Cranes: Sentinels Beyond the Blue Gate
In 2004, I began photographing local and migratory Sandhill Cranes and became enchanted with this ancient, adaptive, elegant, family-oriented, dancing bird. It is understandable that the crane symbolizes well-being, good fortune and long life in diverse times and cultures. In Florida, the migratory cranes arrive around Thanksgiving and start their journey north around Valentine’s Day, while the locals continue to be a presence year round.
The first photograph presented in this portfolio, The Guardian Crane was an early image in the series and is a central one. When we visited London’s National Gallery in 2002, I was taken with a small Hans Memling panel depicting cranes. Watching over family and friends, a crane holds a stone that would drop and wake him, should he doze.
The Guardian Crane in my work has come to represent the idea of the delicate/robust Sandhill Crane – part of the oldest avian species – as an environmental and spiritual sentinel. They renewed my delight in photography and engagement with our environment.
Exhibitions of this work at the Palm Beach Photographic Museum and the Florida Museum of Natural History were occasions to share this series of images of these magnificent birds. The show was called In the Open.
