Walk This Way
by Brad Barton
Title
Walk This Way
Artist
Brad Barton
Medium
Photograph
Description
It was a really dull, overcast day in Corpus Christi. I was on vacation, but my mood was as gray as the clouds.
A few months before, I'd seen a beautiful image created by a friend of a long legged bird - I think it was an egret - with multiple shots of him taking off that had all been blended together into one long panorama. I was thinking of this image as I went to a favorite bird site in Corpus, hoping to catch a crane or a pelican lifting off.
The birds weren't in the mood, either. The Pelicans were all huddled together in the cold, just swimming around and there were no cranes to be found. I started to make some images of these little pipers and I thought - I could just do a blend of them digging around in the wet sand...
That was when this big, round black skimmer walked into the group. I was amused by his waddles mixed with the graceful pipers running around and I realized... I could make an image that included him as well and make it look like he was pretending to be a piper.
I was reminded of the memes of an odd animal mixed with sheep or llamas with the captions that said things like "Day 46: I think Bob is starting to think I'm not a sheep" and I wanted to create something like that.
Through multiple iterations of sunset colors and getting the flood effect just right, I settled on the title "Walk This Way" - although I admit as soon as I hit send for competition, I wondered if I shouldn't title it "He Identifies as a Piper"
Still, the image went on to not only merit in competition but to earn the prestigious Image Excellence award from PPA this year. It's fast become a favorite of mine and I thought it was a perfect image to start this new "Behind the Photo" series I plan to do here.
Awards
2021 Texcellence Award, Texas Professional Photographers Association
2021 Top 10 Southwest District Wildlife Image
2021 Image Excellence Award, Professional Photographers of America
Uploaded
November 4th, 2021
Statistics
Viewed 4,326 Times - Last Visitor from Wilmington, DE on 03/29/2024 at 6:17 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet