I experienced a moral dilemma about my photo of this racoon, freshly killed on the road. The original photo was very, very graphic, and it prompted me to think what I wanted to achieve by sharing it or even keeping it at all.
Because I'm not entirely sure why I collect this gallery of animal carcasses to begin with, I didn't have a clear answer to the question of why I would censor one of the photos.
I do know that one reason I capture these pictures is because it is an act of seeing an individual that used to be alive, but which is now dead. So the way I edited the racoon picture is in that spirit. I can look at that small hand, for instance, and touch the leathery palm, in a way. I can see the animal as a whole and not get lost in its entrails.
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| Dead racoon, Arrow Rock State Park, Missouri. May 2018. |
There is something odd about a carrion eater like this vulture being dead. Do vultures eat dead vultures?
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| Dead vulture, Arrow Rock State Park, Missouri. May 2018. |
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| Dead vulture, Arrow Rock State Park, Missouri. May 2018. |
My cumulative carcass collection below:
I always say a brief mantra/prayer of compassion for road kill - so I keep my eye out for these animal deaths.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. What a thoughtful practice.
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