African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) - In the wild
by HarveyG

Comment by Chandi:
Are you sure this is not a studio portrait? :)
Very nice capture and processing. Love the variety of textures and patterns on display as well as the curves.

African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) - In the wild
by HarveyG

Comment by monkeypirate:
Nice silhouette

African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) - In the wild
by HarveyG

Comment by Dphoto:
Wow! Cool bird!

African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) - In the wild
by HarveyG

Comment by jim29028:
interesting use of negative space, maybe a tighter crop on the top and a little from the left or more low key image would have been more dramatic

African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) - In the wild
by HarveyG

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
Reminds me of a couple of people I know.

African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) - In the wild
by HarveyG

Comment by keyz:
Wonderful shot. I understand now why Thoth, the Egyptian god, was ibis-headed man. Impressive bird...

African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) - In the wild
by HarveyG

Comment by FourPointX:
great capture. loving the detail. nice treatment in b&w too

African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) - In the wild
by HarveyG

Comment by Tom:
Wow, this is awesome! He looks like a statue

Prompter. Preacher. Projector.
by HarveyG

Comment by HarveyG:
Thanks for all the post voting breakdown. I accept that it's not in your face and that it suffered from that as well as a lot of people thinking it wasn't typical NG. No harm in that. But as with all the challenges the lack of commenting is what is, well, lacking. There were fabulous shots in this challenge and my vote average was above 6. I'm just sceptical of entering something that's bound to work for the wow vote only and not the "that's technically brilliant" vote. Sure, combining both factors is the way forward.

Prompter. Preacher. Projector.
by HarveyG

Comment by Delta_6:

Originally posted by Yo_Spiff: Your main subject is perhaps a touch blown, but again, that is the nature of shooting in such a venue. I guess the main reason I gave it a 5 is that I recognized that it fit the challenge, and that you knew how to shoot in such light, but it didn't wow me or connect with me in any way. The story that you saw in the scene just did not carry over to me.

This comment reflects my feelings on the shot almost exactly. I also gave it a 5. I thought it was a competent shot but it just didn't grab me at all, despite me being a Christian also. With the article you wrote it would and does fit perfectly but, of course, that was not available in voting.