You’re out doing something you love, and somebody gets a candid shot of it? Might be the best kind of photo there is.
I think many of the best photographs—including the one on our cover—involve the subjects not being aware of the taking.
Certainly the black bear in Jon Phillips’s shot had no inkling of being photographed. As Phillips notes in the Contents page note, there was no food or other lure involved—just curiosity.
In much the same context of caught-in-curiosity, the photo above is my favorite of the hundreds and hundreds taken in connection with my getting to go hiking every weekend over the past nearly-15 years with The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All.
…the photo above is my favorite of the hundreds and hundreds taken over the past nearly-15 years with The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All.
In fact, it was that identity of Gail that led to the shot.We got out of the car at the parking area of the Mt. Pleasant National Scenic Area, and were immediately identified, greeted warmly and thanked for the hiking blog entries from our hikes. “And you’re The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All,” Ken Knott smiled at Gail.
I was immensely flattered, of course; The Day Hiker shared the sentiment, but also fought the inevitable worry about how her hair looked.
We thought little more of Ken Knott—aside from the occasional mental recall of the meeting—as we made our way up the Henry Lanum Trail and picked our spot for lunch on the west side of the summit. Then he came up behind us as we ate, with a soft call of hello, and then turned to be on his way.
Or not, as it turned out, since a few weeks later, there arrived in the email the photo above. And the content of the image—the sweat across my back, The Day Hiker’s pointing to debate what peak was what, the dog relaxed and wondering too, the Virginia mountains under an uncertain sky—could not have been composed better if Ken Knott had had half an hour to work with his subjects.
. . . END OF PREVIEW
The story above appears in our Nov./Dec. 2018 issue.
