Thoughts about story telling

Heron with fish  

I’m thankful to my photography friend Dave Updegraff because he made me thinking about my opinion that the 16th Street detention basin in Dubuque is an awful place to shoot. I still think it’s noisy there, but it is a location that serves as a place for birds to feed and rest. I can see why people enjoy it, because it is just adjacent to downtown Dubuque. Joan and I spent some time there last Saturday, and again, just me almost four hours on Sunday. The south side is further away from Highway 151 (less noisy!) and there was a spot where the ice had melted already

Yes , the main actors were the Bald Eagles (at least for most people) but the Great Blue Herons made some nice appearances. The uninspired viewer of this image may say, it’s a bird with long legs near some water,and ok, it must like to eat fish… The more observant viewer can read a lot more of the story by looking at this photo… For example, the image was made at a body of water that had some man made structure (dam, wall, dock, lock??), it was windy (look at the waves…), the birds must visit this place regularly (white excrements on the concrete…), Great Blue Herons eat not just little fish…, and there is some ice in the lower right corner (telling you about the season when this image was made…). For me these are all information on the side, but hey are part of the story. I hope the photo screams… caught in killer light, great bird action, beautiful bird…. ;-)