When worlds collide

Wood pigeon art © John MacPherson

Wood pigeon art © John MacPherson

One of the large plump wood pigeons that loiter about my street had the trajectory of its day interrupted, by the front window of my house (despite there being warning stickers on the glass).

There was no sign of it lying stunned, or dead, in the garden so I guess it must have escaped with only a sore head.

 

Wood pigeon art © John  MacPherson

Wood pigeon art © John MacPherson

But it left a glorious imprint of it’s presence, each feather detail perfectly recorded, even its beak, and just visible to the side, its eye.

It is raining now and slowly this self-portrait is dissolving. Performance art, fleeting, but beautiful.

Author — John Macpherson

John MacPherson was born and lives in the Scottish Highlands. He trained as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards, before completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter, and then qualified as a Social Worker in Disability Services. Along the way he has cooked on canal barges, trained as an Alpine Ski Leader & worked as an Instructor for Skiers with disabilities, been a canoe instructor, and tutor of night classes in carpentry, stained glass design and manufacture, and archery. He has travelled extensively on various continents, undertaking solo trips by bicycle, or motorcycle. He has had narrow escapes from an ambush by terrorists, been hit by lightning, caught in an erupting volcano, trapped in a mobile home by a tornado, kidnapped by a dog's hairdresser, rammed by a basking shark and was once bitten by a wild otter. He has combined all this with professional photography, which he has practised for over 35 years. He teaches photography and acts as a photography guide & tutor in the UK and abroad. His biggest challenge is keeping his 30 year old Land Rover 110 on the road. He loves telling and hearing stories.

Discussion (7 Comments)

  1. John MacPherson says:

    Ha! I guess with the number of ‘hits’ occurring across the globe, it’s not too unusual, but it’s a while since I’ve seen any posted!

  2. Farhiz says:

    I’ve left a comment on TOP with a link back to this. Both beautiful pictures.

    • John MacPherson says:

      Thanks Farhiz. It is an impressive selfie!

    • John MacPherson says:

      I’m kind of puzzled about “TOP” and where your comment is? What am I missing? Is this a DUH moment I’m experiencing? 🙂

      • Farhiz says:

        TOP is short for The Online Photographer (see Stan B’s comment). And Mike (who’s blog it is) curates all comments so it’ll take time to show up. But what a coincidence, huh?

        • John MacPherson says:

          Aha! I’m with you now! Yes I saw that post yesterday. I know such collisions happen often but to post two such images on the same day is a bit of a coincidence!

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