Do I Hear the Messengers at Dawn?
To some people, the bald eagle is a symbol of fertility, because it breeds in nests weighing a ton high in the trees and is fierce when fighting to protect its chicks. To some people, this sea bird is a fighter, impossible to tame, two-inch daggers for talons, eyes painted in equal parts patience and jaundiced suspicion; we stick it on coins and parade its image as we get out our guns, but the bald eagle is about to celebrate its first birthday off the endangered lists.
It’s been trapped and shot and poisoned in the name of sport or nuisance, but it has survived, much as we have since we walked out of Africa and won territory from the Neanderthals to build Starbucks and toll booths and libraries and ATMs. The eagle is what we hope we see in our mirrors.
Sometimes I wake up in places I had no idea I was visiting, but something surprises me that I recognize instantly for being expected. It makes perfect sense, for example, to wake up yesterday in the screech of birds squabbling over fish, and to stumble into the Pacific grays where these two bald eagles flash toward me from the ocean.
Some people view the eagle as a sacred messenger, and this is certainly my impression after finding myself without plan or schedule in Sekiu in the Olympic Peninsula.
The night before as I drove into town a huge orange glow in the sky enraptured me until I saw the sign for a prison. Hopes, burnt. I fell asleep happy to be on the water, but bothered by the tunes of a trap. These eagles blazing from dawn’s murk brought confirmation or warning, that my sense of freedom is not what it seems, that the future cannot bear the expense of my discarded plastics and fondness for chocolate and driving fast and cracking the sky with the razors of my flight.
Before I can ask them, “But where should I go?” they are in the trees, rasping their fey screee-aks all morning. The locals see me shoot, and point out better vantages, the best angles, offer tidbits of eagle facts and figures, and one man as he towels himself from his shave outside the home of his Chrysler tells me where to find a huge herd of elk; he’s got mental troubles, he says, disordered attention, has been here camping on the shore all winter, waiting for his son to be let out of the prison in two months, and now I realize as I write that he is another eagle, scrabbling to protect his own, but without talon or keen eye, a lonely loser who remembers at least to swallow his pills in between odd conversations with people like me, passing through, consuming even him for a story like this.
“Where do you go?” It is for the eagles to ask. Not me.
Where? Why I go is up to me, but move, Blue, because the future is a clamp, talons of steel piercing your dreams.
Do I get this message? Or does it get me?
54 Responses
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On 19 June 2008 Paolo Pizzimenti gave props:
You've got my vote, nice shot and interesting prose.
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On 19 June 2008 Frederic Frognier gave props:
Superb capture
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On 19 June 2008 Respect Nature gave props:
Awesome shot seanie!
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On 19 June 2008 Vicenç Alcaraz i Coll gave props:
Wow, preciosa!!!
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On 19 June 2008 John Linton gave props:
Oh yeah! It rocks!
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On 19 June 2008 G Anderson gave props:
amazing capture!
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On 19 June 2008 maria tizon gave props:
I believe the message gets us all through your vision. Love this. Amazing as always.
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On 19 June 2008 Ronnie Ginnever gave props:
freedom rocks....
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On 19 June 2008 Laurie Search gave props:
Oooooh, nice!!
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On 19 June 2008 catharine amato gave props:
i love the shapes of the birds
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On 19 June 2008 Nelson Campbell gave props:
maybe both...a beauty.
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On 19 June 2008 Chris Whitney said:
As with your images Seanie, I enjoy your revisiting your words and pondering further.
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On 19 June 2008 Amy Welborn said:
simply amazing, Seanie
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On 19 June 2008 "peggy.sue" Harrington gave props:
Seanie, you always keep me breathless .. incredible you ..
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On 20 June 2008 Thomas Henry said:
I guess sometimes we end up in the right place at the right time, whether we mean to, or not....thanks for sharing this amazing image!
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On 21 June 2008 Rogério Freitas said:
Great image and words Seanie. My vote.
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On 21 June 2008 Joli B gave props:
oh yeah, woooo-hooo & a + vote for you dear seanie blue...happy summer
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On 21 June 2008 Audrey Kanekoa-madrid gave props:
Fantastic!
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On 21 June 2008 Steven Hoenstine gave props:
wow, great moment! amazing!
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On 21 June 2008 Paco Jurgen Von Szkora gave props:
jesus dude, this is fucking incredible. i love how you always weave a narrative into your images. siga volando.
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On 22 June 2008 Emma Brahas said:
I like to hang this one on my wall. My vote!
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On 23 June 2008 Laura Boston-thek gave props:
Thrilling image!! Very compelling as always
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On 24 June 2008 Joseph Rotindo said:
your stuff always makes me wonder just what the hell us human beings are doing here...and i suppose it is perfectly reasonable that i should be doing that...
nice work, Sean. -
On 24 June 2008 ! !! Eton Ziner!! ! gave props:
Seanie- photography must be in your genetics- you are outstanding at it! This photo has definitely carried that statement on!! What a fantastic photo!!!
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On 25 June 2008 Karl Nelson said:
Obvious 'shop job. Corny image and narrative.
