Major Project: Provisional Story Board (January 2014)

Introduction

During the telephone tutorial discussion held in December 2013 it was suggested that it would be useful for me to produce a story board in order to help me to crystallise my ideas and visualise the series of images that I intended to produce for the major project on feeding wild birds in Britain. The concept of producing a story board has indeed proved very helpful, both in enabling me to consider the themes linking the proposed images and for filling in some “gaps”. The story board that I have produced (Figure, see below) is a provisional one: as my thoughts and photography progress I expect to make a few modifications. However, it provides a useful starting point for my practical work.

Production of the Story Board

The main themes that I want to cover for the major project are as follows:

·         Historical perspective: when and why did we start feeding wild birds and how has this process developed over the years?

·         Environmental issues: how have industrialisation, massive population growth and the resultant changes in land use in the last century affected both wild bird populations and our attitudes towards them?

·         Some of our key reasons for feeding wild birds: (a) examples of feeding birds to produce food for ourselves, (b) altruism, (c) commercial benefits, (d) conservation of species, (e)  introducing young people to nature, (f) taming and “controlling” nature, (g) bird and wildlife photography and  (h) companionship with birds.

By concentrating on these themes and omitting some of the less well-known, perhaps more esoteric reasons for feeding wild birds I was able to produce a provisional story board of 19 images. In the figure each “image” is represented by a box which is numbered and contains a short phrase. The numbers represent a possible linear sequence (from 1 to 19) into which the images could be placed. The short phrases summarise the proposed content of the images: a more detailed account of my vision for each of the images is given later. I found it much easier to visualise the structure and varying themes for the images as a two dimensional array and the array that is represented in the figure appears to me to optimise both the telling of the story and the linking of connected themes (represented by the blue “double” arrows). Historically, the story progresses (very roughly) from left to right in the figure, whilst the black arrows point in the direction of the development of a particular theme. I am unsure whether it is possible to produce a linear sequence of images that smoothly tell the story that I want to tell: I certainly haven’t found one yet!

When I have finished the project I will produce another story board, in which the rectangles of the figure are replaced by “thumbnail” images that represent how I would want the photographs in the portfolio to be presented, as a two dimensional array, in an exhibition environment.

I may produce fewer than 19 images for the final presentation. However, I have left room for one further image, Image 20, which I would currently label “The Future”. The content of this image (if used) is yet to be decided: see later.

Figure

Descriptions of Each Image

I can’t draw, so what follows are verbal descriptions of what I visualise each image to look like.

Image 1 (“Pretty Countryside Scene”)

A thatched cottage, thick hedgerows, wildflower meadows, lots of birds: how we might visualise what the countryside looked like a few centuries ago, before the arrival of big cities, intensive agriculture and massive population growth. I don’t expect to be able to find a venue that combines all the above features, but I want to start my story by giving the viewer a feel for what the countryside was like centuries ago, when the pressure on wildlife was far less intense and birds were everywhere. I will seek suitable locations during the spring and summer of 2014.

Image 2 (“Game Birds Feeding”) and Image 3 (“Dead Game Bird [in Shop Window?])

I want to start my examination of why we feed the birds by looking at some traditional methods of feeding, which started centuries ago. One example is the deliberate feeding of “wild” (although many will have only been released into the wild a few weeks or months beforehand) game birds, such as partridges and pheasants. The birds are later shot for sport and for food. If I could find a single image that would get my message across here I would be very happy. However, it is more likely that I will need to look for two: one of the game bird(s) at a feeding station and the other of (say) a dead pheasant in a game/butcher’s shop window.  Producing an aesthetically pleasing image for Image 2 could be challenging: an alternative would be to produce a “split screen” montage of the two photographs as a single image.

Image 4 (“Robin Feeding From the Hand”) and Image 5 (“Montage of Other Birds Feeding From the Hand”)

Feeding wild birds for altruistic purposes is not a new phenomenon. No doubt St Francis of Assisi did it and the Victorians certainly practiced it. Maybe the reasons were not just altruistic but also born out of man’s desire for complete control over his environment, which involved taming birds. In many cases birds would be caught and caged by first enticing them with food. The practice spread into towns and cities (“Feed the birds, tuppence a bag….” – “Mary Poppins”). The robin, being easily “tamed”, readily comes to the hand to feed on proffered food (mealworms being a favourite) and has been fed in this manner longer than most, so that is the target for Image 4. Nowadays many birds have learnt to take food from the hand, particularly in areas where they come into regular contact with people such as Hyde Park, London. Not only do tits and finches do this but also “alien” species such as ring-necked parakeet, which have only recently established colonies in Britain. My current plan for Image 5 is to produce a small montage of birds (including ring-necked parakeet) feeding from the hand, in order to bring this practice up to date. Photographing birds feeding in this manner is tricky, but I will attempt to use background settings that hint at a time difference between the events in Image 4 and those in Image 5.

