Ostrich Offs

Even though I followed industry standards during my Ostrich shoot, in my heart, I felt I had crossed an ethical line with the Ostrich Portraits. But I also felt that the full visualization was incomplete.

I had taken approximately 300 photographs, 98% of which were unusable. The discarded photographs, twelve of which comprise this series, compared to the chosen ones, show the clash between what I wanted — a portrait; and what the ostrich wanted — to get away from me.

Why is it that we lovers of animals, have come to prize the portrait?

The series points to an ethics of representation both in process, (how we obtain an image), and in the end product itself, (the photograph).

I believe there is a great potential in representation that depicts animal agency even if it is at the expense of human desire.   The Ostrich Portraits is my effort to privilege that agency.