My photography Resolutions for 2014

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Every year I write about my New Year’s Photography resolutions. I’ll remind readers they aren’t only resolutions, but things I’d been thinking about for some time. This year, as last, I’ll also call them my photography goals as well as my New Year’s resolutions for the year to come.

This year I kept the number at six and mixed them into no real order. Too many goals don’t seem to work for me. However, I included five more I found on the Internet for new photographers.

My first resolution is an easy one that I recommend to all serious photographers. The resolution is to get together with other photographers. Collaborate with like-minded enthusiasts, plan an outing or just get together for refreshments and talk at some local spot.

My second resolution is to plan several photographer vacations this year.  I’ll be sure to make them about photography, not those rushing trips where one just grabs a picture now and then on a tiny point and shoot camera. These will be the kind of excursions that allow me look at the world in new ways and inspire me to use the equipment, knowledge, and talents I have.

My third resolution is to continue my ongoing, and seemly never-ending quest to organize my old photographic slides.  I make this resolution every year.

My fourth resolution is to upgrade my computer, well actually, to purchase a new computer. Gosh, I’d do almost anything to skip this one, but I suppose I must be resolute in this resolution.

My fifth resolution is to add a lens this year. Not that I really require anything, but there are a couple that are intriguing.  Nevertheless, because I prefer to purchase used equipment, I am always on the look out for bargains that fit the kind of photography I do.

My sixth resolution is to attend a photographic workshop. The subject doesn’t really matter; I always learn something whether it’s from the leader or from my classmates. I regularly buy books on different photographic subjects and I am an avid reader of many online bloggers and teachers, but the experience of being part of a class offers so much more.

I decided to search for other photographer’s New Year Resolutions and found a list by www.photoguides.net I changed their order and selected five that I think will benefit those readers new to this exciting medium in the year to come.

Their first New Year’s resolution is to, “Use filters”.

The second resolution, “Never use Auto mode” I do like that, but I think I would change it to “learn when and where to use Auto modes”, because I look at cameras and their functions as multipurpose tools.

The third resolution, “Shoot more in RAW” surprises me. Not the resolution, but that any serious photographer, even a beginner, wouldn’t prefer RAW.

The fourth, “Take control of your flash” might just be my favourite resolution. Anyone familiar with my photography knows how much I like flash.

For the fifth and last resolution for 2014.  I’ll just smile and nod my head, “Stop the car”.

I am sure readers will make their own resolutions for the year we have just begun.  What could they be? I can only imagine.  Let me know.

I wish you and yours the best in the New Year.

My website is at www.enmanscamera.com

2013 in review

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 10,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Photographing Hoarfrost on Christmas day

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Frosty rose  Rosehips  Icycle  Frost sculpture  Frosty leaves  Cattail  Frost hanging  Winter pineneedles  Hoarfrost and snowy fence

Christmas day couldn’t have been better. The sausages and champagne additions to our ordinary breakfast of coffee, yogurt, and bagels was yummy, and my wife, Linda, and I were happy with our presents. Yes, it was a great Christmas morning and to make it even better, when I went outside to feed my chickens, I noticed everything, well, everything but my hungry chickens, was coated with hoarfrost.

The day was overcast and sometime during the evening another inch or so of snow made its way to our yard and the surrounding forest, and I guess that chilled the air around the already freezing surfaces created what this photographer can best describe as a wonderland of frozen, white, crystalline frost.

I attached a ring-flash to my 200mm macro lens and mounted it on my camera. My wife chose an 18-200mm lens for her camera, and then we donned our boots, and warm coats, and headed out.

Linda began trudging through the deep snow in our yard picking out interesting snow and frost covered features. She wasn’t using a flash, but had her camera set at ISO 1600. The high ISO allowed her to choose faster shutterspeeds so she could leave her tripod behind.

Even though there was a light cloud cover, the day was perfect, with just enough light to give the frost a slight illumination on the snowy morning.

I was shooting close-ups and could have easily selected one of the automated modes in the shadowless, flat light; but using the ring-light on my lens allowed me to underexpose and slightly darken the background to build some dimension and depth in the images I was making of the hoarfrost-covered foliage.

