American Robins at Princess Point

On the morning of November 15, I drove to Princess Point with the hopes of seeing some wildlife to photograph during their morning routines. I was left quite let down as I wasn’t seeing much within the first half an hour that I was there. I could hear the birds above me, but none were low enough on the branches for me to capture. I walked up to a higher elevation point (which led to the trail area along the houses). It was on my venture here that 3 American robins took turns flying around this tree branch with berries on it. The backdrop to this was a perfect mix of orange and rosewood, the last of the fall colours still lingering. 

While I failed to get a shot of all of the robins together, I managed to capture these paused instances where the robin would stop from grabbing berries and look in my direction. As with my previous photography walks, there was absolutely nobody else on the trail path, so aside from the breeze, there remained a sense of stillness. Although they are quite standard birds, I’ve always found beauty in robins. To see them in an environment that reflected the colours of their own plumage really let their red stomachs shimmer, providing me with a harmonious setting to photograph. I believe this is such a strong reason why these photographs work. I’ve learned to appreciate photography as similar to art in terms of constructing a composition. If I find a beautiful setting I try to stay there for a while and see if my subject can occupy it. Although the robins happened to be a happy accident considering I wasn’t finding much wildlife that day, I very quickly noticed how beautiful of a surrounding they landed in.  I used the colours in the background to guide my proximity to the birds and to gauge the effectiveness of their placement in the overall frame of the camera lens. In this way, setting has become a more active thought in my intention behind taking photographs.