Adjacent to the hospital where my husband underwent surgery on his knee is a small park which features a man-made pond with a small stream running through it. This is where several varieties of ducks and other water fowl call home year round, including a pair of swans, who I made my muses as they quietly stood on the edge of the pond immersed in preening themselves.
It was, however, not a quiet pond. Ducks flying in, with their webbed feet poised to glide onto the water as they landed, stirred up a raucous. Male mallards chased female mallards and female mallards put up a fuss when another duck invaded their territory. Throughout the scene, the swans quietly preened. Once in a while one would stretch its long neck, raise its head, and make what sounded to me like a calm comment on the noisy activities – not that it had an effect on the goings-ons on the other side of the pond.
After a few photos of the ducks, I lost interest in them and decided to walk through a foot of fresh snow to where I could maybe get some photos of the swans. It was nearly 1 PM when I began taking photos of them. With the gray stone retaining wall behind them, their bodies were nearly all in shadow. This is my favorite kind of lighting. The deep shadow created a dramatic backdrop and in that moment, as the swan looked up from its feathery beauty, I realized its focus was no longer on the ducks, but on me. Now, I don’t know what you do when a swan looks your way, but I take photos…so I did!