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The Photo Challenge from our friends at The Daily Post http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/weekly-photo-challenge-dreaming/ this week is Dreaming.
Despite the fact that I love doing nature photography and spend a lot of my time outside, I have a morbid and at times downright inconvenient fear of birds which has been with me ever since childhood. Even a feather from my pillow would send me into screaming fits when I was very young and seeing the movie “Birds” really had me sitting on the edge of my seat.
This phobia has not lessened with time and has prevented me from enjoying many activities such as sitting at an outdoor restaurant or even walking about downtown where I have to dodge around the pigeons on the sidewalk without people thinking I’m completely crazy. I’ve tried to overcome this irrational dread and even persuaded my husband to come with me one time when I tried to take photos inside an enclosure containing unusual and colorful waterfowl, down in Florida, (the opportunity was just too good to pass up) but he ended up having to lead me out while my fingernails were embedded in his arm deeply enough to draw blood!
Anyway, the creation that I dreamed up for this picture might well be something that would haunt my worst nightmares!
Incidentally 
Wow! That picture is enough to give anyone nightmares! 😦
I tried to make him look as formidable as possible.
So creative………and SCARY! 🙂
Thanks, Madelaine!
This can really give you night mares! Birds was really a bad movie!
One of Hitchcock’s scariest!
I can see how The Birds movie would induce fear. It is a pretty creepy flick. Daphne du Maurier wrote the short story, right? Eeps, creepy.
What about penguins or flamingos? Do all birds creep you out?
Yes, you’re right, Daphne du Maurier wrote the original story although it was a lot tamer than the movie. And it’s strange but larger birds don’t scare me quite as much. I’m quite brave when it comes to ducks,swans and peacocks but the smaller ones that flutter around make me go weak at the knees. My mum told me that when I was just a toddler I was startled by some birds that flew out of a bush at me as I was going past. Who would think that something that trivial would give you a life-long phobia!
Good luck on overcoming your fear! (Especially after creating this picture 🙂
Thanks but I think it may be a little too late in the day now!
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Wow! What an expression of those fearrs — reminds me of Hieronymous Bosch.
Close! I got the idea for the picture after I saw some of the works of Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
surreal … – attractive for a museum!
Thank you!
Oh my stars I have the very same FEAR.In the past my kids have used it against me as well as my co-workers.I can’t believe someone else is like me.Thank you for letting me know I am not the only chicken S**t out there.Sorry I had to.
Wow! Isn’t it weird! And it affects my life in the most inconvenient ways. More than once I’ve been in the supermarket with a trolley loaded with groceries, seen a bird flying about in there (they do get in sometimes) and have had to abandon the lot and go back outside. Luckily most of my family know to take this fear seriously and are very understanding of my little quirk.
I wanted to climb to the top of the tower of the Basilica at Holy Hill in Wisconsin, got more than three quarters of the way up the stairs, heard birds squawking as they flew in and out of the section right at the top and had to come all the way down again without getting the scenic picture that I’d hoped to capture. Very annoying!
I am so afraid I once left my baby in her stroller nd ran back to the house when we went for a walk.A stupid bird was swooping at me.Why can’t I get over this,because other wise I am a very brave person.
I know the feeling! The fear is overwhelming and makes you forget everything else. I’ve been chased by redwing blackbirds a couple of times and felt just an absolute sense of blind panic. It’s embarrassing too when I let out an involuntary cry if a bird startles me by flying too close when I’m out walking. I always hope no-one heard me. How ironic! I can face a 6ft, 200lb man on a fencing strip without a qualm and yet a tiny little thing with feathers can make me scream with terror!
Yikes! Interesting post and image!
Thanks for visiting and for your comment!
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What an amazing imagination you have to create such a scary bird. You must’ve had nightmares thinking about it. Do you have magpies where you live? they are seriously aggresive during nesting season in Australia
I haven’t seen too many magpies but the redwing blackbirds are very aggressive when they’re nesting and their shrill cries always make me cringe when I’m walking around the nature center or anywhere where they may happen to be. Very awkward when I’m trying to do nature photography and would rather concentrate on something else, to be constantly looking over my shoulder for a would-be attacker!
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Scary stuff! So artistic though. What program did you use to create this horrific beast?! 😉
Thanks, Andy! I use ‘Microsoft Digital Image’ for most of my editing. Not a fancy program but quite adequate for my needs.
A little nightmarish to me, but very creative.
Thank you! That’s the point I was trying to make. Nightmares!
i bet it would haunt everybody’s worst nightmares. such an awesome creature!
Thank you so much!
Well done! So creative! Maybe someday you’ll have a dream of defeating this creature…
Thank you, Cathy! It would be nice if I could!
Perhaps someday! You may surprise yourself!
That’s pretty scary!
When I first started compiling this image I hadn’t thought of it as a scary character but the more I worked on it, the more I realized it was becoming an outward manifestation of my bird phobia.
I give you credit for getting out there and doing all the outdoor photography you do. It must be so difficult at times.
Thanks! That’s why many of my bird shots are taken from the other side of a window!
Best take on “Dreaming” that I’ve seen! 🙂 (Somehow I missed it at the time…)
Thank you, Vladimir!
oooh i like. and kind of rorschach-esque. what does it say about me that i find him kinda cute??? ;0)
Thanks for stopping by! I guess he does have quite a strong personality!
I don’t know why this image makes me think of Mayan iconography and Gallic gargoyles but it does! Bravo!
Thank you for stopping by and for your kind comment!