Consolation Prize...

I was able to get away for a few days of wildlife photography before the sports shooting season kicked in, so I headed to one of my favorite spots, Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is 11,000 acres of mixed hardwood uplands and beautiful marshland areas that host thousands of migrating waterfowl every year. My kinda place!
Unfortunately, hunting season had the birds on high alert and getting near them was an exercise in futility. Even the Mallards were flushing a hundred yards out! But this is the way it is with wildlife photography. The odds are usually stacked against you, so you just deal with it or go home. And I hate to quit.
By the third morning, my butt was dragging and I didn’t have much to show for it. I set up on a large marshy area surrounded by cattails in the hopes that the hunters would push the birds past me and I could at least get some flight shots. The hunters booming shotguns made me put down my coffee and pay attention and I’m glad that I did. But it wasn’t ducks that came by, it was this little guy! As always, click images to enlarge

Young, but smart!

He was taking his time, slowly working towards me, using the cattails for cover.

Eventually he cleared the cattails and walked into the overgrown field where I was sitting. I forgot all about the coffee! I think this is where he first spotted me, but I was fairly well hidden in the field and the wind was in my favor, so he kept walking parallel to me, not taking his eye off of me!

That kind of indecision in a whitetail only lasts for a very short time and I knew he was on his way out of there. But before he left, he gave me one more look, stuck out his tongue, and he was gone in a flash! But that short 5-minute sequence made my day. The great images don’t happen very often, and if you gauge your success by killer images alone, you’re going to spend many days being disappointed. Enjoy your successes, big or small.

Actually, he was licking his nose! If you’re interested in why he does that, send me a note and I’ll be glad to explain it!

Thanks for looking! And as always, get out and shoot!!!

Swamp Surprise!

When I recently went to Lake Martin for a photo shoot, I knew that there would be plenty of birds. And there were. Egrets, GBH, Green Herons and Black Crowned Night herons were plentiful. But what surprised me the most was the large population of Barred Owls! Now, we have Barred Owls around here to, but it seemed like every corner we went around had another Owl! And they were very vocal for the most part, so it wasn’t hard to find them. As always, click on the image to enlarge

Watching our every move

And it seemed like they were always squabbling with each other. Reminded me of an old married couple!

Best time to shoot a vertical? Right after a horizontal! Same bird, same tree, different feel.

Hope you enjoy the pics, because they were sure fun to shoot!

Heading for lunch!

Out of the darkness

And into the light

And last, but not least, is my favorite of the bunch

Thanks for looking. Now get out and shoot!

Birds, Birds, Birds....

Of course, you all know that I love shooting birds. It’s what I do and I’m very happy doing it. But this trip to Lake Martin gave me a chance to photograph birds with some very beautiful backgrounds. As always, click on the images to enlarge

Early morning

This is what you see when you first leave the boat slip in the morning. Quiet, peaceful, with an otherworldly look to it. Soon you’ll be immersed in these trees.

Early morning brings deep dark backgrounds, almost like a reverse silhouette

But the sun soon casts a warm red glow to the landscape and the birds are hungry!

Snack!

The sense of calm never seems to leave the Cypress swamp, even though life and death is all around us. The circle of life and death is on full display here.

Calm before the storm

Through it all, I am amazed by the backgrounds and the textures to these images.

I’m hoping you are enjoying the quick cruise through the morning shoot. Next post will feature the Owls of Lake Martin. See you then!

Like A Kid In A Candy Store...

The trip from Syracuse to Lafayette, Louisiana couldn’t have been smoother. No delays, interruptions, or problems of any kind. So I actually ended up getting in early to meet my guide and mentor for the week, Doug Gardner. Some of you may be familiar with the name, because he had his own national television show that aired locally called Wild Photo Adventures. So I knew I was going to have a great time!
Our home base for the week would be Lake Martin, part of the Atchafalaya Basin, located in south-central Louisiana. It is the largest wetland and swamp in the United States. Spanning over 1.4 million acres, this vast ecosystem is a rich habitat teeming with diverse flora and fauna. It plays a crucial role in maintaining the ecological balance of the region while reflecting the unique culture of Louisiana’s Cajun heritage.
Enough of the Chamber of Commerce description of this area. To put it simply, this place is like being in another world. Gorgeous Cypress trees, hundreds of years old and covered in Spanish moss line the edges of Lake Martin. I had never been to a place like this before and it showed. I acted like a damn kid in a candy store, my head on a swivel because everywhere you looked was a natural beauty like I had never encountered. Pictures don’t really do it justice, but I will try. There’s no way to fit everything into one post, so I’ll leave you with just a taste of what it’s like. There’s plenty more to come! As always, click to enlarge

What a way to start the trip!

