Hummingbirds of Ocean Beach
Tessa Felice and I put together an exhibit at the
Lazy Hummingbird Cafe in Ocean Beach, San Diego. The Lazy Hummingbird Cafe was where I came everyday when I first moved to OB in August, 2018 from the East Coast. I'd sit outside and listen to the chimes, looking online for places to live. As I walked around OB, I began to hear and see hummingbirds and they filled me with a sense of magic, awe, and a sense of home.
I met Tessa working at
High Tech High. She and a teacher named John Santos taught me how to build frames out of wood and then together, Tessa and I took photographs and built the frames for this exhibit.
We hope to sell some of the photographs and frames we made. All proceeds generated from the exhibit will go to
Saving Species, a nonprofit organization which helps to save habitats and hummingbirds who are threatened by climate change.
Here is where we're documenting our project digitally. Use the arrows to navigate and see our project and our process.
Molly Josephs—
Hummingbirds enchant me. I listen for their gurgly songs wherever I go in San Diego. Throughout my life on the East Coast, I had seen a hummingbird only once. But here, I've fallen in love with them. Seeing them as I walk to the store or bike home from work, is one of the things that makes living in OB so special to me.
Tessa Felice —
As a young girl, playing outside always filled me with joy. I used to run around and make purple potions with our mexican bush sage, or salvia leucantha. I’ve always been aware of another creature that enjoyed this plant as I did, hummingbirds! Hummingbirds always had a mesmerizing effect on me when they’d fly close to my face. It was as if they weren’t actually moving, but floating. And that buzzing always had an aligning, healing property to it, as a singing bowl would. I remember pulling each sage bulb, packed with a fine drop of nectar. I sometimes pretended to be one of my little hummingbird companions and would taste this succulent ambrosia.
I think of my mother when I see them because of her love for hummingbirds and hawks. She told me they were her spirit guides, and shared them with me graciously. I’d love to share that feeling with everyone.
The Drip — Tessa Felice
We know patience is a virtue
We know practice makes perfect
But your subject’s a foot away
Right as you begin your day,
That shot’s yours
You rightfully deserve it
Etiwanda
— Molly Josephs
I woke up early on my first day in OB eager to photograph hummingbirds frequenting this red hibiscus bush on Etiwanda Street. When I spotted this immature allen's or rufous male flying to and from the bush, I was thrilled! He was the first humminbird I ever photographed.
I’m not sure why hummingbirds are attracted to hibiscus bushes. but many of the flowers from which hummingbirds eat nectar are red.
Muir — Molly Josephs
One of the things I love about going around the neighborhood looking for hummingbirds, is discovering the "secret" spots that seem to be particularly popular.
There are these two dead bushes on Muir Street whose bare limbs serve as perches and watchtowers. The upper branches stretch above a fence, surrounding a small cottage community. They're tall enough that they seem to give the birds a good, 360° view of the neighborhood.
On this particular day, an immature male Anna's (I think) fluffed and preened his feathers between bouts of flying off, occasionally to the feeder nearby.
Ligar — Tessa Felice
Thank you to the man that opened the gate to his community patio for us. He allowed us to watch and photograph hummingbirds at his feeder for as long as we liked. Similar to the allen’s hummingbird that opens her wings to stay balanced in life, as this mature female nurtures herself, she knows that he is a nice man (: This girl kept flying back and forth from the power lines thirty feet away just to flirt with us. Tee-Hee
Branching out — Tessa Felice
I love figs, and I love birds that visit the trees, even with absolutely no crop. We learn from them to sit peacefully with our friends, and look at the trees around us. I wonder what it was that both of these (species) were staring at. Sitting together, content with the breeze, and the grey sky.
Up Close — Molly Josephs
These are portraits of a bird (I believe a male Anna's) who spent the morning perched on one of the dead bushes where I go to find hummingbirds. From one perspective, he looks sleek and fierce with his sword of a bill. From a different perspective he appears fluffy and round. This dynamism touches on the contrasting habits and qualities —small but fierce— of hummingbirds.
Paradise — Tessa Felice
Flight! Landing! If the flower is a bird of paradise, converting it to our scale, we can imagine our hesitation to land on the human of paradise. Imagine landing on a flower bigger than you are. Or flee it, if this is what this female Anna’s hummingbird is doing. It can be quite the game, but at times we must! Leap in! Each of us will have someone that gives us paradise, it’s only the leap that we lack. This hummingbird above a strelitzia, named after the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, are engaging one another. This image has balance, and love. Perch upon paradise!
Sluuuurrrrrrrpppppp — Tessa Felice
I know what it feels like, after a day of thirst.
Downy — Molly Josephs
This male Anna’s is the same one as in Up Close. I loved getting near enough to him to glimpse the downy feathers close to his body. I would not associate those white feathers with hummingbirds. They’re so sleek and magical. They seem to transcend the laws of physics and biology, even though they too need to stay warm.
Symmetry — Molly Josephs
I spotted this immature rufous male hummingbird singing on a very tall bird of paradise flower on Muir street. Despite the fact that the bird was small, and the plant, incredibly tall, I was struck by the symmetry and resonance between the sharp bill of the hummingbird and the pointed beak of the flower.
The Process —
- Move to OB and falling in love with the Lazy Hummingbird Cafe and with Hummingbirds
- Paying attention and learning where hummingbirds are likely to be found in my neighborhood.
- Borrowing a Sony RX10 camera from a friend and learning how to use it to photograph hummingbirds
- Talk to cafe
- Meeting Tessa and photograph hummingbirds together
- Select photos for the exhibit
- Digitally edit photos so that photo sizes match frames and are at 600 DPI
- Building frames from scratch — rout wood, cut wood with 45° angles, make sure it fits around glass, glue wood, staple nails, sand, woody putty, sand, stain, make backs, add attachments so can hang, put in photo!
- Write descriptions for photos
- Get photos printed in correct sizes at Costco
- Put photos in frames and take to cafe
- Figure out arrangement of photo display on the floor
- Hang photos in wall display and tape descriptions to the wall!
Acknowledgements
Thank you to John Santos for his incredible generosity and patience in teaching us. He gave us so much support and all of the materials for the frames.
Thank you, to Brian Delgado, Andrew Lerario, and Blue Dot Education for lending us their Sony RX10 camera, and giving us photography advice. Thank you to Pat Holder for driving us to the cafe in the rain! Of course, thanks to High Tech High for providing the opportunity to work on projects like this!
Lastly, thank you to all of the hummingbirds, flowers, and The Lazy Hummingbird Cafe, which make OB so special!