Observing Nature

This is a cautionary tale and an example of why it's probably not a good idea to go on a walk with a photographer.  This one in particular.  To begin with, I walk slowly.  Very slowly.  However, my speed decreases greatly if I happen to have a camera with me.  There is all kinds of neat things out there to see, especially when taking a walk through a forest path.  Such was the case here.  We were away on our Summer Vacation at SEPAQ Lac Simon and took The Heir Apparent and Crown Prince for a little walk through the woods.  Once out in the trees, my head started going from left to right as if from a scene right out of The Exorcist as I was taking in the sights.  You already saw one photograph from the walking path earlier this year, feel free to revisit it by following the link, but I also saw this broken tree covered in moss and was immediately drawn to it.  I made a mental note of its location and as we made our way back, I knew where to stop.  As the rest of our merry group made their way out of the forest, I stayed back a bit and revisited my broken tree.  So many questions to pose.  How long had it been there?  How did it fall?  What carved out the middle?  Was anything hiding in there?  How far away has the family gotten?  All of that, and I had still yet to take the actual photograph.  It was finally taken at f/2.8, 1/200sec, ISO 1250 at 24mm.  And that is why you probably shouldn't take walks with a photographer.  Unless you happen to like lots of stops along the way, or you happen to be one yourself.  As the great Yogi Berra once said, 'you can see a lot by just observing'.  So, take the time and go out there and observe.  Just make sure to bring the car keys with you so that you don't get left behind.