What Would You Do with a Billion Dollars?

Would you buy your own park, build 51 miles of roads to tour it complete with 16 unique hand carved stone bridges, and then donate it to the National Park Service so that it could be enjoyed by everyone in the world? I couldn’t possibly fathom having that kind of wealth nor the mental illness that it would require to attain it. So, no. My winning lottery ticket dreams are more like hiring a crack team of special forces operatives to hunt down those computer hacker nerds and stuff them all back in their 9th grade lockers where they belong. But I digress. This picture was taken whilst contemplating the aforementioned mentioned fantasies below one of the bridges Mr. Rockefeller built to carry his carriages across. The bridge is beautiful. Built into the landscape with craftsmanship not available today and I began by trying to photograph it. The light, however, wouldn’t cooperate so I climbed down to the stream that prompted its construction. The wind had done its job to the leaves but only recently, which left an abstract carpet of color around, in, and under the stream. I framed the picture up and then realized the gentle breeze that brought the distinct smell of fall would also not let me have a sharp photo. I figured if I couldn’t beat them, I’d join them and added a stop and a half filter to extenuate the motion provided by both the stream and the wind giving a slight impressionistic take on the scene. Im glad that Mr. Rockefeller could imagine this place, and maybe that’s what it takes to create a place like Acadia. The will to build it, and then the balls to give it all away.