Honorable Mention / 2021 / Nature / Domestic Animals

Fancy Pigeons

  • Photographer
    Brendan Burden, Canada
  • Studio
    Brendan Burden Photography

Fancy Pigeons

To most, pigeons are ubiquitous urban pests. They’re something one rarely delights in or takes pleasure in seeing. But this hasn’t always been so—it could actually be the love of pigeons that has made them such a common, mundane part of our landscape. Humans have been domesticating pigeons for at least 10,000 years, and the pigeon was likely the first domesticated bird.

In this series, Brendan Burden explores the unexpected and often under-appreciated beauty of the lowly pigeon through the use of formal portrait techniques.