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wild bird and a friend



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Here is a story behind this photo. This man works as a maintenance guy at one of the apartment complexes in downtown Oklahoma City. Oklahoma is known for tornad...
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Here is a story behind this photo. This man works as a maintenance guy at one of the apartment complexes in downtown Oklahoma City. Oklahoma is known for tornadoes so one morning, the night after a tornado, he was walking to work and saw a little baby starling on the ground. The parents were nowhere around. He took him and raised him. The starling could have flown away many times but he never did. Each time he would be gone for a little bit but came back every time. The bird literally thinks that this man is his father. The starling comes to work with the maintenance guy often and just sits of his shoulder (or his head lol). I was fortunate to get a photo. Oh yes, the bird's name is Sergeant because the "daddy" used to be a military, but the bird runs the house :)
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905

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Awards

Featured
Outstanding Creativity
maryhogan johngozz billy1968 toxictabasco Hari_Subagio Cyrelle
Superb Composition
apluhaq JRiffey LionesLens CueHenning
Absolute Masterpiece
lewismiles cevert
Top Choice
Hricky Athena_B
38 Comments |
goober20101
 
goober20101 July 01, 2011
nice.....congratulations on your feature
akhtarkhan
 
akhtarkhan July 01, 2011
So nice ad clean. Very well captured. Congrats on your feature.
SeanWhittier
 
SeanWhittier July 01, 2011
Amazing! unique portrait
BJK62472
 
BJK62472 July 01, 2011
congrats on feature
Nilakshi
 
Nilakshi July 01, 2011
Really unique!!! Congratulations on being featured!
Awhite80
 
Awhite80 July 01, 2011
Cool shot..congrats on your feature :)
abezwiliams4
 
abezwiliams4 July 01, 2011
Congrats on the feature!
msdean
 
msdean July 01, 2011
Awesome original portrait! Congratulations!
DWPhotography
 
DWPhotography July 01, 2011
Congrats on your feature :)
KarenRoberts
 
KarenRoberts July 01, 2011
Nice thinking out of the box! Congratulations on your feature today!
candyman735@hotmail.com
 
candyman735@hotmail.com July 01, 2011
Funny shot! Very creative, and nice detail! Congrats on your feature!
nitti
 
nitti July 01, 2011
That brings on a smile...congrats
danielh
 
danielh July 01, 2011
congrats!
tissa7
 
tissa7 July 01, 2011
WOW! Thank you everybody! I did not expect this photo to be featured at all :) Thank you for your nice comments and support!
thegigibun
 
thegigibun July 01, 2011
great image and capture...congrats on the feature.
jesusfreak3520
 
jesusfreak3520 July 01, 2011
Great capture, congrats on the feature!
Wayne_Sr PRO+
 
Wayne_Sr July 01, 2011
Awesome capture, congratulations on your feature photo!
aliusmanwahyuhidayat
 
aliusmanwahyuhidayat July 03, 2011
Nice!
kimba
 
kimba July 04, 2011
lololol
angiebanta
 
angiebanta July 06, 2011
Lol...Great shot! Made me smile!
Grammarazzi
 
Grammarazzi July 08, 2011
Now this is funny! =D congratulations on your feature!
huckbucket
 
huckbucket July 09, 2011
haha this is so unique, love it(:
happyclicker
 
happyclicker July 20, 2011
You have A really great sence of humor ! loved this featured shot !
Photopaul PRO+
 
Photopaul July 20, 2011
Congrats on the Feature. Love it!!
Amiqdadi
 
Amiqdadi March 06, 2012
great capture....congrats
Nikolai
 
Nikolai June 22, 2012
Great shot
melapeld
 
melapeld October 07, 2012
What an incredible shot. Voted.
melissa3339
 
melissa3339 October 11, 2012
What a fun shot! Love it! Congrats!
DearTam
 
DearTam October 11, 2012
awwwwww! What a joyful photo!
DearTam
 
DearTam October 11, 2012
Came back to Vote (PhotoFocus)!
rachmonte
 
rachmonte October 12, 2012
Love it! What kind of bird is that perched on his head?
rachmonte
 
rachmonte October 12, 2012
Voted!
ArtGirl
 
ArtGirl October 13, 2012
Priceless!
Daguerre
 
Daguerre November 15, 2012
Great capture! Sweet story. I love the teeth too :)
Ujjwal
 
Ujjwal March 17, 2013
HA HA.Lovely.Congratulation.I love it most because it is natural not edited.
GBloniarz
 
GBloniarz March 20, 2013
Wonderful and emotional story! One I can relate to. Thank you for sharing! Oh, cute photo!
cevert
 
cevert March 20, 2013
What a terrific story and fabulous portrait! Love it :D
Hari_Subagio
 
Hari_Subagio April 13, 2013
Cool . nice shot
See all

Behind The Lens

Location

Oklahoma City apartment complex

Time

7.30 pm

Lighting

I used a bounce flash

Equipment

Sony Alpha 230, 50 mm lens, a flash

Inspiration

The story behind the photo inspired me. The man in the photo (his name is Paul) rescued the bird as a baby after one of the tornado storms that Oklahoma is so known for. Paul was walking to work the morning after one of those storms and saw this little bird on the ground with no mother in sight. So he became his mother. He called the bird Sergeant (the man if a formal military man) and raised it. Sergeant is so attached to Paul that he never flies away (even though he can fly perfectly, but he always comes back). Paul takes the bird to work with him (he is a maintenance guy at one of the apartment complexes in Oklahoma City) and sometimes you can even see Sergeant having to wear a little bird diaper hehe (just so there is no mess in the apartment while he is fixing things around). People love seeing a man with a bird on his shoulder coming to fix their sinks or other things.

Editing

I did some cropping and cleaned up skin tones. All in Lightroom

In my camera bag

Right now it is Canon 3D mark ii, 50 mm lens, a flash, a reflector, and a tripod

Feedback

I got lucky because the bird was docile and was used to humans. But normally they can be tricky to catch especially with a flash with no high speed sync (which was my situation). So in case you are planning to photograph animals or birds in the evening, with limited light and use a flash, use a high speed sync flash if possible. And don't forget to bounce the light to avoid harsh lighting and overexposed spots on the skin.

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