It Could Have Been There

After a Covid hiatus last year, in 2021 I finally got back to my beloved annual fall foliage trip to northern New England. I had the pleasure of having @Alan_Kreyger along for the ride this year. We had 5 out of 8 days with rain/overcast/fog, which works fine for me, especially for forest intimates.

I don’t know if it’s pandemic cabin fever or not, but it seemed like the hordes of cell phone, selfie snapping Instagramers/Facebookers were out in unusually larger numbers this year. I noticed this in between listening to the drones buzzing overhead. Call me old fashioned, but I could do with less of those things. Those days are likely never to return however. :sob:

In honor of the Instagram/Facebook snappers, I post this image titled “It Could Have Been There”.

Ignore for the moment that it’s nearly impossible for a leaf to lodge on the tree like this , or that it is a maple leaf on a birch tree trunk. It really could have been there. And it would look great on Instagram :grin:

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Am I being too jaded or sarcastic ??

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No

This image is not a composite, not a drone image, not focus stacked, or even exposure blended. Hand of man is present if you think about it though… :laughing:

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Great shot, Ed. The red leaf contrasts nicely with the light colored bark. Ed and I didn’t make it out for a fall trip this year so didn’t have to contend with all the traffic. I didn’t really get your title untill the end there. :grinning:
I’m kinda on the fence about drones. They are quite a nuisance buzzing about, but if you’re in a remote location they are a nice tool to have. I’ve seen quite a few great photos which could not have been taken otherwise, like the overhead shots of the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Ed,

Yes it could have been. In fact I have an image with a leaf stuck to a vertical tree trunk.

Regardless, I appreciate the close up look at the bark texture in this one.

You know my feelings about the angry bee swarm racket of a drone on a quiet morning. I agree with @Michael_Lowe that they can provide some unique images and expect they are here to stay.

Ed, I love this image for the contrast and composition . I would say, let everything behind, come overhere and enjoy NO drones and No big crowds.OK also No mountains but we have some trees and mills of course

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It’s definitely IG material. And it certainly could have been there - I doubt many would have wondered about the inter-species interaction. :wink:

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The red leaf looks pretty bold over the birch like that. I find the bark fascinating though. I could also see an interesting image of just the bark - an abstract.

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It’s a beautiful image that you composed in spite of all the chaos around you. The way you describe it I would have left!

Ed, the contrast in color texture between the b&w crunchy birch bark and the red maple leaf jumps off the page…guess that’s why Instagram would love it! It will be very interesting to see if as Covid recedes the heavy “outdoor” emphasis will recede also, sadly I doubt it and the nation will need to rethink how it runs it’s parks to avoid them getting overrun. We watched (and said something) to a family in Yellowstone yesterday, as they let their children touch the runoff from Grand Prismatic and then start to mark the algal mat!

@Michael_Lowe @Ben_van_der_Sande @Alan_Kreyger @Vanessa_Hill @Bonnie_Lampley @Igor_Doncov @Mark_Seaver

thank you for all your comments, hopefully my satirical comments weren’t too mean spirited. While I think drone images can be very interesting, they sure are annoying when they are buzzing overhead. Part of why I enjoy Nature photography is that it can be a very relaxing to escape from the everyday world. I enjoy the solitude it sometimes affords. Buzzing drones and hordes of selfie stick wielding people diminish that experience for me. Time to get further off the beaten track I guess.

I hope it does pull back somewhat over time, but I’m not optimistic. Many of these pandemic cabin fever tourists think that places such as Yellowstone are like being in a Disney park, and they do not have enough respect for nature. Ultimately this inevitably will lead to more restriction in national parks, etc, which diminishes the experience for everyone else. Sad, but probably necessary.

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