Sunday, December 14, 2008

Small Song of the Willow Ptarmigan

15 comments:

Lemon Hound said...

lovely.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thanks! I can't get enough of these birds. H was taking photographs at the time, so I decided to shoot some video, which was more than a bit challenging given the wind, low light and my general disinterest in gadgets which of course becomes rather troublesome when one actually wants to use a gadget. And then there's the whole matter of holding it steady...

Anonymous said...

Did you add the voiceover afterwards? That was really nice. Thanks. I love listening to you read your work.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thank you! Ya, the poem was recorded on yet another gadget that I also keep forgetting how to run. But then I never remember how to use our cellphone. Anyway, H removed the sound from the video, which was the sound of howling wind, the occasional cluck from the ptarmigan and the occasional question from me such as "what's the red light mean?" and overlaid the audio that I recorded today.

SMSteele said...

so I'll walk on them again, righteously... very nice

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thanks!

It's another cold day. -30 and a wind on top, but not as windy as southern Saskatchewan. The yard is full of puffed-up grosbeaks, redpolls and chickadees, and the odd downy and hairy woodpecker, magpie and raven. I guess they're happy with the food H leaves for them.

Anonymous said...

Nice!

And yes, nasty cold with the wind down here. I don't have to leave the house for at least 2 days--so I'm not.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thanks!

Nice! Enjoy your time at home. It's good weather for reading.

I hope it's warmer over the holidays. Lots warmer.

SMSteele said...

and we here on the west coast have snow and ice and wind and trees down and power cuts and the cheesy reindeer on my roof got knocked over and is flailing about and it's really rather nice as long as the wood stove is well fed

Brenda Schmidt said...

Ha! I can picture the reindeer! It does sound nice. A nice warm wood stove and all that going on just beyond the walls.

Shawna Lemay said...

really beautiful.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thank you, Shawna!

Kimmy said...

reminds me of the silly drunken pheasants at St. Pete's. only your bird is much less silly and drunk (or so it would appear)

Brenda Schmidt said...

Silly drunken pheasants at St. Pete's!? Ha! How come I haven't heard this story before? I miss all the fun.

Brenda Schmidt said...

I should add that the original video, which I shot from the car, is very short. You'll note the jerkiness of the bird in this final product. That's not how ptarmigan move or behave. It's simply the result of editing. H repeated some frames in the clip many times in order to make the video long enough to accommodate the sonnet and make the video work as well as possible with the words.