Morning on Lake Martin

Into the looking glass….

Don’t worry, I’m just getting started. More to come…..

Be Careful, That First Step Is A Killer!!!

It’s not just us old farts who have to be careful with their balance. This poor little Green Heron probably stopped off at the bar for a couple of drinks the way he was acting.
His first mistake was stepping off a branch without having the other foot on firm ground first. He almost fell there but made a great recovery and continued his hunting for breakfast.

One foot at a time kid!

His next mistake was when he reached for a branch that wasn’t there. His body hit the branch as he was grabbing at thin air and he almost went over sideways. But he managed to regain his composure and continued his attack, but the frog was long gone and all he got was a bath! Some days I know exactly how he feels!

Somedays it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed!!!!

For Photo Nerds.....

This post is not necessarily the kind of post that just shows the cute little ducks in their environment, but I’ve been trying to master a process to shoot in shitty light. As a wildlife photographer, my golden hours are early, early morning and later in the evening. That is when the birds are usually most active and your chances of getting a shot are better. But if that shot is so noisy, grainy and blurry it doesn’t really do you much good, does it?
I’ve been working with a concept, or process, called ETTR. Expose To The Right. It’s a fairly simple idea predicated on the belief that most of the noise in an image is contained in the 3 left quadrants of the histogram. Your histogram, (yes, all images have a histogram) is divided into quadrants with the darkest pixels of your image on the left and the brightest pixels on your right. The idea is that if you expose to the brightest side of the histogram (the right side), you can avoid the left side of the histogram where a large portion of the noise is contained. So basically you are overexposing your image which pushes your histogram to the right. If you look at your image, you will notice that the brighter the image, the farther to the right your histogram will lean. As long as you do not physically blow out the pixels, even if they look overexposed, you can reduce the overexposure in post processing without having to deal with nearly as much noise and grain in your images.
Some photogs swear by this concept, and some swear at this concept! But I’ll be working with it over the summer to see if it helps with my early morning photos.

I have a few examples below for you to look at so you can judge for yourself if it improves the images. And to me, if you are going to shoot at high ISOs, you will need some help from a noise reduction system of some kind. I use Adobe Lightroom and Topaz products, but there are several on the market You will have to try them out on your images to see if they will work for you. Zoom in on the images to see the difference.

1/800 at f7.1, ISO 16000 before post-processing

1/800 at f7.1, ISO 16000 after post-processing

As you can see, the image cleaned up fairly nicely because I overexposed (ETTR) and there were far fewer areas of darkness in the image. Click to enlarge.

1/100 at f4, ISO 18000

1/100 at f4, ISO 18000

When you first look at your images when using ETTR, they will without a doubt look overexposed. And they are. But you can also see that it’s not hard to adjust the exposure so you get a more pleasing image without excessive noise.

1/500 at f4, ISO 25600

1/500 at f4, ISO 25600

As you can see, even the ISO 25600 images aren’t terrible. And I had to massage the pics as far as white balance, background brightness, etc. But that’s what you have to deal with at high ISO. And my backgrounds left a lot to be desired also! And because these birds were so close to me, the depth of field is razor thin. The head and eyes are sharp, but the body blurs out pretty quickly. I had an 800mm lens on at the time, so the actual depth of field was probably no more than an inch!
I will hopefully refine the technique as I go, and the images will get better and better.
Give high ISO shooting a try. You really have nothing to lose!

Savor The Moment....

Sometimes when I’m out in the marsh, it all just seems to work out the way I hoped it would. Not necessarily for the greatest images, but for the chance to watch life unfold in the wild. To watch as the local inhabitants deal with their lives as best they can, because while this is pure enjoyment for me, it’s a life and death game every day for them. There’s no real story behind these pics, just a chance to observe and enjoy being around to see into their lives a little bit! As always, click on the image to enlarge.

Just a young Hooded Merganser enjoying their morning bath!

Mom approves of junior’s bathing technique!

A well deserved break

A Green Heron preening

A turtle photobomb!

