Pre-visualisation or Discovery
Freedom. Sony A7ii + 70-200/4 OSS G. Cropped to panorama. Click to view larger.
Why not both?
Pandemic forced us to our homes for a long time. Quite an unusual experience for most of us. While working from home all I could see was the road, buildings and a couple of trees. I shouldn't complain. There were many far worse with perhaps no window to look outside. And the fact that we have a small lake or a man-made pond nearby makes it even better as you get to see lots of birds flying.
I saw the moon hanging just above the tree line from my home-office. I took out my telephoto lens, attached it to the camera and was trying to compose the scene. It was a decent composition with the moon just next to the trees. This is what I had pre-visualised when I first saw the scene. And then out of nowhere these starlings just flew by and landed on the tree. I could then sense that their flying is linked to my inner feeling of longing for freedom. Longing to be outside. Be alive. And then they decided to fly to the moon.
Of course, I love the image above. However, since then I have been thinking about how can I improve it. I’ve been looking at the right light, angle of the sun and moon. I know that typically in September and January everything lines up for about 2/3 days. Unfortunately, living in England means there is no guarantee of good clear skies. So after about two years of waiting things happened yesterday. However, all the ducks and birds decided to fly in different directions. Slowly the clouds started to obscure the moon and I almost gave up the idea of making this image as it was extremely cold.
And then it just happened. And I actually love the moon slightly obscured by the clouds catching the first light.
Freedom. Olympus OMD EM1 Markii + 40-150/2.8 Pro. Click to view larger.