A Freak

There's a quality of legend about freaks.  Like a person in a fairy tale who stops you and demands that you answer a riddle.   -Diane Arbus 

I love riddles, especially when they take human form.   There is something about the unusual, the unique, and the different that captivates me.  Where I feel most people shy away from such characters, I am drawn to them like a moth to a flame.  Just as with a riddle, these types of individuals require long observation from odd angles in order  to decipher their true natures.  

This photograph, for me, is the animal equivalent of such a situation.  I encountered this African Crested Stork at the Denver Zoo and the inquisitive look he gave me stopped me in my tracks.  It was almost as if his inimitable self recognized something familiar in me.  Perhaps I am attracted to freaks because I too am a freak?  Though not the best representation of what he looked like, this image was my attempt at rendering his expression.  His inner quirk seems to be accentuated by his outward appearance- a golden crown and crystal blue eyes in addition to his extensive inspection of me.  


The people I am drawn to rarely have physical abnormalities that betray their inner differences of thought, knowledge, standard, and desire.  Discovering the why and how of their personalities is a game I find very rewarding and are why I surround myself with so many freaks.  Birds of a feather flock together and so the more puzzling the person, the more infatuated I am.