This is my response to the Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge — Creepy.  It is a dark and mournful story (hopefully).  The events, places and people described are purely fictional.  Illustrative photos made to fit, were taken on my recent short break.  Alrighty, let’s get on with it.

Beneath The Surface

Sleepy seaside village bordered by mountains and boundless crystal clear waters.
Heaven’s waiting room they call it.  Its other name is Hell.

idyllic.jpg

A deep undertow hides flaws and dirty secrets.

look out.jpg

Community of lost souls

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but misfits dine alone.

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Fear and loathing rent from shimmering sea and mourn

masked lapwinggull

Young men rendered weak.
Be a man in the mould from which you’re cast.

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Prince of the air.  A creep that does not belong.

Channel billed cuckoodriven out

Beneath the emerald-jeweled surface.

the rush

I fly.

seat

Shall we have a song to go with the story?  You know the one …

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

36 thoughts on “Beneath The Surface”

  3. Loved it Tracy. You just made tranquil creepy!! I’m wondering about the bird identification; the yellow faced one, who fits so well in your creepy scene, and the birds in flight?

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    1. Thanks Heather. 🙂 The one with the yellow face is a masked lapwing. That one had quite a dirty brown neck so I think it may have been a chick. They are normally white on the neck. My husband said it looked dirty but since it was hanging out with another that looked pristine clean, I find that difficult to believe. I was going to edit out the bonnet (hood?) of my car but I felt it added to the creepiness. The big bird is a Channel-billed cuckoo. I had never seen one before, but its markings under the tail gave a clue as to what it was. It is the largest brood parasite and cuckoo in the world. They sometimes lay their eggs in eagle nests. The scientific name is Scythrops novaehollandiae. Wikipedia tells me that this is taken from the Ancient Greek skuthro-/σκυθρο- ‘angry’ or ‘sullen’, and ops/ωψ ‘face’, ‘eye’ or ‘countenance’. It was weirdly hypnotic. The other birds did not like it at all. In the second photo of that group, it is being chased by a much smaller wattle bird.

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      1. Thanks Tracy for all the detail. I really appreciate it. These are birds I’ve never seen before. That is fascinating about the Scythrops. By name alone it fit with your theme! I wonder if the Eagles then raise them as there own. I know there is another species where they do the same and then the bird that hatches them raises them as their own.

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  13. Love how you combined your beautiful photos with your dark and mournful story, Tracy!! 😄 So fitting and creative! That shot of the two flying birds (cuckoos?) is amazing!! And there’s something so wistful with empty benches… I can see another story there. 😉

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