Raven
I found this on my high school’s website. It was from an art show in like 2003 or something when I was learning photography. This shot was taken during one of the most profound spiritual experiences of my life. I was standing taking photographs in the Painted Desert with my mother and father when I encountered this Raven that was curiously friendly to me.
After spending some time with the bird, I returned to our car and we continued to drive around looking for more vistas. The bird followed us for about a half hour. This photograph was taken from the backseat window of our car while we were traveling at about 25 mph.
The experience gave me the creeps. I never fed the bird or gave it any natural reason to follow me. We decided to change our flight as it felt like an omen. One month after this happened I lost a very close friend in a car accident. This was the first in a string of deaths in my life that were each so, so challenging. That period shaped who I am today more than anything else.
When I looked back over my photos of the raven, I discovered that in about eight of the photos, the bird was resting on a street turn sign and was gazing at the exact spot of the road where my friend died.
This bird is now tattooed on my back. More photos of it to come.
