Mike Powell

Do you prefer static portraits or action shots? It is easy to see that my question is a false dichotomy that seems to limit this preference to and either/or choice. In real life, you can like both types of photos and most people would say that it depends on the merits of each individual photo.

Last week I spotted this White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) in a patch of sumac at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Frequent readers of this blog will undoubtedly remember that I have featured a variety of birds in this same patch, which provides berries during a time of the year when food sources are severely limited.

In the first photo, the sparrow was momentarily perched and I had the luxury of being able to compose my shot somewhat carefully. I moved about to get the best possible angle and checked my focus to make sure that the eye would be sharp. I really like the way that the little portrait turned out, with the angular line of the sparrow’s body mirroring the stalks and the muted tones of the background helping the yellow eye stripe and red berries to really “pop.”

The second and third images were my attempts to capture the sparrow in action. It was tough tp frame the shots, because I did not know how or when the sparrow would reach to snag a berry. In many of my shots, the sparrow’s eye was not visible, because it had turned its head or it was buried it in the vegetation. I wanted very much to get a photo of the sparrow with a berry in its mouth, but that too was difficult because of the speed at which the sparrow swallowed its food.

If I were super critical of the second and third shots, I would say they are a little softer than the first image and the exposures might have been slightly off, in part because the lighting situation was not as good as for the first image. However, I think that the dynamic nature of the final two images more than compensates for the technical “issues.”

One of the coolest things about photography is that it is a mixture of the technical and artistic considerations—both aspects play a role in creating your overall impression of an image. I watched a lot of Olympic figure skating coverage last week and was struck by the way that the skaters received different scores for technical merit and artistic impression. I think that I use a somewhat similar system in my mind when evaluating my own photos—some are more technically challenging, like attempting a quad jump, while others reflect the beauty and elegance of the subject.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.