The Boy
Beautiful places are popular among photographers.
It hurt me a little just typing that out. It’s kind of like saying, “Ice rinks are a likely spot to find people ice skating.” Both are obviously true. However, this poses a real issue that most people wouldn’t think about. As a casual observer, enjoyer of beautiful places, you would have every right to travel to these locations and take in the ambiance. You hike on well worn trails with eager anticipation of experiencing the glory of the locale. You know where the ideal place to stand is by merely looking at how packed the dirt is around you or how worn the rocks are. If that isn’t a dead giveaway, follow the crowd.
Letchworth State Park is an extremely popular spot for tourists, locals, hikers, hunters, campers, and photographers. It’s impressive and grand overture of landscapes is the primary draw of such individuals. Being over 14,000 acres in size, it would seem difficult to believe that there were spaces that are crowded. But there are. Lots of them. If you value alone time, stay away from these areas. If you want the best views, well, you’ll need to get cozy with your fellow enthusiasts.
Crowded
I recall a day where I woke up at an unfortunate time in the morning to go take photos at Letchworth. Something possessed me to go to a place called “Inspiration Point.” The name doesn’t do it justice, it is possibly the most amazing view in the whole 17 mile long park. Pulling into the parking lot immediately informed me of tardiness. 10-15 cars all lined up with no one occupying them. Walking the short trail to the overlook, I see a line of tripods being guarded abruptly by their owners. Territorial much? There was no spot for me unless I wanted a tree branch in the middle of my photo. Given my last post, that doesn’t seem so bad anymore …
I should have taken a picture of all the photographers taking pictures of the view I wanted to take a picture of. Oh, the irony. I didn’t, and now I regret it. All that to say, beautiful spots typically have hordes of people. These people are in the way. Landscapes muddied with people walking past the scene takes way too much time in Photoshop to clean up. So, either get in line or arrive before them and wait.
Upper Falls
I recently ventured to a spot very similar to this at Letchworth. It is possibly the most common area visited and even frequents a wedding or two on weekends. This is Upper Falls at the Southernmost tip of the park. People are everywhere. Sure, someone of my stature with a massive tripod and expensive looking camera will get any choice of location. I can give someone a look and watch them cower and run with their tails between their legs. I’m just that intimidating. Ok, maybe not. Usually what happens is people see that I, at least on a surface level, look like I know what I’m doing when it comes to taking pictures. They approach me and ask to take a picture of them with their dog with the amazing view behind them. I reluctantly agree, snap far too many mediocre shots and move on.
With little to no hope of capturing what I had in mind, I carried my heavy equipment with me around the park in vain. I can say I met my steps goal and the added weight burned more calories.
The Man
This man was set up with an easel, paints, brushes, buckets, stylish sunglasses, and was pointing directly at the waterfall. He was, in essence, painting exactly what I wanted to take a picture of. I’m jealous of painters. They can create their own composition, color palette, and remove all the distractions from their scene. My lack of ability to understand post process editing makes my photo taking much more limited.
I stared. They say staring is rude. But not in this case. I would be hard pressed to think this man didn’t at least enjoy some of the attention he was getting, sitting in the middle of hundreds of people showing off his talent. Then I noticed something potentially catastrophic, children. Better known as little monsters, children are chaotic, flesh-covered energy sources. And they were near this man's painting supplies. Semi watching at this point to see if the unthinkable would happen. Maybe one of them knocks over the easel, steps on his brushes, starts finger painting, I don’t know.
The Boy
But then something surprised me. One of the kids stopped and just stared. He didn’t speak, he didn’t move, he was at a safe distance, and just stood there and watched. Almost perfectly mimicking a Norman Rockwell painting, I furiously grabbed my camera and shot this picture.