The Laughlin’s // Tanglewood, Elmira, NY // Family Photographer

We went to Tanglewood Nature Center for family photos. We thought it would be fun to sit by the pond and watch the birds, see the fish, and hear the frogs. What we didn’t expect, was to be chased away from the pond by geese.

Okay, so maybe they didn’t chase us – like a high flying car chase – but as we walked down to the pond, we saw a Mama goose & Daddy goose with their younglings off down the path. We stopped to stare because, how often do you get to see baby geese? As we watched & cooed & made goose sounds to the kids, they started walking towards us. What Mama & Daddy actually brings their children over to meet the scary human strangers? They got close enough that we could have literally reached out to pet them – and personally: that’s too close. If we aren’t at a petting farm, I don’t want any wild creatures simply walking up to me. Not that I have issues with wild animals, I’ve just seen a few too many horror documentaries about animals deciding to strike out at nearby humans. And rain was already looming, we didn’t need a trip to the Emergency Room to top it off.

We moved away from the pond & the geese decided to follow us. We set up “shop” on the path above the pond and started away with photos, while the geese stood at a distance and watched us.

Apparently, the geese wanted family photos too!