I was walking through St James Park in London when I spotted this finely dressed gentleman sit on the sunny park bench and begin feeding the birds . . . and not in a usual way either. He was feeding the birds with seeds in his mouth and also in both hands. He had to have been doing this for quite some time, for as soon as he sat down the birds began to come. The suit and tie of the gentleman is part of what I enjoy about the image. When he first sat down, he appeared to have just walked out of his office with his crisp clean suit, the next moment he is feeding the birds and his suit was quickly destined for the cleaners and he didn't care . . . he was just enjoying feeding the birds! :-) He was completely in the sun, but when I shot from his left side the shadows of the birds detracted from the image.

This image was taken in St. James Park, London as I explored the city before going to the British Grand Prix in the summer of 1973. This is a scan of my Kodachrome 64 slide without any noticeable color shift in the 42 years since it was taken.

I have taken thousands of photographs since this one, but this is still one of my favorite images. It has hung on my wall for over 40 years yet still garners comments by friends when viewed for the first time. Hope you enjoy it, even if it’s not my usual landscape subject matter :-)

Tags:   London England St James Park bird bench feeding Kodachrome Pentax

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