Duck Walking 2009

One morning, when I went to gather the dog's bowls so I could feed them, I found a present waiting for me on the back porch.  It was a rather large, dead, duck.  I knew who the gift was from (the dogs), I just wasn't sure how they had gotten it.  Whatever, I was thrilled, and took as many photos as I could of the lovely bird before burying it so the dogs wouldn't continue to "re-gift".  Later I discovered  broken glass in one of my high studio windows where the duck had hit, then fallen, probably with a broken neck.

Over the years I've used bits and pieces of this duck to make countless images.  In my mind, I'm bringing him back to life, and in this case, fairly minimally: just the head, with a human eye, attached to a dictionary page that forms the body, and wings that are made of dirt and gravel.  This isn't a bird that's going to fly anymore.  He's walking on top of an aerial view of one of the many cities that I fly over and photograph whenever I travel.  In this case, probably Los Angels, sprawling, freeways and cars everywhere.  It's what he would see if he could fly, but then of course, he wouldn't be able to land anywhere since the city is so densly populated for so many miles.