I have deleted them
Posted by nana on October 22 2009
I took the car to Docklands the other day. Convenient drive away from home, plenty of parking space. It was early evening, the sun was still up. I took my book with me and sat right at the edge of the dock, murky waters 3 or 4 metres below me, Tricky’s “Back To Mine” playing from the speakers of my iPhone. I drove here because I wanted to do some groceries shopping but decided to stop by the dock for a breath of fresh air. Then I remembered I also have my camera in my bag, which I managed to clean the day before (there was a piece of dust on the sensor, so my friend and I bought a air pumper thing to swish the dust away). I took it out of my bag and started to capture the darkening skies, heavy clouds, still private boats and calm waters.
sitting
It was then that I noticed two seagulls about 30 meters from me. I could see one just caught a small fish, probably the size of my hand. The other seagull was fighting for it. I quickly took the chance to snap a few shots, but in the end, decided I’m too far to get a good shot. I slung the camera strap over my neck, kept my book and started walking along.
I was so glad to be there. That’s what I like to do, just randomly roam, alone, sometimes. Then I found the ramp to go down to where the boats are “parked”, and where the two birds were. I inched my way towards them, and turned off the music from my phone so as to not scare them away. Though it seems they were oblivious to my existence and all that mattered then was the fish, and the other seagull.
When I was 6 or 7 meters from them, I stopped and quickly grabbed the photo opportunity, they were still fighting over the fish. Snap snap snap until I thought, ok, enough.
……………
When I transferred the photos that night, I saw a little red on my photos. I zoomed in and it struck me that it was the fish’s blood. It sent chills down my spine. What did I expect anyway? It was food for them. It was prey. I closed the windows.
……………
Tonight I’m flipping through my albums looking for something that I can adjust the colours to for sharing online. I remembered those pictures that I didnt want to see, and from the “thumbnail view” of my folder, I chose the ones that I thought captured the two birds (and the fish) and deleted them.
*shivers*