Selecting manual modes for both flash and camera, plus a low ISO of 100, gave me more control over my subjects. I made exposures at 1/250th of a second and adjusted the aperture to control how much depth of field I wanted. I like using flash when I do close-up or macro photography. Whether it’s wandering around in the rain like I wrote about last August or on a frosty Christmas day, adding light from a flash allows a photographer to build the image, not just document it.

I thought about putting a flash on a stand and shooting wirelessly by positioning a flash at different angles, but the mobility of the ring-light mounted around the end of my lens worked pretty well for the type of photographs I was making, and besides I could easily walk everywhere and after our Christmas breakfast I think I needed the exercise.

The frosty morning pictures were a good addition to those Linda and I made of each other earlier. I have closed my shop till after the New Year, so there will be lots of time for more picture taking in the snow-covered landscape.

I hope everyone has a great Year End with best wishes from Linda and I.

My website is at www.enmanscamera.com

Your Photographs Make Great Christmas Cards

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xmas chicken 1  Winter viewxmas chickens  Santa's Workshop  Xmas

The Christmas season is a great time for photographers looking for an excuse to give friends and relatives photographs. I wrote last year saying that I always give photographs this time of year. That could mean framed photographic print gifts, but what I really mean are Christmas cards.

Several years ago my wife and I spent the beginning of December in San Francisco.

On our second day there we decided to spend the afternoon on a beach at John Muir Park, and while we were there we watched three young people involved in what we assumed was the production of a photograph for their Christmas greeting card for friends and family.  A young woman proceeded out to the water’s edge wearing a long dark skirt, a white shirt, a red vest, and a Santa Claus cap, all the while supporting a gangly four-foot Charlie Brown Christmas tree at her side.  She posed and smiled for her friends who were busy photographing her.  She was barefoot and the bottom of her long dress was getting wet as the surf rolled in.  They then each took turns holding the tree as they posed for the camera, but she was the most remarkable because of her costume.

For those satisfied with mass produced generic Christmas cards, there are stacks and stacks being offered at stores, but for photographers it’s a perfect excuse to give people photographs. And personally, I want people to see and enjoy my photography. Even if it’s only as a 5X7 card, that’s better than having my pictures left languishing in a hard drive.

My wife and I went through many of our image files from this year’s photographs selecting those we want for Christmas cards. I prefer a vertical format, but sometimes a horizontal picture also works and I will choose that also.

I print up several different images, and place different sorts of greetings on them. It is rare that we give the same picture to more than one person. And not all the cards say Merry Christmas. To me, it doesn’t matter; , have fun, a good New Year, and anything else I think fits a particular picture. Sometimes I use bits of songs or quotes I have found instead of the words, Merry Christmas

What matters is the picture and even that might be a manipulation of the original and doesn’t need to have a Christmas look at all. What is important to me is that those I give a card to get something unique. And I will say that, unlike a framed print, I really don’t care what they do with the card I sent. I really hope people like what I give them, of course, however, if it gets thrown out with the gift-wrap after the holidays it doesn’t matter either, they got to see a photograph taken by my wife, Linda, or myself, and that’s what’s important.

I like to give different pictures to different people.  Don’t be a Grinch and hide your pictures away, just showing some picture on your iphone isn’t enough. Print it, make a card, put it in an envelope, and give it to someone. And it’s easy to make a card gluing a photo to card stock or construction paper, or get a print made and write something festive on the back. In my opinion Christmas cards don’t really need to be just for Christmas. Call them greeting cards, holiday cards, or whatever you want. That way if it’s a bit late for Christmas they can be sent or delivered anyway.

Linda and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

My new website is at www.enmanscamera.com

Twelve Gifts for a Photographer’s Christmas

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Tree 2 xmas presents

We finished decorating our 15-foot Christmas tree, and I started putting the tracks together for the Christmas train that goes round and round the tree.  Afterwards, my wife, Linda, resting and enjoying a cup of tea, and perusing the glory of our handiwork commented, “You haven’t told me yet what you want for Christmas. Do you want something for your photography?”

I hadn’t thought about what I wanted.  I had been enjoying the tree, the decorations, and the Christmas music, but as far as a gift for me, especially, “something for photography” left me at a loss of what to say, so I replied, “I suppose I want everything and anything that will fit my camera.”

I watched the train go round the tree, and I listened to the music coming from the satellite receiver (I like the channel that plays smooth Christmas jazz) and tried to think about what I could tell my wife.