Image 6 (“Housing Estate Being Built”)

In Images 6 to 11 I am trying to show how the countryside idyll, our way of life and that of birds have been dramatically altered in the last 150 years by industrialisation, modern farming practices and rapid population increase. The building of a new housing estate, preferably with countryside in the background, is an allegory for how much of the countryside has been, and continues to be swallowed up by our towns and cities. These, in turn, house our rapidly increasing population. I am not sure how to introduce aesthetic appeal into an image such as this. A (recently completed) estate in Royston has streets named after the birds that it has displaced: the irony of this feature may offer an alternative opportunity to explore (although waxwings fed on the rowan trees that were incorporated into the design of the estate last winter!). This is an important image for the story.

Image 7 (“Very Urban Scene, Old Person Feeding Feral Pigeons”)

One of the reasons why we feed wild birds is for companionship. Some people (especially, though not exclusively the elderly) find solace in feeding wild birds: the birds notice and respond to them in a positive way, whereas many people do not. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the practice of feeding feral pigeons in an urban environment. The pigeons become dependent on us, just as some of us become dependent, to some extent, on them. I am minded to try to take the photograph from a pigeon’s viewpoint (e.g. ground level). As with many of the images visualised here I will need to combine diligent research, foot slogging effort and opportunism to get the photograph that I want. In the end the photograph may not be quite what I visualise; it may even be something better!

Image 8 (“Feral Pigeon Collage”)

I plan to produce a photo-collage highlighting some of the negative impressions associated with feeding feral pigeons. I intend to merge one or two images of the pigeons themselves with negative newspaper headlines (“cull the pigeons….”), “do not feed the birds” signs etc. and to try to do this in an imaginative way. There are two main purposes to this exercise. The first is to emphasise the differing views that people have of these birds and how many people loathe the birds. The second, and possibly more important purpose is to emphasise how the major changes in our lifestyles and environment over the last 150 years have had dramatically different effects on two closely-related birds, the feral pigeon (descended from the rock dove) and the turtle dove (see Image 11). The two collages (Images 8 and 11) are very closely linked.

Image 9 (“Woodland Being Destroyed”)

Whilst Images 6-8 deal with the replacement of the countryside with towns and cities, Images 9-11 concentrate on the loss of countryside to intensive farming and its effect on the birds. I am open-minded about how I portray this particular image, but the idea is to portray change and the loss of habitat. This may involve woodland being cut down, hedges being removed or another method of emphasising the loss of suitable habitat for countryside birds. This image is closely linked to Image 6 above.

Image 10 (“”Prairie” Farmland Landscape Scene”)

This image will use the empty fields and lack of hedgerows of a typical arable farm to emphasise the lack of the habitat that will encourage a wide variety of countryside birds. I already have a site in mind for this image which will link in with Image 7, which depicts an urban environment where very few birds (other than feral pigeons) prosper.

Image 11 (“Turtle Dove Collage”)

This is perhaps the only image in the set that does not provide a direct or indirect link with “feeding wild birds”. Nevertheless, I regard it as important because the turtle dove is perhaps the most extreme example of how formerly common countryside birds have suffered due to changes in land use, in particular intensive farming, whilst its cousin the feral pigeon has, despite persecution, prospered (Image 8). The reason for the dramatic decline (>90% in the last 40 years) of this migratory bird are complex and include droughts on its wintering grounds in Africa and losses due to hunting during migration. Nevertheless, the loss of the wild flowers whose seeds it relies on for food in Britain, due to “weed” control on arable farmland, is another factor in its demise. Indeed, this bird is declining so rapidly that it may become extinct as a breeding species here in another 20 years. My collage will be produced in a similar style to that of Image 8, but newspaper headlines will reflect concern over the decline of this species. I may incorporate photographs of the bird’s natural food plants (if I can find them!). Finding a turtle dove to photograph will be challenging (I didn’t even see one in 2013), although I do have several archived images and know of one wild animal park where they are kept in captivity.

In ordering Images 6-11 as a linear sequence, one possibility would be to alternate between “urban” and “arable farmland” themes. This would place images in the order 6 – 9 – 7 – 10 – 8 – 11 and would mean that the closely linked images (6 and 9; 7 and 10; 8 and 11) were placed side by side in a linear sequence.

Image 12 (“Families Feeding Water Birds in an Urban Park”)

Urban parks with ponds and lakes attract both water birds and city dwellers; it is here that many children have their first meeting with wild animals. I want to highlight this situation by producing an image of a family (or mother and child) feeding ducks, geese and/or swans in a suburban park (pigeons may be present, too). The introduction of young people to wildlife is one important example of why we feed the birds, although recreational and altruistic factors play a part in this example.

