3.27.10-Increase Contrast!

I read this blog post by Art Wolfe, one of the elite nature photographers in the world. He talked about one of his books that he put together about ten years ago where he had photoshopped some of his images in order to create an effect. He included this in the intro, so it wasn't like it was a complete surprise. Anyways, he got a lot of criticism from it, and so he was defending himself. Part of his argument was that all photographers enhance their images in one way or another--either by zooming in, cropping out, increasing the contrast, changing the focus, etc. etc.
I think he's right, but at the same time, it also bothers me a little when I see image after image that are 'enhanced'. If I were mother nature, I'd want to ask: "Hey, aren't I good enough as-is?"
In the spirit of those thoughts, I decided to go out and take some pictures today in Central Park, and to not increase saturation or contrast. I made sure the exposure was accurate, and I cropped, (and I turned a couple into black and whites without increasing anything else), but that is it.
I think it might take some time to re-train my photographic eye to not be so bent on fantastical color and dramatic contrast. I appreciate photographers that are really good at that. Anyways, these will probably not 'pop', but I think they turned out nice.