I was looking for a tie in with that title because my topic and my pics are going to be completely unrelated. I took these photos a good while back at least over a month ago. Ive been sitting on them because Ive been busy with other things and I didn’t want two bird posts in a row. Im not sure why I felt that way but here we are.
I really like these photos of the buzzards which is a colloquialism for vultures. I believe these are vultures based on my expert usage of Google. Besides they are a pretty unique looking bird and something kids learn about due to the unique look they have compared to other birds. Specifically the bald head. The reason it’s bald is pretty interesting, but I’ll leave that to you to research.
These were taken literally in my back yard. On occasion a large pack/flock/murder of buzzards hang around the area looking for food and it’s a pretty nice place, lots of trees, lots of water, probably lots of dead things to feast upon nearby. Yes buzzards are scavengers. You probably already knew that but it doesn’t hurt to mention. When I saw the star of the show posing for me I knew I couldn’t be lazy and went for my camera. I’m so glad I did. While not the most beautiful of birds in a conventional sense these pics turned out beautifully in my opinion. And that pose is just so gnarly. I assume that one was warming up as it was the cool season. In any case it kept that wings out pose for a good long while and gave me ample opportunity to get some pretty awesome shots. Thanks buzzard buddy. I think you are beautiful.
So what does any of that have to do with omens? Well buzzards, being scavengers of carrion, typically imply that something close by is dead or dying, not the most happy of omens. Even though I like to think I’m a rational person that bases their most important decisions on cold logic and scientific principles I also believe in the supernatural to some extant. I don’t think one should dismiss thousands of years of human instinct and tradition entirely out of hand. Besides you couldn’t really disprove something like a black cat crossing your path and the trajectory of your day. Or maybe you could but I still believe there are things science can’t account for entirely and will probably always be as long as there are humans to observe things.
Anyway these buzzards appeared at a time in my life when a lot of things are going wrong. With my personal outlook it’s probably safe to say I think a lot of things are going wrong most of the time, and maybe that’s the case but isn’t objectively measurable. As it is a matter that is entirely my own it is my subjective opinion and therefore must be true to me. But I do try to stand back and think about it comparing my state of being with that of a poor orphan child in some third world country who’s survival depends on what they find in the trash dump. So while things seem to be falling apart left and right they are so much better than they could be for a human or other living thing in this life.
As I write this stream of consciousness blog/journal entry it occurs to me my attention deficit disorder supposedly mild has really kicked into high gear. What I’m writing now is different than what I intended to write while I was thinking ahead a couple sentences ago. And this is something I’ve struggled with my whole life I suppose. But only recently was I given that diagnosis from a therapeutic counselor. She wasn’t a doctor but a master of Psychology. I think her assessment is good as I can’t keep a constant line of thought to save my life when left to my own devices. Good or not there has been no treatment, and probably never will be. But that’s okay I guess my life isn’t in imminent danger due to this condition, at least not tangibly. But it does kinda help explain why I never really found something to excel at in a professional sense. At least I have made it this far despite my own self inflicted wounds in part stemming on my inability to remain focused on anything for very long.
Photography is the only thing in my life I have been able to keep a focus on and interest in for so long. And even then there were long periods I didn’t focus on it due to the may other important things that were my world. Things like jobs, education and relationships. The things that keep a person alive in this world. Photography is great but in my experience has been more of a net resource loss and not something that I was capable of maintaining all the time. But with that said my interest in photography did evolve into what I did professionally for a long while, and was in many ways significantly complementary. Specifically the business of video, which was at the time potentially more lucrative. Video production was already a large industry and was growing and evolving quickly. I was lucky to work myself into a position where I was able to make it my job. But due to a lot of bad decisions and luck I never was able to move above the line and get to the lucrative part of the business. But I did learn a whole lot about a whole lot of things, many of which directly tie into photography. Really the industry of film and video production was built on the back of photography. A fact that seems self evident to me but is probably never consciously considered by most people. And really why would they?
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