I recently spent a few days floating on a boat in Virginia for the sole purpose of photographing bald eagles. I was on the James River and found the whole setting quite fitting for my photography. Here I was working with the iconic symbol of the United States, while completely surrounded by the a landscape that was dripping with origin story of this country.
A few miles downriver from where I was sat Jamestown, the very first successful English colony. Just a mile or two upriver was Richmond, where Patrick Henry would shout “Give me liberty, or give me death” in a little church helping to light the fire of revolution. And just 100 yards from where I photographed this eagle was the remains of an old ferry dock which George Washington stood upon waiting for a boat to cross.
I’m happy to see eagles here. Growing up in the 1980s, they were nowhere to be found in these parts. DDT had taken its toll and the bald eagle was almost completely wiped out of existence on the east coast. But today, these birds have made a fabulous comeback and the James River is one again lined with the towering nests of these mighty birds.
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