Thursday, April 08, 2010

Sudden Flight


Sudden Flight
Photo & Text Copyright 2010 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
I was taking photos of some 1930s Grotesques by Dudley Pratt on the south side of the University of Washington's Smith Hall when I noticed a a gull land on a terracotta-clad peak. I turned my lens there just as it decided to fly off again and caught its initial drop. It is fun to be able to see its movement frozen, but even more interesting to me were the details the shot helped me notice about the building. I had never noticed before that this building had a slate roof or that there was a copper ridge piece, or that the peak extended higher than the roof line. The bird drew my eye there, but the shot helped me see. Sometimes the people in our lives function in this way. So many things I may not have noticed or appreciated come into focus when observing someone's interests, work, and activities. Makes life very rich! Below are the figures I was first looking at. Pratt depicted many aspects of life, history, famous people and fields of study in these Grotesques. You may remember I showed you this and this from the opposite side of the building a few years ago. More on UW's campus architecture here.

9 comments:

Eleonora Baldwin said...

What a capture! So graceful.

Ciao
Eleonora

Davine said...

That is a great shot you have captured the birds movement perfectly. Isn't it amazing how one thing can lead us to another.

Gerald (SK14) said...

It is lovely when we capture birds in mid-flight especially as we can rarely plan such shots.

Shell Sherree said...

A lovely moment, Kim, and a lovely analogy, too! Have a beautiful weekend...

brattcat said...

An excellent post, Kim, in every way.

Kate said...

Wonderful observation, Kim. I, too, have never really looked at roof lines and am interested in what you saw.

I'm back in cold St. Paul again and missing Santa Fe already. Come visit me at BOTH blogs!

Unseen Rajasthan said...

Beautiful and fantastic !! Amazing !!

Louis la Vache said...

Fantastic shot in all ways, Kim!

~Cheryl said...

Amazing photo! There is so much detail to absorb, from the little gull's face of concentration to the many textures of the building. (Glad you enjoyed my SWF shot. Thank you for commenting!)