long!

    Dave N

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    1. Hi David, I think its an unwritten law, bit like Murphy’s or perhaps a corollary to it, that the moment you blink, is when the bird reacts.

      Still, sometimes, just sitting and taking in the peace of the surrounds is its own reward.

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    1. Hello Lance, yes, I wait for the next installment too! 🙂 Hard to convince people of the difference betwen being alone. and loneliness. In a world that seems to need loud music, flashing lights constant entertainment, the simply pause to enjoy the around has been swallowed by the cachopheny of world and its ‘progress’.

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    1. Ha, Thanks AB, I think the real problem seems to be that its easier to put people and their activiities in seperate spaces and then try to solve each of those, rather than seeing an intergrated whole. Perhaps they don’t know what to do when they come across someone who has got their stuff together.

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  5. How good to see your new post and read about your new venture in this year. I really like the evening capture of the Little Egret as much as what Ming Thien says. The idea of using the evening lights also speaks to me, despite the fact that birds are already a bit tired at this time.

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