I stopped by a river to get a shot of a sunset. I forgot the sunset when I saw the Chinook Salmon spawning so close to shore. These Salmon always return to their place of birth to spawn and this poor hen was banged up from her trecherous journey from the Pacific Ocean to this spot 100 miles up the Umpqua river in Douglas County Oregon. Chinook Salmon die after they spawn. This graceful lady has finished her life's task. Her eggs are buried in a gravel nest beneath her, the male has fertilized them and gone his own way... and she is waiting to die.
I love the mosaic look caused by the water movement.
All I did was crop, sharpen and play with curves just a tiny bit.
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You're explanation lends a great deal of poigniancy to this image. Regardless of whether or not it was understood, it's an incredibly beautiful and unique image.
Grace is apparent here on several levels. Besides the symbolism given in the title, and the grace of the fish itself, the rocks and the water ripples are very graceful. And the distortion of the water gives this image an impressionistic appearance that I find beautiful and graceful.
spawning?? wats spawning???? everything looked too much camouflaged until the subject is too hard to comprehand. There is grace in the title, but not in the photo though.
I really like this photo.....grace in the deepest meaning. I've seen the salmon spawning in Alaska, going to the greatest hardship to make it to give life, and then die. 10
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