Last winter I was lucky enough to watch the ravens frolic in the wind as it swirled around one of our large local buildings on several occasions. There were updrafts coming off the front of the building that were strong enough they could hover without having to work and you could tell they were enjoying it. Besides taking advantage of the free lift, they also spent a lot of time chasing each other in pairs and larger groups. It was an amazing thing to watch and they didn’t seem to mind me right below snapping shot after shot of them. On the days I shot the images, it was cloudy and the white background with the black birds made the images almost completely black and white. In fact with the exception of one image where the red of an open raven mouth is visible, the images have almost no color. While the individual images were great, I compiled them into a couple collages that I like even better. I like the effect of the all of them seen on one page. I have yet to print it, but I think it would make an amazing poster. In fact I like them enough I thought they deserved their own blog post. I hope you like these images as much as I do.
Beautiful work, Brian. Very creative. There’s a place in Wasilla, immediately north of Home Depot, where the wind hits a steep bluff, and the ravens love to play above it, much as you describe where you photographed your ravens in Fairbanks. I watched them play one time, without camera, sadly, and one raven repeatedly flew to a tree branch, hung upside down by one foot, and simply dangled in the wind. I watched him repeat this play several times, and mentally kicked myself for not being able to record the scene via video. And so it goes.