Photography 101: Swarm

I wasn’t sure what to do for day fourteen of Photography 101. The theme is Swarm.

“It’s a swarm! Show us something that overruns your scene, but observe and compose carefully before you click the shutter.

Swarm: to fly off together in a group, as bees; to move about in great numbers, as things or persons.”

It’s November and there’s not much swarming here in the north-east US. It’s too cold for bees or ants. The geese have gone. We were overrun by fallen leaves, but now those have been cleared from the yard. My husband used a leaf blower to gather them. That would have been a nice scene to photograph, a swarm of leaves in flight, but day fourteen’s theme had not yet been announced. The leaves are now in a pile. They’ve lost their individuality and sit wet and dank, more like a lump than a swarm.

I guess I could have headed for the train station, the commuter park and ride, or the highway to photograph swarms of people or cars, but I opted for the following instead.  

The milkweed silk and seeds have freed themselves from their pods and are whisping about in little swarms.

I began filling the bird feeders a day or two ago and they have begun to attract the first members of what will become a large swarm as winter progresses. Sometimes there are at least 50 birds feeding at the feeders and pecking at the scattered seed on the ground. These two look as if they’re saying to each other, “Do you eat here often?”

And then there is the swarm of chickens next door. 🙂