It was morning, and the new sun... Photo

Photographer’s Note

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull

It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea. A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water. and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day beginning.
But way off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was practicing. A hundred feet in the sky he lowered his webbed feet, lifted his beak, and strained to hold a painful hard twisting curve through his wings. The curve meant that he would fly slowly, and now he slowed until the wind was a whisper in his face, until the ocean stood still beneath him. He narrowed his eyes in fierce concentration, held his breath, forced one... single... more... inch...of... curve... Then his feathers ruffled, he stalled and fell.
Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor.
But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in that trembling hard curve - slowing, slowing, and stalling once more - was no ordinary bird.
Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight - how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else. Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.
This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make one's self popular with other birds. Even his parents were dismayed as Jonathan spent whole days alone, making hundreds of low-level glides, experimenting....

©Richard Bach

sam224, ajcsousa, supereira, sergecross, AnneFrance, grafu, Gix, Jujube, jlbrthnn has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

bantonbuju (48796) 2005-09-13 3:43

ciao paolo, sama comment as two days ago - lovely composition, minimalism at its best; great colours, i love it!
have a nice day,
jerzy

Zepi (22848) 2005-09-13 3:46

Hello Paolo,
Belles couleurs, une magnifique vue,très reposante !
Je ne suis pas fan du cadrage et de la position de l’oiseau dans le cadre !
Je te propose donc un petit workshop
Beau travail
Merci pour le partage
Amicalement,
Sébastien

[workshop] [compare]

mimmareu (582) 2005-09-13 4:21

Bella foto, come sempre, e belle parole.
Ciao
Domenico

sam224 (5851) 2005-09-13 4:31

Ciao Paolo.. bellissima foto davvero. Le sfumature di colore che sei riuscito a catturare in questa foto sono decisamente accattivanti. Bellissima la silhouette del gabbiano.
Grande idea.
Complimenti!

jinju (14265) 2005-09-13 4:59

Better than the other one with the 2 birds. More graphic and the sky is cleaner, making this seem much neater and much more precise a photo.

ajcsousa (1804) 2005-09-13 6:29

Ciao Paolo,
Real nice and simple composition but really effective. Great colors. Well done.
Regards, António

supereira (9576) 2005-09-13 6:44

Great shot.I like the composition and point of view.I like the contrast between the bird and the sky.Good colors,light and sharpness.Well done!

Graal (58732) 2005-09-13 9:42

Hi Paolo,
romantic view, nice warm colours. Good composition and note. I like it. Good job.
Rgs, Aleksander

MON (135) 2005-09-13 11:23

A very sharp picture. I like the composition and the orange tone is wonderful. Congratulations!.

sergecross (3438) 2005-09-13 11:35

Hi Paolo:
Very nice sunset. I like the saturation and the contrast. The picture looks very natural and the theme selected was very nice.
Thanks for sharing
Sergio

rhizomes (15325) 2005-09-13 14:44

Hi Paolo,
Free as a bird could also be a title for this picture ! I really like the colors and the sharpness of the bird !!
Congratulations,
Christophe

AnneFrance (921) 2005-09-13 16:25

chouette compo, trèèèèès belles couleurs, superbe quoi!

grafu (1905) 2005-09-13 17:09

hi
mmmmmmm, black and orange.. my favourite composition.
wonderful photo, it works excellent with the story you found...
regards, pawel.

eco (84) 2005-09-14 1:23

Hi Paolo

I like the composition (bird and sky), great shot. Very good and contrast, beautifull light and colors too, good ork, best regards, rafal

Gix (3559) 2005-09-14 2:02

Eccellente Paolo,
proprio un'immagine poetica.
Ho letto il libro di Bach (ma non in inglese!)
e la tua potrebbe essere benissimo l'illustrazione di copertina, se non fosse che questa foto trasmette allegria, mentre il gabbiano Livingstone me lo ricordo malinconico!
Una composizione molto bella, complimenti!
ciao, Giorgio

DLM (6447) 2005-09-14 12:49

Hi paolo,great image ,very simple but effective,colour is great,nice frame too.
Dave.

thaprem (2498) 2005-09-15 18:50

One excellent tribute for Richard Bach`s Jonathan Livingstone Seagull1... Wow...
Nice tone & excellent presentation....
TFS
Prem.

Jujube (125) 2005-09-18 19:01

This is a very nice picture! I love the color, the composition, wich is very minimal, the light and the note.
Thank you for your comment on my picture, so I discovered you and your gallery. You have a lot of very nice pictures!
Nancy

jafadabret (40325) 2005-09-19 2:48

C'est une image pleine de poésie l'oiseau semble revenir d'un long voyage en mer. Le cadrage, à mon avis, pourrait être meilleur j'ai fait un WS mais je ne peux pas encore le poster.

ephemere33 (9729) 2005-09-21 12:20

oupss la liste de tes photos est longue ...rire...superbe cliché pris au bon moment et on sait que ce n'est pas du tout facile...beaucoup de patience et de précision pour l'avoir en entier et bien net comme ici...simple, sobre, et parfaitement reussi...bien vu...amicalement BI

ps: merci pour la note...c'est vrai: Jonathan Livingstone...merci

tjanze (5674) 2005-09-28 10:23

Really good simple photo.For bird in the air is very good sharpness.

vapours (7913) 2005-09-29 20:23

Nice shot here, I love the positioning of the bird and the yellow behind it.

Ebow (88) 2005-12-27 12:31

Hi Paolo,
must say this is 1 of my favourite birds shots so far. Love the colours and the solitude of the bird.
Regards
Edwin

jlbrthnn (38971) 2007-09-02 14:48

Bonsoir Jonathan,
superbe image aux couleurs originales, qui permet entre autre de regarder à loisir une belle attitude de vol de cet oiseau. Belle réalisation.
Bonne soirée
Amicalement
Joël