How do you capture the beauty of nature in a single snap shot? Is it even possible? How do you market a 500-acre piece of paradise when its value cannot be measured in dollars? When one person sees the perfect location for a plot of houses and one person see one of the few remaining examples of the native environment, how do you make sure the land ends up in the proper hands?
With the help of a conservation easement, luckily the last question has been answered: no one can, nor will they ever, be able to ruin this plot of land with the carless construction seen throughout this country. Armed with a camera, boots, bug net, and patience I, along with my good friend and film major Lionel, set out for a weekend of attempting the impossible.
We were attempting to capture the beauty and demonstrate it to prospective buyers via a small and uncomplicated website. What we began to realize was that, not only is 500 acres an unbelievably huge amount of space to cover, capturing the beauty of nature is impossible. It is impossible because the most important message we were trying to convey was the emotion that being on such a beautiful piece of land creates in you. It’s not so much the color of the sunset (although they were unbelievable), or the wildlife you encounter, or the satisfaction of seeing that wildlife after sitting silently in a squatted position for what feels like forever… It’s the feeling of space. The feeling of being so far away from anyone else that you really feel like your in your own world.
As a city girl raised by a father whose job it is to protect such pieces of land, I often find myself feeling claustrophobic and almost unable to breathe. I was reaching one of these points around the time when we packed up to head off to this assignment. After stepping outside of the car, I quickly realized that sometimes all you need is to find a large, open field as far away from any sign of human life, and 15 minutes worth of silence to quickly counteract months of city living.
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