Five things I hate about nature
Posted by Mark on Oct 20, 2007 in nature photography | 14 comments
Yes, don’t believe the stereotype,folks, about how deeply in love nature photographers are with nature. Sure we can go on and on about the peace we find, the beauty of finding order in chaos, and all the things that stir our souls. But let’s face it, I’ll bet even John Muir had some particular aspects he could do without. Here’s my top five;
- Mosquitoes : the scurge of the earth. I know they are food for some critters, but hey, they will find something else to eat. I will gladly contribute to the development of a mosquito-like vitamin supplement for any animal that simply can’t do without. It is quite sad to see so many animals threatened with extinction, while this one thrives. That threat needs to be redirected!
- Biting Flies : The annoying cousin of enemy number one. I think they team up together actually. While you might seek some relief from mosquitoes in some sunny spots, that is where the flies are hiding around the corner to get you. And even when they are not biting, they are buzzing around your head making you think they are biting. Jump on the train to extinction guys along with your detested cousins.
- Poison Ivy : This stuff grows crazy in the woods around my house making a majority of the area unnavigable most of the year. Normally I am quite careful because I do have a reaction to it. A couple of weeks ago I was in an area away from my house and not as careful. It was putting on its ‘oooh I turn fall colors too’ disguise and I must have picked up some on my boots or my pants. Well, it is popping up in various places on me now and I don’t know where it is coming from! It can grow into massive vines that take over the largest trees. Ivy be gone!
- Fall Colors don’t last long enough : Two months out of 12? What kind of deal is that? The season of “Fall” is supposed to be Sept 22 to Dec 21 – I sense a slacker. Perhaps 12 out of 12 is asking too much, might even get boring – but peak color seems to come and go in a blink of an eye. Usually a rain or windstorm comes along right around peak time and blows leaves down before you can enjoy them. Thankfully you get rid of the mosquitoes and flies around this time. You could probably get the most of it by being a gypsy and follow it from North to South. But that isn’t an option for most of us, in our time available or our wardrobe.
- Your tolerance for our trespass : Ultimately in the end, I know nature will always prevail. But you allow us to take too much while giving too little. We impose, we pollute, we destroy. While your scale of time is so much broader than ours, I think you need to kick us in the pants a bit more often. Maybe the mosquitoes and flies make more sense..hmmm.
If you have any items of hatred you would like to share, please comment or post in your own blog with a link back here. . Thanks for reading. 
Yes, don’t believe the stereotype,folks, about how deeply in love nature photographers are with nature. Sure we can go on and on about the peace we find, the beauty of finding order in chaos, and all the things that stir our souls. But let’s face it, I’ll bet even John Muir had some particular aspects he could do without. Here’s my top five;
It took a while to think of something. I really am fond of nature even with these annoyances. One thing I really don’t like are thorns. I was still finding remnants of thorns in the back of my leg a week after my eastern Sierra trip. Thorny foliage always seems to be in the way when I try to line up a shot.
Hey Mark
I don’t mind mosquitoes, flies, fall colors. And I certainly appreciate nature’s tolerance for my trespass. I guess all I would list is -30. And rain. I don’t like rain. Or wind. I like sunny.
Practice your guitar.
Cheers
Carl
Mosquitoes are just annoying, I don’t run into biting flies much, I can avoid poison ivy (most of the time), but what I really hate are TICKS. I’m a magnet for all types. I found several deer ticks on me last November, just when I thought it was less likely (the Lyme blood test was negative).
Our impact on nature? I think about the all the time – I wish I could see what it looked like around my town 150 years ago or so, when Thoreau was a neighbor. There were less woods then, more fields, but our road system hadn’t ribboned the landscape with asphalt and concrete yet.
Yeah, I guess burrs/thorns and ticks should be in there also. Since I did get Lymes Disease from one of those buggers once, you would think I would have put them #1! But I haven’t had to deal with them much locally.
Carl – thanks for the reminders. I do need to be practicing vs. complaining!!
Mark, this is funny and serious at the same time.
What I hate most outdoors is strong wind in cold and wet conditions because then I really get problems with my bones and move like a turtle after winter sleep. Everything simply hurts.
