Birds on a wire

I’m fascinated by birds on power lines. 

Are they waiting for something? Are they lonely? Are they enjoying the view, or are they taking it for granted? 

There’s something beautiful, poetic even, about these small, seemingly delicate creatures perched on wires against the vast sky. Minimalism at its best; especially in black and white.

Whereas a birder would want to zoom in close to capture the bird’s every detail, I’m much more attracted by its dark, recognizable silhouette in contrast with the bright sky.

Here is a series of images that I made in the last couple of months.

The first four are from a walk in the vicinity of my hometown of Shediac in late-December during my Christmas vacation. Similar pictures I’ve taken in the past always had an even background. I like that there are clouds in some of these. 

The horizontal line evokes a static, settled atmosphere.

The diagonal lines provide a more dynamic composition than that of the previous image.

Separated by distance.

My wife, who was accompanying me on this walk, noticed this scene. I like how the diagonal line accentuates the separation between the birds on the left and the ones on the right.

The image at the very top of this post features a morning dove. Whereas I usually avoid doing so, I thought the picture worked best with the bird placed directly in the centre of the frame.

I took the following two pictures from the comfort of my office chair. As my eyes looked up from the computer screen, I noticed two birds resting on the wire behind my neighbour’s house across the street. I grabbed my camera, which happened to be on my desk, and shot a series of images through the window, and the window screen, which explains the poor image quality. It turns out that I’m rather fond of the effect. It reminds me of vintage film photography. 

If you look closely (you can click on an image to view a larger version), you’ll notice that it was snowing at the time. That lighter strip at the bottom of the image? That’s my neighbour’s roof.

These last two images I took back in April, 2019. I had my camera set on the tripod and had a lighting setup ready for an indoor project I was about to shoot when I noticed some birds perched on the power lines behind another neighbour’s house.

I knew there was potential there for some nice images, but the prospect of having to take down the camera, change the lens and walk outdoors, only to risk the birds flying away once they saw me, just didn’t seem worth it. In the end, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Thankfully, things worked out.

Photography composition rules dictate that the subject should be looking into the frame, towards the empty space. However, rules are made to be broken! I preferred the air of mystery brought on by having the bird looking out of frame, towards the closest edge of the image.

Do you “feel” the difference viewing an image with a diagonal versus a horizontal line?

I’d love to get your impressions of the photographs. If you’re reading this in your inbox, hit reply and let me know which ones are your favourites. Alternatively, hit the button below to leave a comment.