Annie, the snow dog

Some dogs are working dogs. They pull sleds. They "see" for the blind. They serve as companions for physically impaired, and some are rescue or security dogs. Annie is a snow dog, that's it. She sleeps from April through November, only waking to bark at the mail truck once a day or a delivery truck once in a while. But in December and for the next three months, she sleeps with one eye open as she eagerly waits for snow to start falling. Then she's up and out while we hunker down and add more wood to the fire.

Annie is part collie and part husky, but even at that, if you don't need to pull a sled, why stay out in the blizzard. I mean, it's sixteen degrees outside! Who is she trying to impress, anyway? Nobody else is out there.

"Mane" event

We are in the process of scouting locations for a series of monthly on-location workshops for people who want to get the most out of their digital cameras. Last week, we discovered the New England Carousel Museum in Bristol Connecticut.

Yes, there really is a carousel museum full of history, tradition and nostalgia from the horses and sleighs on the earliest carousels to theme figures on some of the more modern rides. It's also where carousel owners and collectors send their favorite figures to be repaired, restored, refurbished, or just displayed for all to enjoy.

The idea of on-location workshops is to prepare people for those key moments when they are on vacation, or at a special event, and they are the only one with a camera. The pressure to take the perfect picture looms over their shoulder. Suddenly panic sets in, their mind goes blank and so does the camera. Teaching the basics on-location locally means no matter what you do, you can always go back and try again. It's the best way to hone your basic skills for the "mane" event.

Stick castle

Okay, so now that you have more than 396,000 popsicle sticks, what do you do with them? Why build a 165 square foot castle nine feet high, complete with a draw bridge, of course. It took Connecticut's Stephen Guman a year and a half to build this Guiness world record breaker. A heavy equipment operator by trade, he has been building popsicle stick models since he was nine. His other popsicle stick creations include the Eiffel Tower and the World Trade Center, but the castle is his biggest.

I wonder what his favorite flavor is.

Peace

I passed a cemetery when I was driving home Saturday morning. I go past it a couple of times a week, but today it was 17 degrees, and the ground glistened with frost. It was especially peaceful with the sun peaking through the trees lighting up different tombstones as it began to rise in the sky. As always, I had the camera with me, and as much as I didn't want to leave the warm car and heated seat, I ventured out to grab about a dozen images before my knees turned to ice from kneeling so low.

The inscription on the fifteen year-old tombstone read, "Mom, your love will live in our hearts forever," which said to me all were at peace about the passing of an apparently wonderful mom.

The peace project was a creative exercise assignment for the Burns Auto Parts blog. Yes, "auto parts," don't ask, just click, to see how others visualized peace.

Freefall

Have you ever carried a camera into the grocery store, especially in the produce section? Now that I carry a camera just about everywhere I go, I see things that never caught my eye before. While I don't eat everything, I do look at everything for the color and shape.

Peppers, onions, potatoes, leeks, lettuce, oranges, apples, bananas, plantains and a host of other stuff in every color imaginable. It's stacked, bundled, bunched and laid out in rows just waiting to be photographed. Perhaps the coolest part is the illusion of isolation. These apples were actually laid out in horizontal rows, but we isolated them from their surroundings and rotated the picture vertically to give the illusion of freefall.

The only problem I ran into that afternoon was a customer who thought I worked for the government and had found some contaminated or mishandled food. He was actually apprehensive about whether he should buy it, or not. After I explained what I was really doing, I stopped photographing and came back late at night with the store manager's permission to finish the fun.

Tower of Babel or an indoor bungee jump?

We were in Bristol, Connecticut, the other day checking out potential sites for our on-location photography workshops when we spotted this strange windowless building that towered above every structure in the area, including the mass of satellite dishes at ESPN. It was one of those strange tower-like structures that you could see no matter where you were in town. So, we drove in its general direction out of curiosity wondering if it was a modern day tower of Babel or indoor bungee jump for nearby Lake Compounce theme park.

We worked our way back to a small industrial park and found the tower looming over a two story office building, the research and testing center for Otis Elevator. Yes, the 383 foot tower with windows around the top was the place where they cut the cable when the elevator is up to see what happens when it hits bottom. While it was one of the most mysterious buildings that I have ever seen, I sure am glad it exists. I have often joked about how high a freefalling elevator would bounce when it hit those big springs at the bottom of the shaft. I guess the guys in this building know the answer.

