Siberian Boys and Pesky Pigeons
What is the symbiotic attraction between boys and birds?
Siberian boys and wild pigeons illustrate the global appeal of impulsive outdoor fun. Laughing, flying, smiling, persisting, glancing, swooping, pondering, diving, controlling, avoiding, rewarding, swarming. It looks like boys and birds have a few things in common when they are entwined in mutual pursuits.
If you are just walking undirected around Irkutsk, Siberia and happen upon a scene of playful exuberance that a boy harboring seeds, surrounded by wanton pigeons manifests, then lucky you. Navigate to a shooting location where a hoard of pigeons swarming the boy can be safely observed. Get the nod of acknowledgement from the wary parent. And mind your cranium and bottom. Pigeons, being opportunists, have to let things go once in a while.
More often than not street photography requires cunning and bravado, unless the subject is immersed in an activity as engrossing as a wild bird food frenzy. In which case, getting caught is secondary to the activity. So, settle in and await the converging paths of opportunism and skill as you capture both bird and boy experiencing a gleeful fear of the moment and the expectation of a reward. Controlling the uncontrolled has an appeal to boys, yet to embark on the confinements of adulthood. And pigeons, always get their seeds.
For more on Irkutsk and Siberia, see also:
https://www.heathersimonds.com/blog/shuttered-windows-of-ulan-ude-siberia
https://www.heathersimonds.com/blog/rain-rain-rain-in-ulan-ude-siberia
https://www.heathersimonds.com/blog/ulan-ude-to-arshan-siberia-a-funny-thing-happened
https://www.heathersimonds.com/blog/siberian-art-on-every-street
