“Photography is an art of observation. It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them” Elliott Erwitt
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What do you see in the photo above?
Of Course, we see two crows enjoying the cool temperature at the swimming pool when the weather is reaching 44°C (111.2°F) and also the beautiful sky reflection in the water with various shades of colour and the greenery in the background.
The thing I felt was, they were not sure whether to have a dip or take bath and shake their wings and be playful.
My other guess was the crow on the left side was busy looking at the water may be to quench the thirst.
Of course, they were also watchful about their surroundings especially the crow on the right side
Now in this photo above what do you observe?
This photo was taken a few moments later.
At this point, one crow got satisfied and decided to leave and the other crow started daydreaming looking at the sky.
Taking photography of a bird in a flight is a bit challenging and most of the time, one gets a blurred image.
Other than this, again… anything else caught your eye?
Now in this cropped photo of the first image, what did you notice?
Now It should not be difficult for you to notice my friend since the image is cropped and thus we have an enlarged view ( of course I can’t go near the crows and take a closer shot because they fly away and hence I have to use this cropped photo)
Now I tell you.
If you notice the crow on your left side, there is a missing right limb (partially) and if you watch deeply, its left limb is deformed.
If you still not sure, you can watch the limbs of the crow on your right side for comparison sake and notice how steady are, its legs.
At this point, it is clear that the crow on your left side is physically disabled, yet it did not complain and making the best of its ability to be jolly, playful and happy along with other folks.
How can a bird lose a leg?
My friend by now we all used to the idea that life is nothing but a misery, and the misery only varies in intensity from person to person.
“It’s a misery to be born, a pain to live and a trouble to die” St Bernard of Clairvaux
Life is more challenging for a bird with one leg.
I feel its’ life span becomes shorter.
Many possibilities
- Injuries (glue trap or a rodent trap etc)
- Tangling
- During the fight with a predator
- By birth deformities
What are your thoughts?
What is the worst thing about disability?
“The worst thing about a disability is that people see it before they see you” Easter Seals
Whenever you come across a person with physical/mental disability, what are your immediate thoughts?
Do they need sympathy or empathy?
Do you overreact and extend all the possible help and thus make them feel more helpless, though your intentions are good? Is this not hurting their emotions since already they know their limitation?
Why not empathy? Psychologists say empathising is the best kind of affection one can offer to them.
You must be aware of ‘disability etiquette’
- Think of the person first, not their disability
- Think before you speak
- Never help the person, without first asking them
- Not using offensive terms like handicapped or wheelchair-bound, crippled, differently abled,afflicted by or suffers from, retarded, insane, mental, physically challenged etc
- Not underestimating the ability of the person
- Assuming that all the disabled people think of their lives as a tragedy
- Overreacting while attempting to be respectful
Do you know what constitutes a disability?
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude” Scott Hamilton
Thank you.
Namaste 🙏🙏🙏
Philosophy Through Photography
Image by © PTP-2021 All Rights Reserved
This post is part of Pattimoed’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #146 FOCUSSING ON THE DETAILS, where she wants us to have a closer look at subjects, rather than hurriedly clicking the photos and moving on half heartedly.
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