Search Results for: chicken dance

I admire the professionalism of the chickens. They get to work early, and understand now that birdseed precedes photos, and so they are ready to begin the dance, and then move off to peck around the barn, and return to their roost for their daily meal. Chickens are near the bottom of the rung when it comes to our love of animals, and they are food for many living things. Still, their routines are sometimes beautiful, even inspiring.

When I started taking photos, a photographer began e-mailing me with criticisms and suggestions. He was ill, and died a few months into our friendship. Two things he said have always stuck with me: it isn’t  what the camera sees, it’s what the photographer sees. And you can take a beautiful photo of anything, if you look for the beauty in life. From the daily egg to Simon’s bray, that is one of the miracles of photography, I think. It has helped me to do what my friend suggested.

The Chicken Dance inspires me to be focused to make each day meaningful, to care about what I do, and to do it well.

For a chicken dance to occur, certain things have to happen. There has to be seed or feed – in this case, birdseed – thrown in a small area, within a square foot. The sun has to be low, rising behind the chickens, so that it either lights up their feathers straight one, or as is sometimes preferable, photographically, from the rear. The photographer has to be patient, letting the chickens get used to the camera, used to the lens, associate it with food. Then, before the sun moves, or the chickens quickly eat the feed and move away, you have to snap a few shots. The Chicken Dance only occurs from time to time. I love to photograph the Chicken Dance, a ballet of life, light and shapes.

In the morning, when the light is right, the chickens do their dance, their affirmation of the dawn, their eternal search for nourishment, their purpose.

I think there is something beautiful about all animals when they are engaging in their own particular ballet of life. Sometimes, I think I can capture it. Maria has decided to sell some of my photos, including some of the chicken art, on her website. She’s sold half of them already but five are still left. Matted. $75 plus shipping. I used a Canon 300 mm for this shot. With the best animal shots, you have to stand back aways.