photo series:

bonjour mr. blackbird

(photo-picture book project) 

Bonjour Mr. Blackbird portrays the trials and triumphs of a group of blackbirds and other city creatures as they attempt to raise their young in a busy urban location. A.M.Hanson has made a large group of photographs which celebrate the arrival of  London's Spring and the natural joy and energy it brings. Made over two seasons, this photo-book structures images of nature on the doorstep set against a backdrop of Spring blossoming into Summer in the metropolis. As the months change, the pictures evoke an evolution of growth and of the urban landscape's changing light,colour and magic. The blackbirds are the incidental yet very real stars and provide the threaded pulse throughout the story. In a broader sense the picture book is a toast to the urban natural cycle and the hope,excitement and surprises created by it.

The blackbird's migration is constantly adapting much like that of any creature of air,land and sea. Not to mention where we ourselves live and travel, together with the routes of all nomads and wayward refugees. In a time and consciousness of great climatic and environmental changes, these urban dwellers fly beneath jumbo jets, through the traffic's noise and bravely choose new and optimistic places to call home. With a growing awareness of the advent of Bird Flu sooner or later this story takes on a further dynamic. The underlying emphasis is that to understand what and who we find around us is a crucial part of our own acceptance and placement in the modern world.

"The streets get dressed up in nature's trail. The barometer quivers and life erupts across the city's flux..."

"At dawn and dusk, silhouetted against the night sky and in glorious sunshine as new growth sprouts from the trees. Against the evening moon's arc and at sun's first rays, the blackbird is nature's urban dart. Orange point precedes jet flash. Flying fast through back gardens, singing out as it travels down the street. Proud, shining, elegant and sure. It makes a home next to our home...."

a picture book for all ages with a universal theme  (details to follow)  © Copyright. A.M.Hanson. 2005/06/07 

go to: photo series:  Twin Time