Not sure where to start this tale.  Some time ago, Carol and I planned a trip to the Northeast to visit Acadia National Park and then Nova Scotia.   (Acadia is my 52nd National Park out of 63, my current count as I write this is now 54.)

Earlier in the summer, months before the trip, I had occasion to attend the Moab Photography Symposium.  It was a gathering of landscape photographers, a chance to meet others with similar interests. One of the photographers I had the pleasure of meeting, and going out on a shooting adventure was Colleen Miniuk, Bubbles to her close friends, a landscape photographer extraordinaire and an aficionado of pie.  (Learn more about Colleen here: https://www.colleenminiuk.com/about)  It was a great symposium and I enjoyed all the presentations and the dedicated time spent   with these experts.  Colleen had a copy of her book Photographing Acadia National Park .  She was an Artist in Residence at Acadia and wrote a book about her experiences.  

How lucky for me,  I had a trip planned to visit Acadia and hoped to make a couple of nice photographs.  How great to have a guide book to read before I get there.  A chance to plan in advance things I might want to see during my own week-long stay in the park. Needless to say I bought the book.  

The photographs in the book are superb and the writing is not bad, it supports the photos.  

I read the book hoping for some inspiration and soon became overwhelmed by the potential photography opportunities. 

I wish I had not bought it.  

It blurred my vision, something I read about in a series of essays on Why People Photograph by Robert Adams; so I cannot take credit for the Blurred Vision title. 

I had no hope reproducing Colleen’s excellent photography.  I was there for a week. She was there for months (more than once I believe).  Nor did I want to reproduce her work.  I want to have my own vision.  I visit lots of beautiful places and while I know what many of them look like, I have never consulted a cookbook before a trip until this trip.  I want my images to be my vision, not someone else’s.

This is a difficult undertaking.   Clearly I am not the first to see the sun coming up at Mesa Arch.  I guess in the case of arches, there is a chance I could be the last—arches have collapsed in the past

https://apnews.com/article/arch-collapse-utah-lake-powell-7e4b3c9966b488ca5b3d9ca00b8db702

and recently too. So many people have photographed Utah’s iconic arches.   Mesa Arch in particular is beautiful, iconic and an easy photographic target, a short walk and it never ceases to amaze photographers.  So of course I photographed it. More than once.  On my terms. 

I know, I know. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Steal like an expert.  

I will continue to seek out photographs that speak to me. If someone else likes my work, that is nice.