Black Partridge was an Indian Cheif around the 1800's, and they named this 80 acre forest preserve in Cook County after him; i.e., Black Partridge Forest Preserve.

So anyway, the Morton Aboretum Photographic Society (MAPS) planned an outing there today in spite of the fact that I was scheduled for an outing at one of their classes, "Introduction to Nature Photography", that morning at the same start time. OK? So I'm not really happy about this, but I try to deal with it, and I leave my class at the Aboretum early so that I arrive at the Black Partridge site just as everyone else is leaving for breakfast.

Which is fine with me, because I generally don't attend the breakfast BS anyway. So I start shooting, and I got this one shot of a guy crossing Black Partridge's Bridge. Then he and his wife and their instamatic camera left. Then this Grand Toreno from the '50s pulls into the parking lot; a real beater; with some guy who opens his door and starts blaring out music.

OK, so it's me and this guy and several grand of photography equipment on my back. So I did a quick calculation; a cost-benefit analysis, you might say, and put my stuff in the trunk and left. Then on the way home, I managed to figure out that my car was worth a lot more than the photography equipment. Also, I recalled putting the photography equipment on a special rider on our household insurance policy.

So old age, I guess. Anyway, this is the one shot I managed to take before I left....

[wtlwdwgn]

Sometimes caution is the better part of valor! Too bad you didn't get more time to shoot.

[chicagojohn]

Sometimes caution is the better part of valor! Too bad you didn't get more time to shoot.

Thanks, man. Ya, too bad I didn't have more time, and even moreso that I couldn't afford better equipment... like a Canon.

[tessfully]

I love this shot. Love the perspective and depth of field. Not sure why you would say you want a Canon, but I won't go there.

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Last edited by tessfully; 10-28-2012 at 07:32 AM.

[slowpez]

Nice shot. Looks like the place will be around for a while so you can always go back.

[chicagojohn]

I love this shot. Love the perspective and depth of field. Not sure why you would say you want a Canon, but I won't go there.

Thanks, tessfully. My wife always chastises me for trying to be funny when (she says) I'm not. So I apologize for that Canon remark, Lord, and please be with all tem starvin' pigmys down there in New Guniea. Amen.

But seriously, during my first class, the teacher passed out a form for what brand of camera equipment we had; "Nikon, Canon, or Other". When he went around the room asking each student, I said "Other" making him ask me specifically and when I said "Pentax", he just had a quisical look on his face. So I guess that's why we're all here together, at least partly why.

Nice shot. Looks like the place will be around for a while so you can always go back.

Thanks for the idea, slowpez . I could go back to that spot, I guess. But to paraphrase Heraclitus, "One cannot photograph the same stream twice (for other waters are always upon us)."

That is to say, if I were to return, it would likely not be the same Autumn day with me having just arrived as my photo club is daparting; the light would not likely be falling on the bridge as it was then; the vine on the left gone or changed in shape; the dead tree under the bridge rotted or removed; the water in the stream higher or lower and the rocks more or less apparent; the man wearing the bright red coat not just about to cross over, and the same fallen maple leaf no longer in the lower left foreground.

Yet I suppose I could take the camera back there, and maybe I will someday, if I remember.