I came across an old photo today and all these years later it makes me feel as good as it did that day. I was lucky to work for the Associated Press at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea. I worked the evening shift, so during the day I would go out and shoot around the Olympics. One day I got on the subway and headed out to a neighborhood away from the Olympics. It was a fairly poor area and it didn’t take long to realize not a lot of 6’2″ guys with blonde hair wandered their streets.
I noticed a young boy and girl walking across the the street from me and they were giggling and gawking at me. I waved to them and they waved back. It continued for a few blocks and they disappeared. I thought it was a pretty cool experience when the two appeared again. They came over to my side of the street and were carrying three ice cream cones, one for each of them and one for me. What a surprise!
It was one of the nicest gestures ever. We stood there eating our ice cream and laughing. I pointed to my camera to ask them if I could make a picture of them. They gladly posed, waved goodbye and headed off down a side street. I wished I was able to go to their house but at least I had a great memory and a nice photo. It was fun thinking about it again today.
We did a ton of driving yesterday seeking the best color in the leaves. We found some good spots up north, but today I kept us closer to home so we could shoot more and drive less. We started the day at Chittenden Reservoir, which always looks good. There are usually several other photographers there but we had the place to ourselves this morning. For a good while there was no wind and people made some great reflection shots in the water.
After grabbing breakfast at a nice, new little restaurant in Brandon, we were crossing the mountains and came upon a large hillside full of color. One little tree was in a field and it was bright red. The farm had a little store to sell maple syrup, so I knew there wouldn’t be a problem if we pulled off the road and made some shots. As I was getting out of the car, some people were coming out of the house so I let them know why two carloads of photographers were moving down the roadside. I told them about the international group that we have and they loved that we appreciated the beauty they enjoy daily and said we were welcome to wander the field and shoot whatever we like.
The annual Somerset County 4-H Fair is one of the few places in New Jersey where you can easily photograph farm animals, so that was what I was looking for when I went there. I was walking around the grounds and saw an older gentleman with a great face sitting on a bench. He was wearing a real cowboy hat, which you don’t see real often in New Jersey.
Friend Lisa Lacasse invited me to join her 
I went on another crazy photo adventure today with fellow photographer Walter Choroszewski. Walter got us a deal on a flight, and suggested we spend the weekend in Oregon. Walter hadn’t been in Oregon before and wanted to check another state off his list. He still needs Wisconsin and North Dakota and we both need Hawaii to make it 50 for each of us.
I don’t know, there is something about cool faces that attracts me lately. While we were out today on the Vermont Fall Foliage Photography Workshop, we stopped in the little village of Felchville for a break. Two guys were leaning on the back of a pickup truck in front of the post office/town hall. I loved the big white beard of one guy, so after making photos of both of them, I focused in on the beard. The man runs a saw mill up the road and had great eyes to go with the beard.
As my friend Lisa Lacasse and I were wandering around southern Vermont looking for great foliage, we stopped in Newfane for some lunch. We had driven a lot and were getting a bit tired, so we left the cameras in the car and headed into a country store. As soon as I walked in I saw this older gentleman with a great face sitting at some tables in front of a big picture window. The soft light flowed on him and I spun around and went back to get the cameras.
