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birdwatchersdigest.com • MARCH/APRIL ’ 17 • BIRD WATCHER’S DIGEST
Every once in awhile,
you see an image that
sticks with you, one
you’ll never forget. The
sailor-nurse smooch on
V.E. Day comes to mind.
There are many others I won’t
invoke, for not all of them are
nice. One image has stuck with
me for years, and it’s one of my
favorite photographs of all time.
I never knew who created it,
though. Lazy, I guess. I could
have Googled it and found out.
Duh. Imagine my surprise when,
in browsing through the photo
albums of a new Facebook
friend, I saw That Image. Bryan
Holliday had made it. I don’t say
“taken,” and you’ll understand
why when you read his story.
Once in a blue moon, when I
make a nice photo, I’ll hear,
“Wow. You must have a really
good camera.” Every photog-
rapher hears this. And most
photographers do have a real-
ly good camera. My iPhone
is a really good camera. So is my
old Canon 7D. But it’s the brain,
the eye, and the mind behind the
lens that makes a photo. It’s the
thought that counts.
Sit back and be humbled, as
I was, by the story of how this
off-the-charts fabulous image
was made by a middle-school science teacher who is also blazing
his unique way as a visual artist,
doing what he was made to do.
I’m grateful to Bryan Holliday for
answering the call when I asked
him to write it up, so that I might
share it in True Nature:
AUTHOR
READ-ALOUD
PLAY IT »
TRUE NATURE TRUE NATURE
BY JULIE ZICKEFOOSE
BRY
AN
HOL
L
IDAY