There is kind of a weird story that goes along with this photo. Like I said, I was alone and it was near dusk, and I was heading home because it was so cold out and as much as I wanted to stay to shoot, I also wanted to be out of the woods by dark. I was technically in park, but an abandoned one that I accessed by skipping a rotting gate, so it was a little creepy. At one point I saw a guy walking toward me on the same narrow path by the river, about 50 meters away or something. I looked down for a quick second (it was really muddy) and when I looked up again, he was gone.
My adrenaline shot up like a rocket. I froze on the spot and tried to listen--did he foist off into the woods? Was he waiting for me to walk by to pounce on me? I thought about backtracking to the fence I'd hopped to enter, but not only did that mean going backwards, it meant I'd be looking back over my shoulder the entire way. I immediately dropped my pack to the ground and unstrapped my tripod to use as a weapon in case I was about to be attempted-murdered and kicked into the river.
I really hate being scared. I am not into scary movies at all. But I also hate the feeling of being scared for no reason. So I crept forward and called out, "Hello?" And a few seconds later--though of course it felt like longer--he emerged from the trees, buckling his belt. He had just stepped aside to take a piss. We passed each other, me still gripping my iron-clad tripod like a bat.
And then, in this perfect light, I got this beautiful shot. The trees look so combative at the time, but when I look at it later, it looks like a tree party. Happy Valentine's Day! You didn't die!
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