• Home
  • About
  • Galleries
  • Home
  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • Contact

The Ones I Like List of 2009 – A Countdown [#7]

© 2009 Katya Horner

on the battlefield [the story of gettysburg] – One bird on the battlefield of Gettysburg was all it took. Not an ordinary bird, granted, but rather a feathered, farmland Siren, beguiling me into a trance, leading me, with my camera, into a precarious slot. And when all was said (“ouch!”) and done (splat), one camera was dead and one lens injured, and I was “over” Gettysburg.
Let me back up if I may.
The day had begun like any other vacation day. I had awoken happy, with a song in my heart, a dance in my step. This day, however, would be different from the previous nine days of my vacation, days which I spent driving around the New England countryside, populating my archives with all things autumnal and foliage-laden. This day I would finally meet my Flickr friend of over four years, Linda Plaisted — a modern-day pen pal, who, by the way, also happens to be my favorite artist – bonus! I drove the short distance from Gettysburg to Maryland and spent an absolutely, positively wonderful few hours chatting and lunching with Linda and her beautiful daughter E. It was definitely a highlight of my already fabulous trip.
So…so far, so good, right?

I had chosen to stay in Gettysburg because I love all things touristy, particularly things with historical significance. Upon returning to the town, I made my way to the Civil War Battlefield area. I knew it would give me chills, and I was very excited about being there and soaking in the solemnity, the history, the quiet.

I arrived and almost instantly had goose bumps. I was standing on the same grounds in the same small town where tens of thousands of soldiers became casualties of war. I thought of the enormous undertaking of this town to recover from such devastation and I thought of the individual stories of families torn apart. Misty eyes were mine as I made my way from monument to monument.

And then I spotted her, a bird, sitting on statue of a soldier — more specifically, sitting on the tip of the soldier’s musket. I found the sight to be particularly moving. Birds are often symbols of peace and sometimes, historically, symbols of protection. The scene was a beautiful disconnect and a beautiful symmetry all at once. I was mesmerized. I snapped a few photos before the bird flew to its next destination – the tip of a canon. There was no option for me, but to follow, to capture this bird as it made its way from weapon to weapon.
Problem was…the bird had 100% of my attention. The road, particularly, the slight ditch in the road…well…that had 0% of my attention. Temporarily, at least. When I fell on the hard pavement (what’s the opposite of “gracefully”?), with cameras in hand, my center of attention quickly transitioned from the former to the latter. I knew immediately I had lost something. I just didn’t know what yet. Turns out, my camera took the brunt. My handy-dandy backup was gone for good.
I chose on the battlefield [the story of gettysburg] because, even though it brought my camera to its knees, the bird still beguiles me. Some cultures believe that a camera is a soul stealer. If they are right, this bird is the great protector. And on that very battlefield, where 51,000 souls were lost, a soul stealer was rendered “out of business.” Thanks to a little bird.
Share...Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on pinterest
Pinterest
Share on google
Google
Share on stumbleupon
Stumbleupon
Share on tumblr
Tumblr

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 10:19 am. It is filed under My Favorites - 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

←
→

Featured Gallery

    Your PhotoShelter xml feed is broken. Remove all non-alphanumeric characters in your image or gallery descriptions in PhotoShelter. Remove all quotes, brackets, dashes, basically anything that isn't a number or letter. If that doesn't solve your problem, contact PhotoShelter and tell them your gallery xml contains errors.

About Katya Horner

Katya Horner, better known as "Slight Clutter" in the photography community, is a professional freelance photographer based in Houston who is as comfortable with editorial and commercial work as she is with fine art photography. Her photos have been seen in over 50 print and online publications.
Read more >>

Search Photos

Categories

  • Discovery Green
  • fog photography
  • My Favorites – 2006
  • My Favorites – 2007
  • My Favorites – 2008
  • My Favorites – 2009
  • My Favorites – 2010
  • My Favorites – 2011
  • My Favorites – 2012
  • My Favorites – 2016
  • Road to Wisconsin
  • rural america
  • Uncategorized

© 2006-2013 Katya Horner/Slight Clutter Photography

Enter your name, email address and a message.