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On 25 June 2008 seanie blue said:
Thanks for investing your time in a comment, Karl. This photo was not run through photoshop at all. It was changed to a pseudo-black and white in Lightroom, and cropped. The contrast was altered no more than any competent developer in any photo lab in the country might do, if asked to. The actual content of the shot was not altered at all. As for the corny narrative, you're probably right about that. I would say so myself.
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On 25 June 2008 David Rocaberti said:
Cropped or not, pseudo b&w or whatever...I just don't care.
This picture is so nice.
BTW, good narrative too -
On 25 June 2008 Moses Hawk said:
Don't cave Blue. You're posts are pieces of your your experiences. Jewels that only come from trudging to the end of the road, and then into the beyond. They are gifts to your loyal readers. Not good, not bad. Not to be judged so by others who haven't stumbled past their nose.
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On 25 June 2008 Joseph Rotindo said:
i don't think people have to worry about Sean caving...by any means.
what people experience is theirs and theirs alone, and if no one else gets it, that's just too damn bad.
for instance, my opinion is that Sean put a lot of time and effort into this photo, and for someone who is at odds with various aspects of a particular organization, I find it amazing that he even would remain a member of that particular group and even more amazing that he would cultivate a response from that particular group.
yet...here we have a photo...and a narrative, that is purely open and out there for people to praise and/or ridicule.
even if you don't like it, you have to respect the man for putting it out there...
i for one thought it was terrific. and i don't give a good damn what anyone else thought.
my 2 cents....ahem.
nice work, Sean (but you didn't need me to tell you that).
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On 28 June 2008 Jean Pierre Vacherot gave props:
Nice idea and good photo, my vote
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On 2 July 2008 Daniel Martinez gave props:
Hitchcockian!! Outstanding Seanie!!
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On 5 July 2008 FALCON LARA OSCAR said:
Amazing capture.!
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On 7 July 2008 Bryan Jozefowicz gave props:
Awesome, my vote
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On 7 July 2008 Chicago Love gave props:
a jpg friend suggested that about my eagle maybe i'll go there. Great shot!!
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On 7 July 2008 judy fouse said:
I appreciate seeing the Pacific again through your eyes. As a Gulf Coast girl, I found the Pacific wonderfully moody and evocative. As for Karl, it is no wonder he has ZERO CONTACTS! You have to pity someone so mean spirited. Our best wishes travel with you on your journeys. Judy ; )
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On 8 July 2008 Nathan McNamara gave props:
You are an amazing story teller, your words penetrate deep in thoughts. Great photo!
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On 9 July 2008 claudio gobbi gave props:
my vote,great shot!!!!!!!!!!!
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On 9 July 2008 Sherry Davis Johnson gave props:
My vote, a bow and a salute to another eagle, Seanie Blue. Kaaarl...lay off the hater-ade, hun. It rottens your soul.
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On 11 July 2008 Jit Ray said:
Its always so amazing to go through your pictures... thanks again and again for such inspiring work.
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On 13 July 2008 Ray Kenn gave props:
Beautiful catch, you have my vote.
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On 14 July 2008 Christopher Joslin gave props:
One thing that I have learned to do in this community is to enjoy images without judging how they became what they are. This is a wonderful photograph, photoshopped or not. I, for one, am a fan of post editing. Just like many photographers were masters in a darkroom, so to are many with computers and their editing tools. Photoshop is an artwork in itself. All we should really concern ourselves with is do you enjoy the image that is before you. And Seanie, I'll admit, I don't always get what you are saying but sometimes I get it just perfectly and isn't that how life should be? If I agreed with everyone and understood everything life wouldn't be too exciting would it? So this is for everyone: Create the image that you set out to create and say what you want to say. Some will love it and understand and some will hate it and disagree and either way it is a success as long as it is what you intended. Thats my 2 cents for the day. When I look at this image I like it. Does anything else really matter??
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On 17 July 2008 Karen Zimmerman gave props:
As always, I find I forget to breath in your gallery. My vote.
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On 23 July 2008 David Eastham gave props:
Seanie, you are an amazing man.
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On 24 July 2008 Pilar Coll I Gatells said:
Bon dia, Seanie!
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On 24 July 2008 Photography Seven said:
my vote
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On 25 July 2008 Kiwi ana gave props:
To Freedom, to free shores and free air to soar on. To the ability to shreee-aak what want to into the morning air and the ability to find food and lodging in the most natural of places. To the freedom to look out for your family and your own health. That surely is a set of democratic rights in their most ideal. This photo reminds me of it all, as does your woven sculpture of words Seanie Blue - I vote yes!
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On 26 July 2008 John Keating gave props:
Seanie, this is an awesome powerful shot! I love your narrative as well.
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On 26 July 2008 Bill Hathaway gave props:
I give thanks that I am alive and free enough to witness such beautiful photography and prose. Nice work Seanie.
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On 27 July 2008 Michel Vaque gave props:
yes!! my vote !
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On 27 July 2008 Amy Evenson gave props:
Great shot Seanie...well done!
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On 28 July 2008 Alan Franz said:
Nice work per usual Seanie.
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On 31 July 2008 Christine Corrigan gave props:
Beautiful photo, wonderful thoughts...........
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On 31 July 2008 Ursula Tillmann gave props:
You've got my vote - outstanding!
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On 5 August 2008 Artem Nazarov said:
This is awesome!!!!!!!!!
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