Andrew Fusek Peters is a cancer survivor, so he made sure to isolate during the height of the pandemic and used the time to do his best works.
Shropshire, United Kingdom (02 February 2021) – 55-year-old Andrew Fusek Peters was at high-risk during the pandemic. As a cancer survivor, he decided to isolate throughout the pandemic, which meant he had little to do but stay busy at home.
He has loved photographing the birds in his garden over the years, but it was the pandemic that really helped him stretch his creative eye. He started sitting at his kitchen window, watching the birds come and go. He pulled out his camera and decided to hone his skills.
He spent hours at that window with his camera. He captured failed frame after failed frame. Birds are very rarely still, so he had to just hope that he would be faced with some good photos when he checked his viewfinder.
“I have been working on photographing birds in flight in my garden for some years, but during the pandemic doing my best to hone that skill – and technique can only take you so far. Then, if you are lucky, there is a moment of grace, what Cartier Bresson called the decisive moment and the funny thing is that at the time, I often have no idea I have dug down to find treasure. Birds and what they do in relation to each other, in their brief aerial outbursts, are simply a flurry and flash, a suddenness that is gone in the blink of an eye. Only later, scanning the many thousands of out of focus or empty frames does the screen suddenly fill with gold, yellow and red.”
Andrew says the birds really helped him get through December, a time when one is usually surrounded by family. In the process of photographing them, he has captured some of his best works. All from the comfort of his kitchen.
“I love the birds that visit my garden and their flare and fight have literally got me through darks days in the last month. The few square feet around my feeders has become a world in miniature, with territories and that amazing mix of sharing and bullying as birds grab, peck, snatch their winter fuel allowance which i wait in the kitchen for what Cartier Bresson called ‘the decisive moment.’ Often that is the action – of take off, coming into land, facing off. Dull, common garden visitors transform when wings outstretch into flashes of colour that choreograph the air. It’s all worth it, for here is both beauty and hope bundled up in packets of fierce energy and maybe their framing might lift your tired spirits too.”
Andrew went from being stuck in his home to capturing some of his best works which will now go on to inspire others. He has been featured on all major UK media and news platforms and now has the opportunity to work on a book which he is calling “Flight”.
Sources: Facebook
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