Winter car wash

"Put your car in neutral, take your foot off the brake, and don't steer," at least that's what I think he said through nearly frozen but still functioning lips. There is nothing like a carwash when it's 20 degrees outside. But, regardless of how many layers and hoodies you have on, it's still cold.

I felt unusually sorry for the attendant who had to go into the carwash to rescue the car in front of me. I actually had to disobey his standard order and step on the brake as the grabber that pulls the vehicle through had come off the car ahead, and I was about to rear-end it. I figured I would rather deal with the wrath of the carwash guy than risk being part of a three-way whiplash lawsuit.

Christmas IS over!

I know, I know, Christmas is over. It's time to pull the ceiling steps down and clamber my way to the attic to drag out the boxes and pack up all the Christmas decorations. "But honey," I unsuccessfully protest, "They've only been up for three weeks. Surely you want to look at them at least another month. You worked so hard pulling everything out. It seems like you just finished."

We have this discussion every year, and of course I end up in the attic later that afternoon to retrieve about a hundred tote bins for the ornaments, angels, nativities, snowmen, stars, sparkly stuff and lights. I think I procrastinated well into February one year, but I paid dearly as the needles on the tree had totally dried out and my hands felt like I had lost a fight with a porcupine.

This year I found a new and productive way to procrastinate. "Honey, how would you like me to photograph all the decorations you so carefully put all over the house this year before we put them away?"

It worked. The boxes are still in the attic!

Black and white and read all over

We live in a world dominated by electronic gadgets and gizmos that would make Dick Tacey's head spin. We can access the Internet from a cell phone while we talk to someone. We tweet messages, post video clips on public access websites, text our friends and post more information than we want anyone to know about us on a host of social networking sites. But, there is something iconic about someone just reading a newspaper.

Despite the fact that we can get minute-by-minute news updates via the web or television news 24/7, for some, there is a sense of comfort about a newpaper, regardless of how good or bad the news might be. Somehow, seeing it in print makes the news authentic and true.

It may not be the Iditarod, but it beats snowshoes.

Just when you think you've seen or heard of every kind of snow transportation, someone comes along on a dog scooter. (Nope. Spell-check hasn't even heard of that one.)

We were scouting new photography workshop sites when a man parked behind me and unloaded a scooter for his two "best friends" to pull him on the snow packed trail. It was a photo op that was too good to pass up. All three were excited but only one could contain himself.

Finally they all took off together, almost. First, the dogs went straight for the river but stopped when a black lab came from the other direction. Once the lab passed and everything was under control, they headed down the road with the dog scooter in tow. Fortunately, the scooter had deep-tread tires and good brakes in case the dogs saw another attractive diversion.

Hey buddy, ya gotta' match?

Matchbooks, one of those many nostalgic signs of the past. There was always a sense of coolness about someone who could successfully raise their cupped hands to their face to light a cigarette on a windy day with just one match. There was a certain machismo or bravado about it, so much in fact that as kids we hoped we could do that someday. And what about those mystery writers who relied on the matchbook left at the crime scene for that vital piece of evidence that always won the case?

Hotels, restaurants, gas stations, product manufacturers, and anyone else who wanted an inexpensive yet effective way to advertise, passed out matchbooks. People collected and catalogued them knowing that someday they would be valuable. Unfortunately, like a lot of collections, you can buy them in bulk at most flea markets. One thing is sure about this particular collection, all that moisture sealed up in the plastic bag will keep the collection from going up in smoke.

Of course, we have since learned the hazards of smoking and have outlived all those cool guys that we admired long ago. In fact, it's hard to find a place where we would even be allowed to smoke. As for needing a match to light a fire, I just reach for the butane lighter and pull the trigger.

"Waist" not, want yes!

Remember all those holiday delicacies? Where are they now? They really were good, and fortunately are only around in true excess once a year. Sure, during the year we are exposed to chocolate wonders once in a while, but it seems they all come out at Christmas and we feel so obliged to eat them. Now that the holidays are over, look down, do you see your belt or shoes, or do you see where the delights of Christmas past have gone to rest at last?

Perhaps one advantage of living in New England during the winter is that when we go on our post- holiday diet, we can buy more oil and wood to stay warm.

Happy New Year!

Yikes, 2010, a new year, already. A new list of things to do, but where do I begin? Washington says the economy is recovering and things are getting better, but there are so many uncertainties, so many unknowns. Do we refocus our business? Do we put more money into marketing, or do we hold tight? Should we focus on fine art photography, stock photography, special projects, a gallery exhibit, or a new market niche?

Hmmmm, I think it's a year when we will need to over-commit and over-deliver, whatever the business model.