A man and his geese, a photo from Bali, Nusa Tenggara

Photographer's Note

Here is another photo taken near the Balinese rock temple at Tanah Lot, which I showed last week. When I left Tanah Lot I couldn't find any minibus to take me back to town, so I walked a few hundred meters hoping to find one somewhere else.

On the way (along the road today lined with shops, restaurants and bars for quite some distance, according to the Google map) I watched a farmer preparing new land and an elderly man guarding his herd of geese. I noted in my diary how cleverly he used his long rod to gather the birds when it was time to lead them to another area. It looked so easy to make the geese walk neatly in a row, just like parading soldiers.

Or are they maybe ducks? I checked on the net and found long-necked ducks and short-necked geese, so I really don't know.

Whatever they were, I was so impressed that I had to take a photo. Here it is, scanned from a Kodachrome slide taken more than 44 years ago.

Fis2, ChrisJ, ikeharel, jhm, pierrefonds, adramad, jean113, COSTANTINO, jemaflor, papagolf21, Royaldevon, PiotrF, PaulVDV, CMJC has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Fis2 (155425) 2020-11-25 0:31

Witaj Gert almost a neighbor today :)!
Interesting view, curious place.
Excellent scene from daily life, I love it.
Good framing, colors and sharpness.
Nice work from Your archive.
Good morning.
Krzysztof

ChrisJ (159862) 2020-11-25 0:34

Hej Gert

Superb sharpness in this quaint daily life scene of the man gently guiding his ducks along one of the many earthen ridges separating the rice paddies. The bg coconut palms add a tropical mood. Tfs!

pajaran (102460) 2020-11-25 0:46

Pozdrav.
lep pogled i trenutak, dobro pokazano sa lepim bojama, perspektivom i dobrim tekstom.
Lepa fotografija i secanje, dobro uhvacen trenutak.
Zelim vam lep dan, sve najbolje.
Paja.

Silvio1953 (205491) 2020-11-25 2:21

Ciao Gert, lovely composition with a lot of geese, wonderful natural colors, excellent clarity, fine details and splendid light, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

ikeharel (105793) 2020-11-25 5:27

Wonder how those geese learnt to stride in pers and strait line forwards...
A nice take of that moment, Gert, and a good scanned picture, as always.
Good afternoon,
Ike

jhm (202823) 2020-11-25 5:30

Hello Gert,

I find this a miracle after 44 year tis nice result after scanning
I see pictures on TE that are less of quality than your picture.
Excellent composition, nice presentation too.
Very well done, TFS.

Best regards,
John.

pierrefonds (103384) 2020-11-25 6:26

Hi Gert,

You have capture well the action of the man following the geese. The point of view is showing the details of the field and of the geese. The light is giving good colors output. Have a nice day.

Pierre

jmdias (102710) 2020-11-25 7:59

gert

a nice rural flagrant with the animals between rice fields, probably to eat the grass and plagues. curious these plants in white at right. nice details of this rural area.

take care

jorge

adramad (66904) 2020-11-25 10:08

Hi Gert.
Magnificent photo considering that this is 44 years old, very curious how the geese obey their shepherd, beautiful rural landscape, in the foreground this white, I think it may be cotton, ideally the palm trees at the end of the plain.
Sharpness, lighting, color, and the magnificent composition; they are all perfectly realized factors, in this precious image.
Well done. I like very much.
You have a good day.
Very best regards.
Luis.

Tue (82104) 2020-11-25 10:21

Hej Gert,
Manden havde meget god kontrol over de mange gæs. De går i en ordentlig kø gennem markerne og jeg tror ikke at de ellers plejer at gøre det når de er alene. Et fint landskab også med mange blå og grønne farver.
Lars

jean113 (21941) 2020-11-25 11:21

Hello Gert, short-necked geese or long necked ducks? Difficult to decide!
It doesn't really matter, it is an interesting picture from your extensive archive.
Good composition with the line of birds in a nice diagonal.
Unsure of the plants growing in the field, hard to distinguish.
Thanks for sharing, kind regards, Jean.

