The little green frog turned into a $2500 “Opps.”

Have you ever tried to predict the weather a year in advance? It’s a tricky business—especially when you’re trying to choose the perfect week for a group of people to meet and chase fall colors in upstate New York. Two of my friends tackle this problem every year. Their job is to plot out locations timed to nature’s big shows—spring wildflowers in the Great Smoky Mountains, waterfalls at their peak in Colorado, and stark, stunning landscapes in Texas. .

This fall, my son and I met up with Mandy and Kendrick from Mandy Lea Photo at a campground in New York, not far from the Vermont borderAfter reading about and seeing photographs of the Adirondack State Park for years, I was looking forward to experiencing the eastern mountains firsthand.  While there are trees with spectacular color everywhere you turn, there isn’t always an obvious photograph. This is where Mandy and Kendrick come in.  They spend significant time scouting for great locations at specific times of day to increase the likelihood of capturing the best view in the best light.  They do this a few days before their clients arrive, to give them the best chance of capturing a landscape photo worthy of a place on a wall at home.

One of the most interesting benefits of being part of a group excursion comes from the people you meet. Most often, I go for expansive, big views and miss some great details. I marvel at the person standing next to me, looking at the same expanse of landscape, and how they come away with entirely different photographs. Often much better than mine. It happens over and over again. I am amazed more often than not. 

The Frog!

An example of this happened during a roadside stop along a small river to work a short cascade. The group spread out among the boulders looking for the best angle, maybe even a unique angle that had never been captured before. Probably won’t happen, but all landscape photographers’ dream; it could be there.  After a while, I see a couple of people looking very closely at a pile of rocks that look like every other pile. There is a buzz in the air. What are they seeing? I wander over. Then I too see it. A tiny green frog wedged just out of the water, watching us watch him. I am no longer interested in the cascade; the frog looks like a fun photo if I don’t get too close.

The little amphibian is only about 2 inches across; a 100mm macro lens is called for, but getting that close would probably scare the creature before the shot could be taken.  I put the 500mm on my camera and retreat a few feet. The frog continues to watch me as I watch him. I hold my breath, get the shot without stepping into a deep pothole filled with water inches away from my precarious perch.  I put away my equipment in the backpack, swing it over one shoulder, and watch a lens tumble out of the pack that wasn’t secured properly and fall into eight inches of crystal clear, cold water. As you can see, I got the frog but lost a $2,500 lens in the process. Not the frogs’ fault. The photo is one of my favorites from the trip.

As most readers of this blog know, The Princess and I travel in the western states most of the time. I wanted to see what I was missing by spending weeks in the Northwest pine forests and very little in the Eastern hardwood forests. Both have their appeal. It is hard not to be impressed with the scarlet maple and golden oak trees reflecting in the ponds. If I had to choose only one direction to travel, it would be west of the Mississippi. But if my son has time for another photography trip with me, I will explore east of the Mississippi again.

Dennis