The next few images happened when two families of wood ducks got together. When they were leaving, one Mom decided that all of the chicks were hers and that’s when the fight broke out between the two Moms! It was a little ugly for a bit, but eventually everybody ended up with the right Mom and they went their separate ways.

And leave my kids alone!!!!

Getting a headcount

Mom needed a break

Class is in session

Time to find a new log

Settling down in a new spot

Just another day in the life for these little ones! By the time they mature there will probably be only two or three left. Between the Eagles, the hawks, and the Snapping Turtles, life is very precarious for these little ones. Wish them well!

Extra Effort.....

We’re heading into that time of year where shooting gets difficult at Brick Pond, or for that matter, everywhere. Vegetation is on steroids this year making a clean shot more the exception than the rule. And the temperature! It’s probably cooler in Florida!
But the birds don’t seem to notice, so you suck it up and get out there and deal with it.

Which is a good thing I did, because I got to see and photograph a series of shots that was pretty cool. It a series of sequential shots of a Green Heron, which Brick Pond has plenty of. Normally you think of them as a slightly goofy, happy go lucky kind of bird. Not as pretty as a Wood duck or wary as a Great Blue Heron, but when it comes to hunting for food they are deadly serious. And accurate. Click on the images to enlarge.

Locked and loaded

I’ll show the next 5 images sequentially as they happened without comment. I’ll save that for after.

Impressive reach

Coming up for air

Fresh fish for breakfast!

What a reach this bird had!!! And the way they can hang their whole body weight parallel to the water is pretty impressive too. But the amazing thing to me was when I checked the timestamps on the first and last image in that sequence. It started at 5:51:57am and ended up at 5:51:58am. One friggin second. Wow. But just another day at the breakfast bar for this bird. Maybe they deserve a little more respect!
Hope you enjoyed them!

Photo Therapy....

It’s been pretty busy in my world lately, with the photo club year coming to a close, sports photography takes center stage. I opened a gallery show in Norwich last weekend, and between the opening and the sports I have been going non-stop!

So imagine how happy I was when I got a free afternoon to just do nothing. Yeah right, you know me, if I have free time a camera magically ends up in my hand. So I went for some phototherapy. I spent the afternoon at Lindsay Parsons in West Danby. I had no schedule to keep, nothing to shoot for a job or a show, just straight downtime. What a great feeling that was!
Now I don’t have any killer images to show you. The light was a typical harsh light for mid-afternoon, but I was determined to make the best of it.
The birds were fairly active for mid-afternoon, and of course the lighting was very challenging at times. But you do the best you can do and basically just be happy to spend time in such a great place!
Hope you enjoy the pics! As usual, click on the images to enlarge.

Just hangin’ out…

Perfect light for a natural high key!

Big Mouth!

Mom has had enough!

Incoming!

Flying Lessons

Cool light

Warm light

When Life Hands You Lemons.....

Got a chance to go to Lindsay Parsons Preserve this morning for a chance to shoot Herons. The weatherman forecast partly cloudy skies which would work for the shooting angles that I had. By now, the little ones would be growing quickly and I didn’t want to miss a chance at some good images.

Of course, the weatherman didn’t mention a chance of fog, but there it was as thick as the proverbial pea soup! Why, why, why do I believe the weatherman??
But it doesn’t matter, you still gotta get the shot, right? Time to get creative with the light. The first two below were taken half an hour before sunrise. They’re just simple silhouettes, but they fit the mood of the morning. As always, click images to enlarge.

Beginnings…

Already bugging Mom….

It took two hours, but the fog finally lifted and from then on it was full, harsh sunlight. I had to figure out a way to get around the direct Sun and use it to my advantage. I couldn’t change shooting locations because then I would be too far away from the birds. And the Sun wasn’t going anywhere either. So much for partly cloudy!

Waiting for breakfast

A partial solution was to seriously underexpose the image and bring up the dark areas in Lightroom. Not a perfect solution because I still had that flat, hazy background, but at least I had something.

For the last two, the fog finally cleared out, but that left some very bright parts on the birds that I had to deal with. So I underexposed the image until the white parts of the birds were no longer blown out. But that leaves you with a very dark bird. Fortunately, the ISO was low enough that I could bring up the shadow areas on the birds to at least make them presentable. Nothing that Nat Geo is going to come calling for, but acceptable under these conditions.

