Not Only the Leaves Have Fallen...

[Daniel Cadieux]

Something a little different for today. A few weeks ago I came across this scene where a Ring-billed Gull was standing watch over a dead member of the flock. It stayed put like this for well over 20 minutes and then finally slowly walked away after seemingly realizing that the other gull was not going to go anywhere, anymore. A fallen friend among the fallen leaves....

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.34TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/125s/. f/14.ISO 800, small crop to tweak the comp, a couple of small oof leaves removed or toned down from the fg to clean up the lower edge.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

I find this a very touching image. Fallen comrade or mate. The angle is right, composition very effective, seeing the closed eye clinches it.

Sad but effective.

Randy

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Daniel, one of the strongest images I've seen! As Randy mentioned, the closed eye is a huge plus here. Not sure I'd change a thing. I would say that this one is definitely worthy of a contest entry.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very stricking indeed.
A sad moment in nature but I guess it´s part of the package. Lovely nice pastel colours, nice soft light and PP. TFS

[keith mitchell]

Daniel as well as the sad bit which makes the viewer think a bit, love the tones of the leaves and grasses and that nice smooth BG(agree with this comment," worthy of a contest entry.")

Keith.

[vishaljadhav]

I like the composition as it tells the story very nicely.

[dankearl]

Great photo, Daniel, moving and very well done.....

[christopher galeski]

A touching image,I understand the story,thanks.

[Sharon Hallowell]

As sad as this image is, it is one of the best gull images I've ever seen. The only thing I can add to improve it, would be to try to bring a little life/highlight into the eye of the survivor. Wonderfully done! Sharon

[John Robinson]

Sad but a real"as it is " shot.
I don't think this kind of shot would do too well in most photo competitions.
Theres a lot of depressing things world wide at the moment.
Cheers.
JohnR

[Grace Scalzo]

Well photographed to tell the story, Daniel. Quite a powerful image.

[Diane Miller]

Very well done! The whiteness of the fallen bird gives an almost ghostly quality to the image.

[Iain Barker]

A sad moment well captured Daniel. Well done.

[Jim Crosswell]

Great story telling with the title and image Daniel!