Western Watchdog

Size: 32×24

War & Peace Collection – Western Watchdog

(double alumaprint stack)

This piece is a personal favorite for all the gifts of the day that I saw through my camera up on Mount Blue Sky. The most numerous murder of raven I had ever seen came flying over the mountain and rested down the hill below me. I was able to hike down to get near them. Their beautiful iridescent blue and purple colors stood out in the high elevation, and the blue eye covering made them even more magical looking. The storm clouds threatening the landscape made for a beautiful backdrop as its dark blue sky created a perfect contrast to the dry white dead tree branches found further down the mountainside. The raven seemed to be the counsel in charge of watching over the welfare of its environment – making sure too many humans were not selfishly interrupting the natural course of things by stampeding down the fragile earth to capture photographs. (The earth was covered in beautiful algae and moss so I did my best to walk only on the clear rocks – even so, I became very aware that my presence there came about due to my own selfish curiosities. I believe conservation should be foremost in my mind going forward and will do my best to set that example.)