Monday, March 17, 2008

The Objective Eye

As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent quite a bit of yesterday wandering around with my camera shooting stuff around my neighbourhood. I was walking up my street when I looked up and noticed this grey headed flying fox overhead.




Whenever I have my camera with me, I think I tend to look at things differently. My first thought when I noticed this guy was "wow, look at the light shining through the wings", the way the light highlighted the orange fur and the composition of the power lines. The sharp angles and the clear blue sky. When I have my camera with me I'm always looking at the light, colours, textures and compositions. A different way of seeing.

Then a moment later I realise that this guy was hanging there because he had touched two ajoining lines and electrocuted himself, and those feelings changed to sadness. Compassion. Another important way of seeing.

[Click the pic to see full sized.]

8 comments:

yani said...

Awwwww.... I went through the same feelings as you as I read the post... poor little batty... :(

But hey, that's natural selection for ya... the stupid don't survive :P

The Other Andrew said...

I guess, but I love these guys. I was watching some fly over the other night and thought of you, and the conversation we had about them when you were here! :)

Mel said...

Pauvre bĂȘte. I do love bats.

Maybe it did the stupid because it had lyssavirus, though, and now it won't make you get the Aussie version of rabies and die. And for that we are thankful.

The Other Andrew said...

Yah, they warn you not to go near these guys because of the lyssavirus. :( I still like them though.

What you don't get from this photo is that they are actually quite large, about the size of a small cat or something. I love their little foxy faces. They look kind of smart, but obviously not always!

Adaptive Radiation said...

A colleague in Darwin drove past a flying fox every morning on her way to work for about a month, thinking how marvellous it was that it would roost in the same spot every day (she is a biologist working on animal behaviour). Turns out that the FF was, unfortunately, dead.

The Other Andrew said...

Awww, I'll bet she felt silly once she figured it out.

Hey, thanks for the comment Ad. Rad.!

Michael said...

It's a snuff photo.

jason said...

lol at michael.
(another way of seeing there too)