I can agree to all kinds of biting insects – worst are the ticks because here in our area they can be very infectuous for borreliosis and meningitis – they are simply dangerous.
I also hate maggots and leeches – they make me puke – I simply detest them – as well as cockroaches – they simply give me the creeps. Although the huge ones you find in Asia actually look quite beautiful.
I hate flies – especially when they appear in millions – sitting everywhere – I find them disgusting because first they sit on a pile of shit and then they try to sit on your face – yuck.
I hate bad smells in nature – when something is really rotting such as fish or dead animals but I guess that is necessary for further dissolving. Our nose is just not made for it. Guess that’s something that evolution has taken away from us to be able to cope with.
For the future I think Mother Nature will have a couple of unpleasant weapons for us if we don’t stop exploiting everything and everywhere. I firmly believe in the dualism of all things. I also believe that we humans have to learn that if we leave something to the NATURAL flow of things it can be repaired again.
Think of coral reefs. But I also believe that we simply cannot stop evolution to continue and whatever we do a lot of species will disappear but other, new ones will emerge. This is the natural cycle. But if we
continue to simply destroy everything we also destroy the pool of repair tools. It’s the same with inbreeding – if you reduce the pool of genes in a species the result will be a sick, unfertile species that cannot survive.
The whole discussion about climate changes and how we can stop it is ridiculous and only serves a minority to make profit again ot put themselves in public. Scientists often are like children – they just don’t
want to change their mind when they have realized that a certain thesis brings a lot of research money.
In the whole history of earth there have been dramatic and very fast climate changes – did we drive too many cars 10000 years ago?
We don’t understand a yota yet of how things fit to one another and people who claim to know the truth are ridiculing themselves. But as long as all that hype helps to make people rethink their behaviours and attitudes it might be a good thing altogether. There seems to be no other way to force people to improve something.
As a member of Greenpeace I often thought about leaving the organization for tooting in the same stupid horn but then I thought of all the things they moved. We humans do not tend to think in real long time terms and we seem to need a strong series of spanking from time to time to understand and make us move.
If we give Mother Nature a chance she will give us one as well. So maybe we should tolerate all those biting, humming, shitting little things also – there must be a reason why they exist – we just don’t understand it yet…
Mark,
Love the shot of the Aspen leaves!
If I was elected as supreme ruler of the universe, I’d do away with the fine dust that parisitizes my sensor.
And I’d make fall about 2 months longer!
cheers,
Great article Mark, point well made. I don’t know what they are called but in the summer here if you wear a white T-shirt into the woods in certain locations these tiny red bugs get all over you and bite and bite. First time it happened I was surveying land and it scarred me to death as I had never seen nor heard of such. They are almost unvisible to the naked eye. A royal pain!
Nice shot of the leaves.
WIND..WIND..WIND.. In no particular order
Beautiful images as well!
Great post, Mark. I’d have to say ticks! Mosquitoes and flies, I can deal with. I use deep woods Off constantly, but when I come in from the woods, several times there have been ticks crawling about looking for an unprotected place to strike!
As for poison ivy, I don’t think that I have a reaction to it and I traipse around the woods in shorts a lot, but have yet to have any irritations in 20+ years. So, either I’ve been really lucky or I’m not allergic.
I’ll take either!
Well, you know, nature *is* out to get us.
Speaking of fall being too short, I agree. Kurt Vonnegut proposed that there is actually 6 seasons: summer, fall, locking (no leaves or snow but freezing up), winter, unlocking (thaws and mud), spring.
Dan, thanks for sharing that Vonnegut point. Locking and Unlocking seasons can be quite challenging to shoot in also!
I guess I can tolerate the nature-y stuff, though I don’t like it. What I really hate are ATVs and snowmobiles and idiots who think nature is one of their throw-away possessions. Stop spraying graffiti on the cliffs and dropping your lit cigarette butts on the forest floor. I know I can hike further in away from these irritants, but there isn’t always time, and their behavior infuriates me wherever I am.
OK Barbara, I think you added in some that replaced some of my top 5! I think there can be responsible use of those off-road vehicles, but unfortunately the term IDIOT applies more often than not. But then again, I consider most of those activities definitely unnatural.