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RIP the Broccoli Tree

kottke.org

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Re: RIP the Broccoli Tree

#81

Post by KGIII »

jplahn wrote: post #74

This is tangentially related to something I've been struggling with for the last year. I began getting into photography about a year and as an attempt to surround myself with inspiration, I followed many of the top landscape photographers on Instagram. While their images are beautiful and they tend to position their photographs from the perspective of "environmentalism", I can't help but feel like they've done as muc…

If you really like something, tell nobody. If you find beautiful waterfalls, don't tell anyone. A great fishing hole? Keep it to yourself. A great diner? Nary a soul should you tell.

I'm only slightly exaggerating.

In defiance of my above statement, I own this tree and it is my favorite tree. The forestry service cored it and it's at least 220 years old.

https://imgur.com/a/c2AVd

Re: RIP the Broccoli Tree

#82

Post by seunosewa »

cableshaft wrote: post #65

There's so many examples of this it's just so sad. Joshua Tree on U2 album cover destroyed: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2971368/U2-fan-pilgr... Kids knock down 16 million year old rock formation: https://military.id.me/news/idiots-ruin-18-million-year-old-... One man accidentally killed the oldest tree ever: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-one-man-accide... World's most isolated tree knocked…

Actually, it took 2 acts of stupidity. The vandalism, and the bureaucratic decision to help the vandal to finish the job.

Re: RIP the Broccoli Tree

#83

Post by jps359 »

sevensor wrote: post #48

Lest we blame the internet, attacking beloved trees is nothing new: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_Oak_(Austin,_Texas)

The vandal was sentenced to 9 years in prison? That seems quite high to me. Do tree vandals normally get such harsh punishments?

Re: RIP the Broccoli Tree

#84

Post by throwanem »

jplahn wrote: post #74

This is tangentially related to something I've been struggling with for the last year. I began getting into photography about a year and as an attempt to surround myself with inspiration, I followed many of the top landscape photographers on Instagram. While their images are beautiful and they tend to position their photographs from the perspective of "environmentalism", I can't help but feel like they've done as muc…

I began getting into photography as well, around the first of the year, and the trick to me seems to be finding what's amazing in the places where you are every day. I mean, if I had the spare time to travel to places where the landscape is already amazing, I suspect I would, too. But I think it might feel like easy mode to me, if I did.

Re: RIP the Broccoli Tree

#85

Post by ISL »

jplahn wrote: post #74

This is tangentially related to something I've been struggling with for the last year. I began getting into photography about a year and as an attempt to surround myself with inspiration, I followed many of the top landscape photographers on Instagram. While their images are beautiful and they tend to position their photographs from the perspective of "environmentalism", I can't help but feel like they've done as muc…

The key, as a photographer, is then to find the beauty elsewhere, preferably in the everyday.

I maintain an active mountain images account, but when I post from somewhere untouched, I'm deliberately vague as to the location.

I'm watching the same thing happen with a tarn on Mt. Rainier. People are figuring out its location, and soon it will be highly trafficked. Most of these places look untouched precisely because people have gone to some trouble not to touch them.

Some overuse is a worthy trade, if, when at the ballot box and the cash register, nature-aware humans make the deliberate choice to sacrifice in order to preserve that which remains.

Re: RIP the Broccoli Tree

#86

Post by chrissnell »

My most favorite hobby is taking long-distance off-road trips in my old Land Rover Defender with my buddies. We go to places far off the beaten path, taking the smallest and least-used doubletrack trails that we can find. I've written [1][2] about these on some of the popular forums for this stuff and post a lot of photos. People often ask for GPS coordinates of the great campsites that we discover but I never, ever give them out and I'm purposefully vague and sometimes deceptive about their actual location.

This story is why.

Like the saying goes, call something paradise and kiss it goodbye. I blame the people who publicize these places as much as I blame the people who fuck them up. The assholes of the world cannot be trusted with beauty. They will always defile it or love it to death.

[1] http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/146545-The-Owyhee [2] http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/112686-Northwest-b...

Re: RIP the Broccoli Tree

#87

Post by throwanem »

KGIII wrote: post #81
jplahn wrote: post #74

This is tangentially related to something I've been struggling with for the last year. I began getting into photography about a year and as an attempt to surround myself with inspiration, I followed many of the top landscape photographers on Instagram. While their images are beautiful and they tend to position their photographs from the perspective of "environmentalism", I can't help but feel like they've done as muc…

If you really like something, tell nobody. If you find beautiful waterfalls, don't tell anyone. A great fishing hole? Keep it to yourself. A great diner? Nary a soul should you tell. I'm only slightly exaggerating. In defiance of my above statement, I own this tree and it is my favorite tree. The forestry service cored it and it's at least 220 years old. https://imgur.com/a/c2AVd

There's a reason the photos on my site generally aren't geotagged. (Well, aside from the fact that my DSLR's GPS isn't any good.)

Re: RIP the Broccoli Tree

#88

Post by distances »

sevensor wrote: post #48

Lest we blame the internet, attacking beloved trees is nothing new: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_Oak_(Austin,_Texas)

I agree that the perpetrator needs a punishment, but nine years is a very, very long time. Around here few first-time murderers need to sit that long.

Re: RIP the Broccoli Tree

#89

Post by KGIII »

throwanem wrote: post #87
KGIII wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you really like something, tell nobody. If you find beautiful waterfalls, don't tell anyone. A great fishing hole? Keep it to yourself. A great diner? Nary a soul should you tell. I'm only slightly exaggerating. In defiance of my above statement, I own this tree and it is my favorite tree. The forestry service cored it and it's at least 220 years old. https://imgur.com/a/c2AVd

There's a reason the photos on my site generally aren't geotagged. (Well, aside from the fact that my DSLR's GPS isn't any good.)

Oh! That's brilliant. I usually carry a cheap camera instead of my expensive DSLR and it doesn't geotag as it has no GPS. It's disabled on my cell phone - usually. It re-enabled itself (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it) at one point, so I manually edited the exif data.

I'm not a hugely private person (I've had countless internet friends visit me over the years) but I'm not giving up coordinates to my favorite fishing hole. As near as I can tell, only three people know about it.

I really am partially serious about telling nobody. That's how things get ruined - from your favorite diner to your favorite hidden beach. Pretty soon your favorite diner is always full and there's trash on your once secluded beach.

Re: RIP the Broccoli Tree

#90

Post by kissickas »

nolok wrote: post #45
mostafah wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an Arabic story about Hatim al-Tai’s brother. Hatim al-Tai was a great man, maybe the most generous person that has ever lived. He was a legend even when he was alive. One day people saw his brother peeing in the holy Well of Zamzam. This is the most sacred water in Islam. They asked him why he was doing such a thing. “My brother is famous and will be remembered forever in the history,” he said. “I can never…

So am I wrong to think that by retelling this story, we make him right, thus pushing people who similarly want to be remembered forever without being "wise" to do the same?

His name isn't mentioned here, only that of his brother. Which is, I suppose, exactly what he wouldn't have wanted.
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