Birdsong And Empty Paths

Five Frames from a Bozeman Park

I've been working on this thing where I only take five frames per outing, then edit them as a sequence. It's supposed to help me think more about narrative and stay present instead of just burning through shots.

I went out to one of the parks near my house in Bozeman with my camera, thinking I'd photograph birds. That was the plan anyway. But once I got out there, I kept getting distracted by other things—the paths winding through the grass, the way the late afternoon light was hitting everything.

Don't get me wrong, there were birds. I got a couple in the frames. But I found myself more interested in the spaces between things. The empty paths that suggested people had been there but weren't anymore. The quiet corners where you could sit and just listen.

Maybe that's what birding really is anyway—not just looking for the birds themselves, but paying attention to the places they inhabit, the stillness they move through. Learning to see the landscape the way they might see it.

Five frames. A few birds. A lot of quiet space. Sometimes that's enough.