Goosey Goosey Candour

Okay, Who Just Flipped Me The Bird?

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

You know how you drive past a scene, catch a glimpse of something and you just know that you have to stop and go straight back and photograph the scene? That’s what happened to me when I shot this sequence.

I was in north India for five days in December and this was taken early on the morning of 20 December, as I began the long highway journey from Dehra Dun to Delhi, to catch my Singapore Airline flight home for Christmas. Because the scenery was all new to me, my head was swivelling everywhere – and I spotted this tranquil lake, with the sun just starting to come up on a freezing cold day.


We pulled over and I hurried back to the lake. It was a beautiful scene, with tendrils of mist rising off the water and the sun shining weakly through the towering trees. The surface of the water was so still that the reflections were perfectly symmetrical and almost mirror-like.

Because there was a little fog, there was very little colour definition and there was almost a gritty black-and-white quality to the scene. I hit the trigger on this shot (above) and then put the camera down to take a closer look.

That's when I first noticed the gaggle of geese marching imperiously across it. They were at one end and the groundsman was at the other, using a long-handled broom to sweep leaves off a pathway.

The geese began honking and a few seconds later the groundsman completed his task and began walking towards the geese. Like actors in a tableau, the man and the birds all began heading off together, towards the right of the frame. I guess they were chiding him because he was late in feeding them.

Lucky the feathers didn't fly!

Check out the rules at Camera Critters or go to Misty Dawn.