Practicing

We all love the Bangor Forest, and Jack especially loves to use the “back” entrance via Kittredge Road where you park and then climb over a huge hill that was once a city landfill. Lush and green in the summer months, on this particular winter day the hill was brown and, for this time of year, atypically barren of snow.

Another reason I like to go to the forest is to practice my photography. And when I say practice, I literally mean practice. I like to press the shutter tons of times as we explore the landscape, and whether or not we have great light, I enjoy trying to arrange the elements found in some sort of meaningful way. Most times it doesn’t work out that well, but every now and then I come home with a photograph that I like. My main goal isn’t necessarily to come away with a knockout composition, but rather to… well… practice, in the hope that when I do find myself in a more aesthetically pleasing scene I am better prepared to take advantage. On this particular morning I had decided to bring only my 50mm f1.8 lens, so rather than having the luxury of a zoom to manipulate compositions, I had to do it the old-fashioned way by moving my feet!

Anyhoo… as I wandered along the path I stumbled on the image below, and although hardly portfolio level, I kinda liked how the remnants of fall color contrasted with the more seasonal elements on the forest floor. And as I said… good practice.