Sadly, there was a little glitch in the coffee making that morning and it wasn't quite ready by the time we had to leave to start our morning bird watching walk at the northern end of the park. Mark Johnson lead the walk as he shared his knowledge of bird watching. He gave great tips about how to listen for the birds first then look for them. I have always felt like the odd one out when birding by ear and he assured me that he counts birds that he has clearly identified by ear without ever seeing them. I do so much of my birding by ear because I have a rough time finding them in the field. He took time to give advice on binoculars and field guides and encouraged everyone to take time to really read about a bird immediately after you have made a positive ID on it in the wild. He was giving us the tools and enthusiasm to bird on our own. I do not know one person in our group who would have had an objection to birding with Mark all morning but the time limited us and we had to return to the Forty Maples area for our next class. Birds we saw and heard that morning included Field Sparrow, Bluebird, Northern Oriole, Pine Siskins (late for the area), Alder Flycatcher (positive ID because of it's song - looks exactly like Willow Flycatcher), Cedar Waxwings, Yellow Warbler, Yellow Billed Cuckoo, Chipping Sparrow, Cardinal, Blue Jay, and American Crow.
The next class was photography. I knew that the instructor would probably focus on digital photography but the theme was Outdoor Photography. I can always use some tips and get inspired for more creative shots and better composition. The talk started in the pavilion and I was pretty bored, I wanted to be out in the field and enjoying the beautiful park. I understood that things would need to be covered before heading out but a few things got to me. The photographer had a lot of matted prints on the table not as examples but for sale. I thought that was tacky. Mark Johnson was standing out in the clearing and while I was trying to listen to the photographer and looked at him while he gave his talk, my eyes kept noticing Mark the background and wishing I was still birding. So, I left.
I am sure this was rude but I was going to take charge of my weekend so I walked off as discretely as I could and joined Mark. He was looking for a Prothonotary Warbler that he could hear in the trees. He pointed out it's song for me as we stood and chatted while we watched the little bird skip from tree to tree in the distance. Jackie joined us and they started a great conversation about Woodcocks. I just loved the stories and experiences they were sharing.
As we stood there, Jackie got a call from a forestry official that he had caught a bear and was willing to bring it to demonstrate it being sedated and tagged for ID. She set up a time right around our lunch break so that we would all be gathered to watch. She was pretty excited to be able to offer such an unplanned and unique presentation to our program. It was soon after this the photography class got up to shoot in the field so I decided to rejoin them.
I know I hadn't ingratiated myself with the instructor by walking out on a portion of his class but the guy continued to get under my skin. As we walked on he was instructing everyone how not to just delete shots from your memory card but to reformat it every time or it would become quickly corrupt and he proceeded to tell a story of how when he was flying over a beautiful volcano with snow on it's crown and his memory card went corrupt. His warning to us all sounded less like a lesson than bragging and I thought it was stupid and blurted out, "Didn't you have a back up card?" I mean come ON! Equipment fails and if you are going for a shot like that you should be prepared. He snapped back, "No! I didn't! Yes, I did." I thought he was a jerk for sure.
We took a walk along the First Fork Sinnemahoning Creek and it was just lovely. He was pointing out some lighting options and occasionally would take time to go one on one to help some of the women understand their camera menus. It was during one of those times he was navigating someone through their camera that I was sharing some composition tips with Kate, a woman who had also been on the birding walk. I told her how in some open field areas how it's nice to frame a shot by adding a little over-hanging interest in the foreground. I gave the tip my father liked to share that if there isn't anything overhanging, you can break off a small branch or some thing and just dangle it out in front of you to frame the upper corner. I know the photographer overheard me but what was that hurting?
We walked on and he set up his camera on a tripod to share what I had been describing composition wise. I was excited he was covering that topic. He was using a tree on the right to frame the creek to the left and encouraged everyone to look through the view finder so that we could see for ourselves. Unfortunately, the way he had it composed (maybe someone bumped the camera?) was that the tree was too far in and the negative space to the right of the tree drew my eyes away from the creek too often. It was poor composition and I totally lost respect for him at that point.
As the women took turns looking through the camera, he continued to say how "some people" will force framing by breaking off a plant and adding it to the shot. He very pointedly added, "Not that I would ever do that." He had obviously directed that at me. I guess I should have made sure to add to Kate that it would be prudent not to do any harm to the plant life and frequently there are branches and plants already down. My omitting that may have made me a target because over the next half hour during our walk he made reference to it twice. I don't know exactly why he wouldn't do it, he never said but I was ready to ask if he did it a third time.
So, the guy had really gotten under my skin and I am pretty sure I had gotten under his by the time we made our way back to the pavilion. We stopped for one last composition lesson where a wonderful old apple tree well in the foreground arched over a picnic table that was just close enough to allow for a really nice group shot. He instructed us to take turns standing just where he was and check out how nice the shot would look. I took my turn and saw the lovely old branch in the foreground, the table situated beautifully under it but in the background was a big sign for the Low Lands Trail.
It was in a place where no one sitting at the picnic table would be blocking it and if you moved for anything to hide it the tree wouldn't be framing the table anymore. As I stood there you bet I said, "It's really nice except for the sign in the background." He ignored my jab by commenting and instructing on something totally different. What a waste of time except for the nice shots I got along the creek.
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