It's leaf peeping season in Vermont, and naturally, I had to burn a couple of hundred dollars worth of 8x10 negative film. (Hope I can figure out where to get it processed!) So my wife and I headed out with the dog and the 2D. Darned dog wouldn't even carry my camera for me! Naturally, all of the really scenic roads in the state were packed with tourists and other jacka$$ types (like myself, for example) out staring at a natural phenomenon that occurs every year about this time. But we had fun anyway, and I got a few shots that I hope come out okay.
There was one place we stopped, next to one of my favorite trout streams, where there was a pullout. A hill rising up from the river was resplendent in fall color and the sky was showing one of its rare moments today where there was some blue peeking through the overcast. Two vans pulled up about the same time we did, and my wife and I watched a modern reincarnation of the Keystone Cops, as about thirty Japanese tourists piled out of those two vehicles. Or maybe it was just twenty...I didn't try to count them. They started snapping away with their digital cameras and paid no attention to me at first as I set the Eastman 2d up on a Berlebach tripod. When I went to move it onto the spot from which I wanted to shoot, I caught their attention. For the next fifteen minutes, we waited while each one in turn posed with my camera and had their picture taken. You'da thunk they'd want their picture taken with the lovely mountain in the background! Then when they were all done getting their pictures taken, they waited very politely and quietly and watched while I set up my image and took my photograph. When I was finished and put the dark slide back in place, they started clapping, like I'd just finished performing a string quartet all by myself. It was actually quite amusing, but I was afraid if I laughed, I would offend them, so I just shook their hands as they went by me, going back to their vans.
I hope they all got into the right vehicle.
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