In keeping with that subject, I decided to pose that question on a couple of photographer forums I frequent. There are so many different photographers with different ideas on what would be the perfect photography gift for them, that I edited them a bit and selected twelve in keeping with the tradition of twelve days of Christmas.

I am absolutely sure readers have their own Christmas list, however, here are some of the requests I picked out for this year.

(1) “I asked for the Canon 6D, worth a try.”  (The first on the list is one of many that wanted a particular camera, and I just went with the first response of many.)  One would have had to been really good to deserve this.

(2) “I thought about asking for an additional tripod; a smaller, lighter one for hiking… but I would not want to push my luck.”  Good choice.

(3) “I asked Santa for a 70-200mm lens.”  Very nice.

(4) “Lensbaby Composer Pro – This tilting lens is the first item on my list.”  Wow.

(5) “I already bought a Fujifilm X100s…I couldn’t wait.”  Good move.

(6) “I’ve asked for gift cards, better chance of getting some of those than the Nikon D800 I really want.”  That works for me.

(7) “A Bush Hawk Shoulder Mount would be great to find under the Christmas tree.” That would be so neat.

(8) “A 50mm f/1.4 lens would be perfect.” I agree.

(9) “I really would be happy if I could get a macro ring flash for Christmas.”  I agree.

(10) “I would like a wireless off-camera flash, light stand, and a softbox.” Excellent.

(11) “I’d be happy with a 5-in-1 collapsible reflector, or if I am really very good I would like a really big umbrella, 80 inches would be super.”  Absolutely.

(12) “A new camera backpack to hold the 70-200mm lens I hope I am getting.”  That would be so neat.

Personally, I could suggest to my wife that she empty out our savings and get me a really long focal length lens. But I doubt that item would actually find it’s way under our tree. After all there needs to be some money left for her. So, being the practical guy I am, I think I’ll request that Santa Claus puts a couple of good quality, 32GB memory cards in my stocking.

There is still time to get your list ready. Good luck and Merry Christmas.

Got any additions or comments? Let me know – Thanks, John

My new website is at www.enmanscamera.com

Photographing Things That Go Fast.

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Lucas racing   Flying Black  Quick turning  At the gate  White bull calfa Fast court      Nascar

I received a call from a photographer asking help with a new camera purchase. He had selected two and was comparing their difference in frames-per-second. I had read about both cameras and have to admit with so many other spectacular and enticing features both offered I hadn’t paid much attention to how many frames each could shoot in one burst.

When I asked him why FPS was important he said, “So I can photograph things that go fast”.  A good point, although a minor one in my opinion, shooting with continuous advance might increase the number of keepers he has, as he learns techniques for photographing fast moving subjects.

I will admit I like photographing things that go fast. Capturing less than of second of a subject’s life that will be gone forever is exciting.  That photographer could hope to stop the action by putting his camera into it’s P, or A mode, and employing his camera like a machine gun, make a burst of the shutter to stop a moving subject.

Some experienced photographers know how to get great results at the 8-frames-per-second or more, but if he is just starting out, he might want to dial it back a little and experiment to find what works best. The belief that faster would be better is not always the case. A DSLR cannot always find focus on a passing subject while the mirror is up and one can’t track the action through a viewfinder blocked while several frames are being made.

When I approach action photography at say, a basketball game, rodeo, or cars at a dragstrip, I don’t bother with the continuous frame feature on my camera. I know that the best way to stop action is with a fast shutterspeed. First I increase the ISO so the sensor is more light sensitive. Modern cameras have no problem with ISO settings of 800 or more and depending on how bright the location is I might move ISO higher or lower. I just make some tests before things get going.

Next I set my camera to a mode where I choose the shutter and the camera chooses the aperture. (S on Nikon and TV on Canon)  I select the fastest shutterspeed that will let me keep some depth of field, then do more test shots, and I am ready to start taking pictures.

I anticipate and choose the best location to catch the action. Gosh, it’s all that easy. I suppose one could do additional testing with a high burst of frames-per-second. I don’t think that is needed, it just eats up memory and might require hours of editing in Photoshop, but what the heck, with today’s exciting technology we need to experiment to find what works best for our shooting style.