Growing kids…

Standing guard

I actually like the rim light on these last two images. Not exactly what I was hoping for this morning, but you know what they say about lemons…. Thanks for looking!!
And don’t forget…. get out and shoot! (and don’t believe the weatherman)

You Can't Always Get What You Want..

I was lucky enough to spend a few days at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge last week. I had recently been awarded a grant from NYSCA and Iroquois was on my list as a place to help fulfill the grant obligations.
And on the top of my image wish list was an image of two Northern Pintail ducks in breeding plumage. They are among the most beautiful ducks out there beside my all-time favorite, the Wood duck.

I was quickly reminded how fickle the photography gods are because I couldn’t get nearly close enough to get an acceptable image. It didn’t matter what I did it just wasn’t going to happen, and I only had 2 days. But being a wildlife photographer sometimes means that you have to switch gears and try something different!

I knew that there were several Sandhill Cranes at the refuge, and it’s breeding season for them too. And you will know when they are anywhere near you, because their high-pitched call is unmistakable. Once I started looking for the Cranes, the gods began to smile on me again and gave me some good looks at these beautiful birds! I took several hundred Crane pics while I was up there, but I’ll spare you from looking at them all and only show a few. I hope you enjoy them! Click on the images to enlarge

Looking for breakfast

Quiet grace…

Outta here!

My favorite!

Last, but not least, “In her element”

Thanks for looking, and remember, get out and shoot!!

I Think They Need Sex Ed For Ducks....

It was very early the other morning when two ducks flew right over us and landed in the water about 40 yards away. Still too dark to see what kind of duck. I had taken a friend with me to a spot that I frequent quite a bit in early Spring. It’s a small finger of water, maybe 80 yards long and only 30 yards wide. But in the Spring, it’s a magical place. Something is always happening there, and it was no different today.
It turned out the ducks were a male and female Wood duck. They were in a feeding mood, and they came quite close to us, but we were well hidden. But once they were done feeding, the mood took a more romantic turn, and that’s when the problems started.
The female was ready and raring to go, but it seemed like the male didn’t have a clue what she wanted. When wood ducks are ready to mate, the female signals that she is ready by flattening herself out on the water. I’m guessing that this makes the whole process go a bit smoother.

He doesn’t have a clue….

I don’t know if this was his first time, but he sure wasn’t making much of an impression on the young lady! She even started blowing bubbles at him to maybe give him a clue!

Hey, big boy! Over here!!!

Finally, ten minutes later, he grasped the meaning of her gestures and he took care of business!

But I don’t think he made much of impression on her. They flew up into a dead tree and it looks like she was giving him the cold shoulder. Better luck next time buddy! Actually, after this encounter, they spent an hour searching the nearby trees for a suitable nest tree, and that was fascinating to watch.

Was it something I said???

Most times the stories behind the pictures are more entertaining than the images themselves. I hope you enjoyed both!

May I Have This Dance?....

For the last three weeks I have been shooting nothing but sports championships for the state. Spend a weekend shooting, cull and edit several thousand images and repeat. I truly enjoy shooting sports, especially with my friends Becky and Dave, but after the third or fourth week I’ve had enough for a while.
So it was great that Mel and I had a chance to get away for a couple of days together and decompress a little. That doesn’t mean that we didn’t have cameras in our hands!
We took a trip up to Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge just outside of Batavia. It’s 11,000 acres of prime wildlife habitat, especially waterfowl and wading birds. Click images to enlarge

A pair of juvenile Swans looking for breakfast

It was really nice to get away and spend the day wandering the refuge, but it looked like we were a bit early for the migration. The Swans are always one of the first to return to the refuge, and there were plenty of them there. Some will stay and nest right there, and others will continue their journey north. But the ducks were still not very plentiful. Ringnecks and Pintails were the most common, just not in sizeable numbers. Yet. But I’m guessing that in another week or so the place will be loaded with all kinds of waterfowl, including Great Egrets.
So on our way back, we went east on the thruway and stopped by Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge to see if there was anything different there. Unfortunately, the wildlife drive wasn’t open for the season yet but what we found behind the visitors center made up for it.
A decent size flock of Sandhill Cranes were there feeding. Now, that’s not unusual for them to feed behind the center, but I have never seen them that close to the center.
We were able to enjoy an hour or so of some great shooting being serenaded by the very unusual call of the cranes. I knew that this didn’t happen very often so I took plenty of images. I have added just a few of these beautiful birds to this post, and I hope you enjoy them as much as we did that day! And it always makes it more special when my wife is able to join me! What a great trip!

