Day 279 - Charlie Brown could tell you

This photograph is a tribute to my favourite comic strip character, Charlie Brown, who seemed to have a knack for putting his own kites in just this precarious position.

We've had a cold, windy and wet time of it here in Fredericton these past four or five days and I wouldn't be surprised if this scene is the result of some daring but foolhardy scheme to fly a kite in the howling winds of our most recent storm. I had gone out on my lunch hour, intent on taking pictures of the beautiful colours of fall here in New Brunswick, but, finding none, I wound up with this fun little snapshot instead.

Snapshot, perhaps, but not so easy to get. First there was the positioning issue: where should I stand to get the best possible angle on the kite? Then there was the problem of light: the bright sky behind the kite demanded a much faster shutter speed and usually I prefer sky over just about anything else but, in this case, I wanted the colours of the kite to come through so I slowed down the shutter and allowed the sky to bleach out. And of course, finally, I had to decide on the zoom level: did I want a close-up of the poor kite among the branches or would a longer shot do better to establish the situation and the height at which the kite found itself perched?

I ended up going with the most distant shot I took because I liked the way this photograph demonstrates the power imbalance in the battle between tree and kite. The tree is tall, broad and strong while the kite is small and fragile. Guess who won? Charlie Brown could tell you.