My first camera didn’t have auto focus, programmed exposure modes, or eight-frames-a-second capability. I couldn’t even shoot at shutterspeeds over 1/500th of a second. But, I read a lot, took classes and learned about the aperture and shutter, learned how to follow a moving subject, and about how my camera exposed a subject. And practiced a lot in spite of the price attached to each roll of film.

Oh, and my advice to that photographer didn’t discuss the need for fast shutterspeeds. As I wrote, there were so many other spectacular, and enticing things about the cameras we talked about, that I forgot about adding an opinion about frames-per-second.

I really appreciate any and all comments. Thanks, John

My new website is at www.enmanscamera.com

Shoot Your Way to Work

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Going to work  Passing a neighbor  Just passing  Watching me go  Field view  Into the valley  On to Kamloops

It seems like several lifetimes ago when I worked as an instructor in California, and my students, were mostly inner city in third, fourth, and fifth grades, and in many cases, were not interested in anything other than getting through the day, so they could do something more enjoyable.

My job in the Alternative Education Program of the US Office of Education at the time was finding more creative methods for teaching children that would bring some excitement to learning the basics that seemed boring to young minds.

This story is going to get around to cameras, just bare with me.  At the time I wanted to involve photography, so when one of the lead instructors complained that young students couldn’t discuss the neighborhoods they walked through on the way to school, and he wanted to work on that as a project. I took the opportunity to insert photography into his project.

We started by giving the kids a pad and pencil and asked them to write about their trip to school. Some days later we all made pirate eye patches and gave them the centers from toilet tissue rolls. Students wore the patch on one eye, and used the roll tubes to look at things as they walked to school, and then later wrote about the trip to school. They saw more and more and wrote pages about the things they originally ignored.

On the final week of the project we gave them all Diana F cameras to take photographs along the way. The Diana F is a blue and black plastic, 120mm, roll film camera with a fixed shutterspeed, and, as I remember, a three-stop aperture. Actually, since then the Diana F has become a kind of “cult camera”.  Who knew? At the time it was just an inexpensive camera that the school didn’t mind loosing.

Some helpful parents had made double-layered, lightproof developing bags, that cameras and Kodak apron-type developing tanks were put into, and then tied to the student’s arms to keep out the light. After what seemed a painfully long time the tanks would emerge with the film safely inside.

We processed the film and the kids would run around the schoolyard with film flying high till it was dried in the warm California air. I once had to prove to an administrator that the developer was safe by drinking a little paper cup full. OK, I did have an upset stomach later, but I never told.

I made little cardboard and glass contact printers and everyone would place their film on Studio Proof paper and sit in the sun on the sidewalk till purple images appeared. Now long discontinued, Studio Proof paper was once used by portrait photographers to make sure the customers returned for their pictures. The deep purple pictures would fade to a solid colour in a few weeks.

Purple pictures of their neighborhood in hand the students would sit and actually write stories about the now memorable walk to school. Sure they had the pictures, but the viewfinder heightened the process of seeing.  There is something about photography and the act of image making that helps and reminds us how unforgettable and exciting it is to be in the place we live.

I recently thought about that long ago episode with photography. So for a fun thing for myself one day I thought I should try, as I had those students do, to shoot my way to work. I am always rushing at the last minute when heading to work in the morning and that makes taking pictures a rushed thing.  For my trip to work I used the spy it, stop-the-car, jump out, shoot fast and drive off method. Not my usual way, but I admit I had fun, got lots of interesting pictures, and wasn’t too late getting to my shop, and I had fun.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of my way to town….

Please don’t hesitate to comment.

My new website is at www.enmanscamera.com

Taking Pictures at the Party

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Tree Planter's 122  Tree Planter's 095  Tree Planter's 102  Tree Planter's 047   Tree Planter's 076  Tree Planter's 071

I can hardly believe how fast this year has gone by!  Wasn’t I just complaining about the unforgiving heat during a wedding I photographed on a cloudless +35C day?

Now, here I am bundled up in the +1c cold and snow, with new snow tires mounted on my car. Gosh, there is even an advertisement on television about what wine to bring to upcoming Christmas parties. Yikes!  Don’t get me wrong I like Christmas, and everything that goes with it, but I am not ready for winter’s snow yet, and neither is all the stuff in our yard that will get covered and damaged if I don’t get off my-lazy-whatever and pick them up.