COSTANTINO (103979) 2020-11-25 12:19

Hello dear friend and have a nice day
the chosen title is the best....
moments from the daily life
of this man with the geese...
the palm trees add a tropical mood
regards
Costantino

lousat (129831) 2020-11-25 14:51

Hi Gert,considering the size and color of the plumage, I also think they are geese. Really nice scene, quite common even in my village when I was young, obviously the geese are very easy to drive, while the modern ones are more likely to attack, as I have recently experienced in the park of my country. Nice memory, I hope you didn't have to struggle very hard to find a bus that day. Have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

ifege (31987) 2020-11-25 19:29

Hi Gert
A good one of either geese or ducks. From their size I think I'd go with ducks but who knows! A good classic Bali rural scene, per usual well scanned.
cheers
Ian

jemaflor (135252) 2020-11-25 23:31

Hi Gert,
Nice composition well presented with pleasant light and colors. Good daily scene with this man and the alignement of goose, tfs.

papagolf21 (152599) 2020-11-25 23:42

Bonjour, cher Gert,
Vous avez conservé vos carnets de voyage avec un grand soin.
C'est fabuleux de voir une image qui a 44 ans de cette qualité.
Fascinant !
Amitiés.
Philippe

emka (152060) 2020-11-25 23:53

Hi Gert, I have similar photos from Kerala and from China. I would opt that they are ducks but it is difficult to say. Nice scene. More interesting to me is what is white in the fields. I can't recognize it. It is not rice. Nice row of the palm trees.
As very often, you compare the view then, 44 years ago, it was just a field, and now you see in Google map that there are shops etc. Of course, the world has changed in these years. Where I live now, 44 years ago were fields, and now it is a quite busy district with the tens of thousands of inhabitants. Besides, you were lucky that you could travel then. For me, it was impossible. I could only dream about journeys. Now, people like me can afford such trips, the flights are cheap, and the locals live from tourists.

Have a nice day. We have nice weather. In the morning the roofs were white.
MAlgo

Royaldevon (75240) 2020-11-26 4:15

Hello Gert,

Whether ducks or geese, the man has a remarkable skill in keeping them all together by use of a stick! Geese are particularly self possessed and want to do their own thing!
This is a fine scan, the colours are very natural.
Your composition makes good use of the angled pathway, with the farmer and birds acting as very effective guides.

My warm regards,
Bev :-)

PiotrF (52330) 2020-11-26 14:59

Hello Gert,
A very nice daily life scene from Bali, interesting note.
Great picture from your archive.
Picture with good composition and good quality.
Fine presentation.
Regards
Piotr

foxy (2059) 2020-11-26 15:28

Hello Gert,
:-) This photo is good or better than any of us here. How did you manage to bring back the quality, so good....I reckon I can say that to you as the title , 'A man and his scanner'.
What a lovely scene you found, the paradise of Bali with the unspoilt rural landscapes. The vast scenic of Padi field, the origin typical village wooden houses and the tall slender coconut trees making up the whole picture of pure beauty on this volcanic island.
Of course, the man and his ducks....I could imagine , the ducks walking wobbly in line , quacking loudly obeying the instructions given. I think they've reached where they were supposed to be, a small piece of muddy water shown on m/g. These ducks were pretty well fed.
Have you eaten a crispy duck in Bali? It's a very famous dish. Well, I do prefer the Nasi Campur more.
Thanks for sharing , I'm too impressed with this scanned photo and the effort you made to all old photos.
Loong

PaulVDV (54735) 2020-11-27 1:49

Hello Gert,
Ducks or geese, impossible to tell. I do know that in those countries a menu often says 'ducks' and never 'geese' ... But whether that could be an indication?
I find those white plants in the fields very remarkable and I don't remember seeing anything like it.
A little further we see that the fields rise in steps.
Nice testimony from 1976.
Best regards, Paul

CMJC (4757) 2020-11-28 4:26 [Comment]

Show Comment

GyurMaster (21261) 2020-11-30 6:47

Dear Gert,

Its a true country-side nothing special with a man peacefully leading his geese over the field. I like the diagonal composition of the photo very much and the plants reflecting the colours of the geese in the fg.

Best Wishes,
Gy.

kasianowak (15760) 2020-12-03 11:18

Another great daily life shot from that place, just waiting for a minibus! The line of geese nicely mirrors the line of palm trees in the distance.
Geese also have more pointed beaks but it's hard to see as there are so many and quite small in the frame. But as you did, I would also go for geese. :-)