expired

Yeah, I know. It's morbid and gross. It started with the bird, which I found in our house upon returning from a vacation. I don't know how it got in while we were away, but it did and it was dead when we returned. Not only did we find the dead bird in our house when we returned, but we also found a dead rat in our yard. It must have washed up with the irrigation or something. Since I had two dead critters to dispose of, I impulsively decided to capture a gruesome photo of each. From there, I decided that I would make a project of dead animals that I found. Why would I want to do that? I don't know that I have an answer. I think part of it was that I felt compelled to depart from always taking photos of nice and pretty things. Some of my favorite photographers (i.e. Irving Penn and Diane Arbus) shot things that weren't so pretty. I suppose I wanted to stray into something different and interesting. I wanted to begin working on actual cohesive projects, and the two dead animals presented an opportunity to start one. This was the result.

The fish and the crawdad I actually caught on a camping trip and ate them, after photographing (and cooking) them first. The elk, cat, and rabbit were roadkill (not my doing). I found the rat and the bird, as previously mentioned. I will likely limit this project to the seven images shown here. That is to say, I probably won't be looking for dead animals anymore, since it may give the impression that I am disturbed or something. Though, if I happen upon something interesting while equipped, I might not be able to help myself.