May I Have This Dance?

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait?.....

For the last 3 weeks the picture below is pretty much what I have been seeing when I would venture out for a morning shoot. This is the time of year when we get those really heavy banks of fog rolling in and they don’t dissipate until 10 or 10:30!
I can live with one here and there, but almost everyday???

Until this week I had basically been going out and watching these ghostly shapes glide silently past me, probably laughing the whole time.
But yesterday was different. It was one of those days where everything finally goes right! The birds were there, the light was right, the wind was right, and I was set-up in the right place for a change. And for an hour or so it looked like the duck version of the Bachelor television show! There were several male Wood Ducks there all vying for the chance to escort the lovely females for the next year. Click on the images to enlarge….

Contestant #1…..

The female was going from one guy to the other, pretending she was making a choice and then she would swim off again…

Engagement picture????

But the female was having a tough time choosing, so she had them both swim by again…

Decisions, decisions….

And we have a winner!!! The colors on the birds this year are just amazing!

The choice is made, and the loser looks on dejectedly….

Better luck next time buddy……

But the female seems to be having some buyer’s remorse…..

What have I gotten myself into?

A few minutes later, the wood ducks are the favorite subject of all the gossip queens on the pond!

But seriously, these are the kind of days that make it all worthwhile. Days like this don’t happen very often, so I definitely appreciate them when they do! And you know I’ll be back at it until the pond freezes up…. or I freeze up, one or the other!

Thank you for joining me on this anthropomorphic adventure! Maybe next time I’ll do it from a guys perspective!

A Wildlife Photographer's Lament.....

You know, being a wildlife photographer is tough enough without Mother Nature throwing in a curveball. I thought that I had the perfect setup for the Wood Ducks that I was trying to photograph in flight. (famous last words!) Click the photos to enlarge


Everything was working out exactly as planned. I had done my homework, so I knew where the birds were, where they were going, and I got there an hour before daylight. I wanted to make sure I was set up well before the birds began flying in. I knew where the sun would be coming up, where the wind was coming from so I knew how the birds would come in and take off. I was set well before daylight, which gives me a chance to enjoy a cup of coffee before the world begins to wake up.

The birds came in before daylight, when all you can see is a shadowy silhouette in the sky and a splash on the water. If they land close enough you can hear their wings whirring as they pass overhead. I couldn’t wait for the sun to come up!

As the black and white of night began to fade into the muted colors of early morning, I began to realize that I was in trouble. What I couldn’t see in the darkness was this heavy blanket of fog working its way down the wetland, right towards me! Now I had checked the weather forecast just before I left the house and there was a chance of patchy fog to the East of me. This was the biggest “patch” of fog I had ever seen, and it was riding the thermals right down the hill to the wetland where I was setup.

Go time!

So I did the only thing I could do and that was to hunker down and hope that the birds stuck around long enough for the “patchy” fog to maybe clear a little. The problem was that there is a small walking trail about 60 yards to the right of the birds in the pic above. I knew sooner or later someone would be walking down that trail, right towards the birds and scare them into flight. In fact, I was counting on it. I would be ready when the birds took off, and I would have a good shot angle.

He took off with breakfast in his mouth!

But it just wasn’t to be. The fog just settled in and wouldn’t budge. Eventually someone came down the trail, scared the birds, and I was able to get these shots. They’re fine for Facebook shots, but I had to do so much to them in post-processing that I don’t think they would print very well.

Let’s give the ladies their props too!

As you would guess, I was pretty disappointed. But then I realized I had no reason to be disappointed. I was where I love to be, on a beautiful Fall morning, photographing the most beautiful birds in the world! I’m just grateful to be alive to see this.
As for the birds? Eh, I’ll get ‘em next time……

Procrastination....

