Blue Bird
It was a few weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak here in Malta. Schools were closed and homeschooling was taking its toll on me and my 2 children. Children were not allowed to meet with friends but we still needed to see something else than the inside of our house. I tried to take them out every so often. Safe places, away from people and preferably in a natural setting.
I was more or less sure the local orchids were all dried out at this time of the year. We decided to take our chances just in case. A visit to one of the local nature-reserves for the odd chance of seeing the Pyramidal orchids in bloom proved to be unsuccessful. But once there, we decided to take a walk in the reserve anyway. There is so much else to discover. My son and daughter are both budding photographers, so they enjoy a country walk (as long as it is not too far :).
On the way back from our short walk, we came across this little sparrow sitting on some kind of reed with a relatively clean background. I raised the camera slowly and fired a few shots. Without anything else to photograph I kept on trying to work with what I had in front of me. The little bird stayed surprisingly still and let me try different things. I decided to try a double exposure. It would give this rather simple scene in front of me a somewhat dreamy look. One shot with the bird in focus. The other with a slower shutter speed and using intentional camera movement (ICM) for that smudged/surreal look. Both shots are sandwiched in the camera and with a bit of tweaking of the white balance in post this image is the result.
A blue morning
Birdsong in the air
Then I see the bird
-------------------------------
Limited Edition
40 cm - 25 prints
60 cm - 10 prints
90 cm - 6 prints
120 cm - 3 prints