Reeds counts as sticks, right? They can be wielded as a sword, although they have questionable durability. When dried, they have a stick-like appearance… we should welcome all sticks, no matter if they look a little off compared to other sticks.
I do find it absolutely hilarious that I went out to photograph sticks for this project but located this beautiful bird instead. The bird was quite a sociable one. In the time I spent out photographing sticks, I ‘somehow’ managed to take 1,800 pictures of this egret.
… Yes, it took 1,800 tries to get a decent shot of the bird in flight. Bonus: there are sticks!
Reeds are one of my favorite types of sticks, though. You can turn them into baskets, you can make instrument parts out of them, you can turn them into instruments if you find the right type… you can blow bubbles with them. Sticks are amazing.
There were also ducks, but they did not opt to pose near sticks for me. The ducks opted to take naps for the most part, doing their afternoon duck things. I do quite like ducks, but much like Canada geese, they can have a temper. These ducks were a mix of wild and domestic mallards.
For a little of the technicals behind this shot, I was using a Sony a1 with a Tamron 28-200 F/2.6-5.6 DI III RXD lens. When I photograph birds, I usually use a Sony FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS. Sticks prefer being photographed with the Tamron.
Birds are jerks. But when your shutter speed is set to 16,000, and the bird happens to be on the ground when you depress the shutter button, and you also happen to track the bird flying right in your face, sometimes you get lucky.
And yes, the bird wasn’t quite close enough to touch–but would have been, if only I had possessed a stick.
This post is brought to you by this book. Disclaimer: I wrote this book.
Leave a Reply