Even though it seems early the Christmas season is coming up fast and that means photographic opportunities as we join family, friends, and co-workers at all the year-end festive events that are going to begin in December.

Photographer friends are going to dive in, digital cameras in hand, happily filling memory cards with candid photos.  The act of picture taking has become so easy and so much fun as photographers rush over to take a picture, look at the LCD, and quickly slide back to show others those tiny images.

For many photography has become more about the process of picture taking than it is about creating art, or even documenting the party; it is more about standing in front of people, taking lots of quick snapshots, than it is about making memorable photographs.

Most images made in this fashion never become more than space-taking files stored on computers that after quickly being looked at, laughed at, or smiled at, are tucked away with good intentions to be used in some fashion in the future, but after that initial viewing they loose their value because there are too many, and very few are good enough to give to others anyway.

How should readers approach photography at the next party?  Yes, readers should continue to make candid photographs of people having fun, but, perhaps, they should also think about making pictures that tell a story, capture an exciting moment, and importantly, flatter the subjects.

Most people don’t mind seeing a picture of themselves being silly or having fun, but they don’t like pictures that make them look stupid or unattractive.

My approach is to take a moment to look at the room in which I intend to make photographs, make a couple of test shots with longer shutter speeds (my favourite is 1/60th of a second), to include some ambient light when making exposures using the on-camera flash so as not to end up with brightly lit faces surrounded by a black environment.

I suggest taking group shots with two or three people. Get them to position themselves so they are squeezed together with a tight composition, and include only a little background or foreground. Don’t shoot fast, steady the camera, and select a shutter speed that includes the ambient light. Fortunately most modern DSLRs easily allow ISO sensitivity that is 1600, and some go a lot higher.

Shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second, or less, doesn’t always work for children playing in the snow during the day because moving subjects will be blurry, but, with limited lighting moving subjects will only be exposed when the flash goes off.

Lighting everything with complicated studio equipment would be great, but that would ruin the party for everyone. The occasion would become more about the photography than about the fun and festivities.  I use an on-camera flash and make adjustments as I go. I want to join in on the fun, not act like a photojournalist.

Family and friends don’t mind having their pictures taken as long as its enjoyable and I want pictures that show them having a good time. So, along with those quick candids I make posed portraits with smiling faces, and if I select some pictures to give away later I want people to like the pictures taken of them and honestly thank me.

I always enjoy everyones comments, John

My website at www.enmanscamera.com

Using a Camera Modified for Infrared on vacation.

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Infrared lightInfrared tree  construction IR  Cupola IR  Waterfront IR  Infrared and brick  Marina in IR    Infrared in street  Tower IR  IR light on clock  Flag & Building in IR

When on vacation I always bring along my camera. Actually most of the trips I take are for the purpose of relaxing and making pictures. If I couldn’t bring a camera I would suffer because I would see shots I wanted to take and wouldn’t be able to do it.

I enjoy wandering about with my camera wherever I go and for the short vacation my wife and I took to the coast of Washington state at La Conner.  For this trip I wanted to make a real change from my everyday shooting, and decided to spend each late afternoon making exposures with the well-worn Nikon D100 I had modified many years ago to only “see” infrared light.

Digital camera sensors are as sensitive to infrared light as to visible light. In order to stop infrared light from contaminating images manufacturers placed in front of the sensor what they call “a hot filter” to block the infrared part of the spectrum and still allow the visible light to pass through. My infrared modified D100 has had that filter removed and replaced with a custom filter for infrared only.

The first day we had lodging in the town of La Conner.  I began walking the town in the morning with my Nikon D800e, and then returned in the late afternoon walking the streets and waterfront with my Modified D100 for infrared images.

On the second day, after a leisurely drive sight-seeing unsuccessfully trying to get close to the annual snow geese migration, we went a bit further to some big stores at an outlet mall near Seattle my wife wanted to check out.  Next day we moved about 20 miles down the road to a motel in Anacortes and again I roamed the streets, alleyways, and oceanfront with my infrared camera in a new location.

There is nothing quite like infrared (IR) Photography. Making an image with a modified camera is an exploration.  I like the contrasty tones that I can obtain when I convert the image to black and white. I suppose, like any form of photography, or art, it’s all a matter of taste.

