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The Other
Arctic Foxes
in the summer show only traces of their white winter coats. They are sometimes known as 'Blueys' because of the slight blue tinge to the coat that can just be seen here.
The forms of life we encounter normally divide in two: into that of which we are part, and that which is other. Humans occasionally allow dogs and horses as honorary humans, but 'wild' animals are clearly other. One key aspect of the otherness of animals is that we rarely come 'face to face' with them. After all that is not an encounter many wild animals cherish!
The objects in our worlds come into existence by emerging from undifferentiated backgrounds and dropping into the niches that we can provide for them. My need to catch and eat the fox renders it an object for me - it is a very paradigm of an object for humans. To the fox avoidance of being eaten is fundamental, the object predator is vital. There I crouched, at the point where I was not quite object for it, where I was about to become object for it: the point of emergence.
We reciprocated the role of object maker. I got there first, long enough to savour the relationship. Within seconds I too had become an object for it; as the shutter clicked, it fled.
18th October 2014 ~ 1st May 2015