On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Steve sent in a photo for Alain’s tribute. We got to talking, and I learned that he’s a bit of a photographer, so I encouraged him to submit something to On the Road. It sounds like he has oodles of photos, so perhaps he can be talked into submitting some more, if we ask nicely. ~WaterGirl
Steve from Mendocino
In spring of 1968 our class in art school had an assignment to illustrate a brochure for the San Diego zoo. These are photos of birds. They are all taken on black and white film, but I colorized the blue one several years ago as part of my exploration of Photoshop.
OzarkHillbilly
Cool stuff. More please.
Mary G
Yes, these are some amazing photos.
Rob
Wonderful photos!
Yutsano
Alcedinidae!
Raptors!
Corvids!
YUS!
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
I love photos of birds looking straight at the camera and these are wonderful. Thanks!
edm
Thanks those are great photos
Laura Too
Cool! Yes, more please.
Aleta
I love them.
Thanks Steve.
Wag
Very cool. Thanks very much for sharing!
Auntie Anne
Oh, please send us more! These are wonderful.
Tom Levenson
Concur w. the consensus: these are really wonderful. Striking.
They don’t call it “glorious black and white” for no reason.
stinger
I love these!
arrieve
Wonderful pictures!
Amir Khalid
The bird in the third picture looks like he’s having a pretty rough day.
Kay (not the front-pager)
@Amir Khalid: The bird in the third picture immediately made me think of the great Jerry Stiller. It made me smile.
These are wonderful pictures. So much texture and detail, such interesting composition, I suspect I’ll be coming back throughout the day to study one or another of them. I hope we see more.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: The third one is my favorite! Needs a title, though.
Birds in the time of COVID?Everyone in the time of COVID?
MelissaM
@Kay (not the front-pager):
I thought of Jerry Stiller, too! Also “Not ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille.”
Great photos, need to see more.
susanna
Stunning in-your-face pictures of these birds. Yes, more.
Tenar Arha
Gorgeous! Thank you for sharing, & I too would love to see more.
Kattails
Great photos, thanks! They’ve held up well too. Do you remember whether using a super slow film like Pan-x? These have such depth and richness. (Love owls; one of the cats gives me an owl-y look now and again, always makes me laugh, like this bunch.)
Steve from Mendocino
@Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!):
Animals in prison like this tend to be bored, and staring into the lens is a distraction. Lucky for me. Sad for the animals, if you think about it too much. Zoos have gotten much nicer over the years, but they’re still prisons. Important for research and for getting humans to relate to animals, so I suppose I’m agnostic.
I used to go to the Los Angeles zoo during lunch hour and watch the animals while eating. Peaceful, contemplative respite from office work.
@Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!):
Steve from Mendocino
@Kattails: Plus-X Pan. That was my film of choice in 35mm, 2 1/4 square and 4X5. You can see from the shallow depth of field that they were shot pretty much wide open. I would guess at 250th of a second.
J R in WV
Nice job from the long ago years of film B&W work. 2 1/4 and 4×5 … I actually was paid to take 4×5 photos long long ago. Thanks for sharing these.
I know what you mean about zoos, once I realized they were prisons for the most part, I gave up visiting them. I know they do good work relating to species recovery, but still, so hard to appreciate for me any more.
Steve from Mendocino
@J R in WV: Press or view? The school required us in first semester to use 4X5 view for all assignments prior to the Los Angeles Story project, so that’s what I know best.