Birch Tree in Nashua (Posterized and Digitally Modified Photo)

Birch Tree in Nashua (Posterized and Digitally Modified Photo), a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

This morning we drove to Nashua for a rally for Barack Obama. James Taylor was performing. We were a little late setting out, but hoping to get there in time to get in! (We knew it was first-come-first-served, but we decided to try.) We had never been to Nashua before, and were hoping not to get lost. We parked in a big parking lot near an industrial park in some old mill buildings, and then we hurried up the hill to catch the shuttle bus. On the way to the bus, I was admiring the view: beautiful autumn leaves with the river as a backdrop. But we were in a rush, no time to stop and photograph trees! And then there were hours standing in line and going through security, etc. Hours later, we returned from the rally, happy but tired. Now that there was time to stop and take pictures, my iPhone battery was dead because I had used it to take photos and videos at the rally. So I plugged my iPhone into the car charger. As I got ready to set off for home, suddenly my iPhone powered on, not enough to unplug, but enough to take just one picture from inside the car while my phone was still plugged in. So I took a picture of this beautiful birch tree at the edge of the parking lot, even though I was also getting a photo of two concrete parking barriers and a pole at the same time! Tonight I opened the image in Painter and used some cut-and-paste and some digital pastel to hide the concrete barriers and the pole. Then I did some posterizing and cropping. I am glad we took a chance and went to Nashua, and glad I took a chance on this picture.