Image 13 (“Feeding the Swans at WWT Welney”)

This image leads on directly from Image 12. However, the reasons why the whooper swans and mute swans at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve at Welney (Norfolk) are fed daily during the winter months are subtly different. The practice attracts paying visitors, so can be considered to be a commercial enterprise. However, the money raised is partly used to fund conservation efforts, not just to help the migratory whooper swans (which of course benefit from the free food hand-outs) but also other species. Some people visit to take photographs of the birds (as I will be doing), which come very close to the main hide, and this is also another way of introducing people, both young and old, to nature. This is a representation of a practice that is, under different circumstances and with different birds, being repeated at nature reserves up and down the country.

Image 14 (“Red Kite Feeding Station, Gigrin, Wales” and Image 15 (“Photograph of a Red Kite in Flight”)

My intention is to show food (high quality meat!) being thrown down from a tractor whilst red kites circle overhead at Gigrin Farm in Wales for Image 14 and an aesthetically pleasing image of a red kite in flight for Image 15. There is a clear link between Images 14 and 13 in that both represent commercial operations (Gigrin more so: they also offer a variety of souvenirs) and both help fund conservation efforts (in the case of Gigrin, the continued recovery of the red kite population in Mid Wales). However, at Gigrin there is a greater emphasis on feeding wild birds to allow bird and wildlife photography (there is a special photography hide here) and to this end I intend to produce one image, of a red kite in flight (Image 15), which is present primarily for aesthetic purposes. Between them, Images 12-15 represent most of what I believe are the main reasons why we feed wild birds, as discussed in the introduction.

Image 16 (“Industrial Estate Buildings or (Preferably) a Farm Supplying Bird Food”)

There is a delicious irony that a significant proportion of the seeds that are produced to fuel the £200 million industry in providing food and feeders for garden birds, whose populations are increasing, are produced on farms whose land might otherwise be used by declining farmland bird species. The purpose of this and the following image is to concentrate on some of the commercial aspects of why we feed wild birds. The practice provides a living for hundreds, perhaps thousands of people in Britain! Whilst I will try to seek out a farm that sells bird food directly to the public I may have to rely on a factory on an industrial estate for this image. One problem will be how to make the image aesthetically pleasing: for this reason I am currently keeping an open mind about the structure of this photograph.

Image 17 (“Shop Display of Bird Food and Feeders”)

This image looks further down the commercial line, at the interface between business and the public, and will take the form of a “still life”, displaying bird food and feeders in a shop. I have a suitable location in mind for the photograph: although it may not be particularly appealing aesthetically (I will try!) it should carry a clear message.

Image 18 (“Feeder Station with Feeding Birds in an Urban Garden”)

For this image I will move on to the interface between the birds and man, by photographing birds at a feeding station in a typical urban garden (probably my own). We now move on from the commercial side to altruism, conservation of species and taming and “controlling” nature as reasons for our actions in feeding wild birds. Most people, when asked what they understand about feeding wild birds, would probably talk about bird feeders in gardens: I have deliberately limited this aspect of the subject to the final images of my story board sequence, although the preceding images have provided a rather obvious prelude.

Image 19 (“Planned Photograph of (a) Bird(s) Near a Feeding Station”)

For this image I want to produce a photograph showing how the practice of feeding the birds at a feeding station can also be used to produce interesting images of familiar wild birds in unusual situations: a typical example would be a photograph of a blue tit on a washing line, with clothes pegs visible. The purpose would be twofold: (a) to show that another reason for encouraging wild birds to come to feeding stations is to take planned, intimate photographs of them, in artificial situations. This practice allows professional photographers to exploit wild birds’ tameness for commercial reasons (who could resist a twee portrait of a wild bird on a man-made object?) and (b) to emphasise the “taming and controlling” aspect of our relationship with wild birds, as we ask the birds to perform or “sing for their supper”. This image, along with Image 15 (to which it is strongly linked) also brings us up to date with current practices for feeding wild birds.

An alternative (or additional) image would be to show a sparrowhawk, with wild bird prey, at or near a feeding station. This photograph could illustrate another, perhaps unexpected benefit to wild birds of our provision of food: predatory birds higher up the food chain now use our garden feeding stations as a source of food for themselves. However, capturing an image of a sparrowhawk at a garden feeding station will not be easy and relies largely on chance, but if I did get the opportunity I could use it.

[Image 20 (“The Future”)]

How will the practice of feeding wild birds change in the future? More importantly, how can I represent the future in a single image? At the moment I have no idea, but as time goes by I hope to develop a plan in order to complete a “past, present and future” portfolio of images for the major project.

Conclusions

The story board and accompanying text represent my current thoughts on how to approach and carry out the major project. However, this is just a working template: opportunities that I had not previously considered may arise and I may modify the story board to accommodate these. Also, alternative images that tell the same basic story, but have enhanced aesthetic appeal, may replace those represented here.