It was exactly one year earlier almost to the minute, and I couldn’t help myself.
For several years now I’ve done a mid-summer column on that awesome Great Blue Heron (or one of his kin) that visits the pond along the west side of Highway 22 just north of Fireside. (See my Aug. 2, 2018 column.)
Well, I’d heard Great Blue had returned this year, but I hadn’t had a visit yet. So, this past Saturday morning I grabbed my camera and drove up to the pond.
No sign of my feathered friend! Oh well, the pond itself was stunningly beautiful, so I took a few photos and headed home.
While processing the images, I discovered a coincidence that inspired this week’s column: I’d taken my favourite photo of the pond that morning at 10:55, July 27, 2019. While reviewing my photo collection, I discovered I’d taken one of my favourite photos of Great Blue on the same pond at 10:37 AM on July 27, 2018. This was a first-anniversary moment!
In that earlier photo Great Blue was just taking flight from a camouflaged setting across the pond. But, what if, with a little help from Photoshop, I isolated his earlier image, flipped it horizontally, adjusted the size, and moved my unsuspecting subject across the pond, as in the feature photo above?
Photo in hand, I drove back to the pond before going to press, in case Great Blue was around. And he was! I showed him the photoshopped image and asked his opinion.
Sure, he said, but I had to take his photo first. So I did. I’ll let Great Blue have the final word.
© 2019 Warren Harbeck