Reflected IR light produces an array of surreal effects. Vegetation appears white or near white. Black surfaces can appear gray or almost white depending on the angle of reflected light. And the sky is my favorite part; it will be black if photographed from the right direction. The bluer the sky, the more the chance there is for a dramatic appearance.

Get everything right and there will be a “crispness” that’s rarely seen in regular photography, with everything looking very different from a normal black and white conversion.

The low-angled, late afternoon coastal light created lots of deep shadows on the buildings and trees, and it was that light and the contrasting effects that I was able to capture.

I like photographing architecture and other human-made structures. Well, actually, I like photographing just about anything. But on a trip when my goal is to photographically discover, or in this case, rediscover a small town or city, I let myself be as creative as possible with the many architectural structures, and a camera that sees only infrared does help. In addition, the colourful coastal architecture is very different from what one finds in the usually very dry, forested interior of British Columbia where I live.

I walked and walked. I photographed and re-photographed. I talked to people I met in the alleyways, along the street, and on the waterfront. My only goal was to capture the way the infrared light touched things and to be back at the motel before dark.

Life Pixel, http://www.lifepixel.com/ writes on their website, “Are you tired of shooting the same stuff everyone else is shooting?  Then be different & shoot infrared instead!”

I don’t think I care whether I’m shooting the same stuff as others, but I sure do like to change how other photographers sees the stuff I do shoot, and infrared works perfectly for that.

Of cours….I am always happy when someone comments. Thanks, John

Visit my website at www.enmanscamera.com

Discovering a Small Town with my Camera

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19th century view   Green window    Texaco 1      the boats   control pannel    Red Bricks  Hippies use back door  Phillips 66 twenty five cents a ride

I usually like to have a plan when I go out to photograph a subject. However, this past weekend when my goal was to photographically discover a small town or city like I did in La Conner, Washington, USA, the unusual and unknown becomes the accepted rater than the exception. The experience was one of those rare times when I just wanted to wander about and let the unexpected observations rule the day.

The distance from my lodging at the Wild Iris Inn in La Conner to the waterfront was about six blocks and that photographic stroll took me nearly two hours. I spent another hour photographing the buildings, and the boats moored along the boardwalk, and then approximately another hour roaming the adjacent neighborhood on my way back.

I to like wander, and yes, that’s the word that works best. I mounted a 24-70mm on my new (to me) full-frame sensor camera, stepped out of the room and let the historic, western architecture, and the coastal lighting, determine my path. I wasn’t on any direct course by any intent, and spent a lot of time backtracking when I decided to see how the light affected an interesting door, or window, from a different perspective than I had just photographed it.

I checked out the La Conner on-line gallery and it shows lots of scenics and wide images of street side buildings, but my photographic captures didn’t always show the whole. I chose to photograph those parts that caught my attention; signs, doors, railings, roof supports, or the moulding, and sometimes just the window frame, cornice or decorative lintel, and how the light touched them, was what peaked my interest and filled my the memory card of my camera

La Conner is a coastal town of Washington State and received its current name in 1870 from the owner of the area’s first trading post, J.S. Conner to honor his wife, Louisa Ann Conner.  One of my favorite writers, Tom Robbins, author of such great books as “Even Cowgirls get the Blues”, ”Life with the Woodpecker”, and “Another Roadside Attraction” is supposed to be a long-time resident. Each spring, La Conner attracts thousands of visitors to view the wide array of tulips at the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Here is a humorous note about La Conner: in 2005, the town named the wild turkey as their official Town Bird, however, a debate in 2010 declared the turkeys to be a nuisance and they were removed from the town limits because of “complaints about noise, fecal matter, and ingestion of garden materials”.

This is one that is closer to my heart because it is a story about a dog.  There is a statue of a dog whose name was “Dirty Biter” and he once freely wandered the town. One of his favorite hangouts was an1890’s tavern, where a bar stool was always reserved for him. When he was killed in a dogfight, the heartbroken townspeople named a small park next to his beloved tavern for Dirty Biter and installed a bronze statue of the dog.

I didn’t see any turkeys, or writer Tim Robbins, but I took the time to stop in that tavern before continuing on my photographic stroll and I drank a pint to all of them; Mr. Robbins, the turkeys, poor old Dirty Biter, and of course, the subject of my photographic excursion, the historic town of La Conner.

I always appreciate your comments. Thanks, John

My website is at www.enmanscamera.com