You know that old saying, “never do today what you can put off until tomorrow”, right?
I’m quite good at that as evidenced by the fact that we’ve been home from vacation for over 3 weeks and I still haven’t posted anything about the vacation yet. It was very nice to get away and spend time with my wife and just explore our destinations. We were on a river cruise down the Danube River that took us through several European countries. If you like architectural photography, then this would be the trip for you. I took pictures there but not nearly as many as I usually do. It was kind of nice walking around without a camera for a change. Without a doubt the churches and castles took center stage, and they didn’t disappoint. They were all pretty by day, but it was at night when their true beauty stood out. I did not post many, but it will give you an idea of what there is to see on a trip like this. Click on the images to enlarge…

Just cruising by the small towns…

Old (church, lower left) and older (castle ruins up on the hill)

Budapest by day….

Budapest at night!!!!

Typical city scene in Prague…..

It was a wonderful eight days, weather was perfect, people could not have been nicer. If it’s on your bucket list, I can highly recommend it!!!

Practice, Practice, Practice.....

Been going out almost everyday lately, trying to get used to the new lens. But I’m also making a conscious effort to get as low as I can, preferably at water level, as much as I can. I think it makes a big difference on the perspective of the image and it seems to make for a stronger image too. I think the low angle adds to the environmental feel of the image. But I need your help.
I need some honest feedback about these images overall. Not only the perspective, but the technical quality also. All of these shots I think were made at ISO 5000 and above, so there is denoise work on all of them. But do you think I went too far? They were all shot at close range so the DOF is very thin, but it’s what I expected.

It would be nice to have a discussion so I can get some different points of view that I may not have considered. I would appreciate the help!

A Green Day At The Brick......

It’s been a month since my last post, so I figured it was about time. I was a little burned out from editing all the sports we shot recently, but now it’s the birds that are racking up the clicks for me. And specifically, the Green Heron. I’m not sure why but there is an abundance of Green Herons this year. At any one time, I can count anywhere from eight to ten herons within my line of sight!
But most of the time, the best action happens during low light. And this creates a problem with shutter speed and high ISO. You photographers know what I’m talking about. So, I figured that I would use the greenies as my subjects while I worked on getting better quality out of my high ISO images. It’s a work in progress and I’ll have a post on it soon, but I can tell you that I got some pretty good images at 12-14K! As always, click on the images to enlarge….

On your mark…..

But this heron didn’t give a damn about ISO, they just wanted breakfast. They’re about to leap off that branch into the water three feet below. They usually reserve this move for something a little larger than a pin minnow.

And they’re off!!!!!

The rest is a sequence of images that show what they go through for a meal.

Like an Uber for birds!!!

And of course, as soon as his siblings see that he has a fish, they will all come over and try to steal it from him! So he is constantly moving his prize away from the others.

Notice the light getting warmer, little by little.

Like having an in-flight snack….

The fat lady is about to sing…..

But the fat lady was laughing at the heron because right after this pic, he dropped the fish in the water and lost it!!!!
Tough break, but I’m sure was able to survive!
Most of these images were shot at 4-7K ISO. Not really that high anymore, but still way better than a few years ago!

Once again, thanks for looking, and get out and shoot!!!

For The Love Of The Game....

We just got done shooting a crazy week of year end sports championships. In a weeks’ time we shot flag football, golf, lacrosse and baseball. I love doing it, but I was also glad when it was over. All told I shot roughly about 8000 images, which is less than I normally shoot. We try and get at least one pic of each kid that played.


But I really want to talk about the effort and desire that these kids put into this championship. Up until this point, this tournament is probably the biggest thing they have experienced in their lives. And believe me, they leave it all on the field.
Please click to enlarge the images…

The vast majority of these kids will never go any farther in their sports careers, and they know it. That’s not why they play. It’s for their teammates, and the chance to be part of something bigger than themselves. A chance to leave their mark, and forever remember the best of times.

Unfortunately, if these kids are lucky enough to maybe get a scholarship and move on to college ball, it will never be the same. Big money enters the picture and changes the game. Even if you are at a small school, it is no longer enough to give your very best. You must produce or else. And with the NCAA instituting a program to actually pay the student athletes, they are no longer amateur athletes. They are low level professionals. What was once an admirable endeavor turns into a cash transaction. The sporting ideal will slowly fade…

But my hope is that someday in distant future, 25 or so years down the road, these kids meet up again for a reunion or maybe just a quick visit. And one of them pulls out their phone and calls up one of these pics and says to the other “do you remember this?” And immediately they will be taken back to the exact time, remembering every sight, smell, and the sense of pure joy that playing for the love of the game can bring a person. Nobody can ever take that away from them. And for me, that will be my greatest reward…..