Wading birds are not always easy to spot in the cluttered background of a rocky shoreline, especially those smaller ones working the tideline like clockwork toys. Too often I have been caught out thinking a shore is empty of birdlife until I stop to look properly and they pop up everywhere. But on the other hand when the conditions are right and the feeding is good it's hard to miss all the activity even if it is hard to keep your eye on a single bird as you are constantly distracted by another then another.
This artwork is my attempt to capture the busy bustle of wading birds feeding along a shore with their activity matched by the dynamic pulse of waves washing over the rocks and stirring up the pools. These are dunlin but could easily be one of the other members of the diverse wader family.
The background is a macro photograph of a section of a corrugated metal fence that has spent years slowly getting its skin weathered into fascinating abstract patterns and textures. Weathering is a natural force and the results of it reflect the natural world making fences like this excellent backdrops for wild art.
The first trick is to isolate the weathered surface from its context. This is difficult as shown by how it routinely gets ignored but by wearing the right blinkers it becomes easier to see beyond the ugly eyesore of it being urban decay. Photography of the details then finishes the isolation job particularly when it is a photograph of the weathering itself not just a photograph of a fence with weathering on it. You really have to get in close for it to work well.
This artwork comes from a photo of the top left part of this old fence.
Thereafter the tricks are imagination and blending skills which I'll talk about in a different post.
These last two photos show a closer shot to show some of that finer detail more clearly and the original background photo the right way up and unpopulated by birds.
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