Jack Davison shoots parrots with PTSD for The New York Times Magazine

Date
9 February 2016

We already knew 2016 was set to be a good year for Jack Davison – he was, after all, one of our Ones to Watch – so when a new story he shot for the The New York Times Magazine came out we were all eyes and ears.

Late last year Jack flew out to LA to visit Serenity Park, a parrot sanctuary on the grounds of a medical centre for war veterans, to shoot a story about the unlikely relationships struck up between rescued birds and veterans suffering from PTSD. “It’s utterly bizarre but as part of rehabilitating the vets, they introduce them to parrots that tend to have been abused or not very well looked after,” he explained.

For the recent feature, written by Charles Siebert, Jack shot a handful of the 34 resident parrots – from a caique parrot called Cashew to Bobbi the Goffin’s cockatoo – with the same style that runs through both his fashion photography and personal work. Some aviaries hold up to three or four birds, like a trio of umbrella cockatoos also known as the Three Stooges, while others house self-possessed loners like Julius, who Lorin Lindner, the psychologist who founded the sanctuary, explains in the article is afraid of other parrots because, ‘‘he doesn’t think he is one.’’

Shooting for one of the world’s most respected newspaper supplements, and one designed by Gail Bichler and her team at that, the series is undoubtedly a milestone for Jack.

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Left

Jack Davison: Of a Feather, The New York Times Magazine

Above
Left

Jack Davison: Of a Feather, The New York Times Magazine

Above
Left

Jack Davison: Of a Feather, The New York Times Magazine

Above

Jack Davison: Of a Feather, The New York Times Magazine

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About the Author

Alexander Hawkins

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