Posts Tagged ‘birds’
Am I developing an obsession for my hands?
A couple of years ago, I had signed up for a video editing class. For fun. I had shot some footage of my hands and had hoped to convert the footage into a short 30s movie in honor of Agnès Varda. That footage has yet to come together. I suspect I had picked my hands for a class project theme because I see them in my peripheral view all the time, whether it is typing, or cooking or gardening. I find my hands interesting. Even when I was a young woman, my veins were prominent. They make my hands looks far more mature for their age. I now know the vein pattern to be like fingerprint, a biometric. The right and left hands are differently patterned and are unique to me.
And now, the joints in my hands have started to hurt. An acupuncture session brings temporary relief and then the hurt comes back. The right hand has been particularly irksome for the last year. I finally decided to go in for a doctor’s visit and surprise, surprise, he diagnosed me with basal thumb arthritis, same as the left hand. Btw, the left hand which is a lot more arthritic, hurts a lot less. The doctor says that is because I am right handed and I am overusing my right hand. The diagnosis came in the same week that I had signed up for my first kickboxing class – while most of the time one is kicking, at times, one is meant to be boxing. I attended the class with braces on my hands and punched air instead. I have also started drawing birds recently. The week of my x-rays, we were focusing on feathers. Bird feathers are attached to their arms. And their primaries are attached to what we call our hands. The primaries generate thrust, propel the bird forward, and facilitate maneuvering. Pretty darn important, won’t you say?
My hummingbirds
My backyard hummingbirds, Anna’s hummingbirds, have turned me into a bird lover. Yes, there are song birds in the garden, but they love to hide. There are migratory birds in the Bay, but they need me to leave my home. My hummingbirds are always there for me. The feeder is right outside my kitchen. I can see them when I want to, and hear them. They are not afraid to approach me. And this kind, Anna’s, don’t migrate away.
This year, I finally decided to take a plunge into bird photography. Unlike full moon (link), hummingbird photography needs a good amount of skill even to get started. I won’t deny that I find the camera infuriatingly complicated. There are so many buttons. And the menu is a mile long. But my hummingbirds are nudging me. I am also learning to draw birds from John Muir Laws (he likes to be called Jack), a learning trajectory that is a lot less steeper than learning to operate a modern DLSR camera.
Here are two shots, two months apart – late winter when the tree is bare and early spring with new leaves on the crepe myrtle. Both are taken during evening when the sun is low on the horizon. My regular feeder has feet for them to sit on, and they do like sitting. But sitting hummingbirds don’t make for good pictures. So this feeder comes out when I plan to shoot. I put the tripod in my kitchen and shoot in between cooking.
Locomotoring 