I met Squirrel and Sheri as they dismounted their Harley Davidson outside the Rat Hole Lounge. It was a cold wet day, but the two bikers were still in the wind. "Mind if I take your picture with your scoot?" I asked.

Squirrel agreed, and suddenly his wife Sheri scampered up to join him. "Not without me," she smiled. I took several frames, and we talked a bit.

Squirrel was on two spoked wheels, dripping oil and wearing leather long before Harley Davidson motorcycles became the trendy accessory for many professionals. He finds the current interest in motorcycling and the biker culture to be amusing and good for business. Squirrel owns an independent motorcycle shop where he is the chief mechanic and resident guru of all things motorcycle related. He enjoys a loyal following of dedicated bikers who know a good mechanic does more than simply assemble or replace parts.

Squirrel and Sheri are Strangers #72 in my 100 Strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the flickr group page.

The 100 Strangers website can be found at 100strangers.com/

Nikkor 50mm ƒ1.8, Available Light

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Tags:   100 Strangers 72/100 Squirrel and Sheri Squirrel Sheri Bikers B&W Square Hip2BSquare 500X500 Nikkor 50mm ƒ1.8 2009

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I never knew who he was, but I knew his garden. Everyone in the neighborhood did. Each year Mr. Salvador's garden is a harbinger of spring. Under his attentive care a city lot of garlic, oregano, collards, spinach, corn, peas, and tomatoes spring forth to meet the sun. According to the neighborhood legend, one of his rental houses burned down over a decade ago. Rather than build a new house, or move an old house from another part of town onto the lot, he planted a vegetable garden.

On this morning, I happened to see the little garden gnome at work. I stopped the car, grabbed the camera, and asked if I could cross the furrows to take his picture. He was rather amused by the proceedings, and he enjoyed the attention. I asked about the house that burned down. He said he did not need another house, but he wanted a garden.

"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." ~ Mohandas K. Gandhi

"A garden is evidence of faith. It links us with all the misty figures of the past who also planted and were nourished by the fruits of their planting." ~ Gladys Taber

Morning light. Sun at 30 degrees.

This picture is number two in my 100 Strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the flickr group page.

The 100 Strangers website can be found at 100strangers.com/

Tags:   Gardner B&W Portrait 100 Strangers Italian Garden Old World Nikon D200 Nikkor 50mm ƒ1.8 Eternal Youth Old Men Joi d' vie Street Portrait Xavier Studio d'Xavier Arbusted Diane Arbus 2/100 2009 Mr. Salvador

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Flickr Group Roulette: Stripey Socky Sunday Group

Helluva Lot Better Large and on Black

Tags:   Flickr Group Roulette FGR Stripey Socky Sunday Converse Sneakers Chuck Taylors Striped Socks Reno Hilton Priscilla Rufus Boar Chucks Red 8X10 2009

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I spent most of the weekend brooding over a seeming dead end in the 100 Strangers project. I twisted my brain around trying to think of a different place where multiple people would congregate in a relaxed atmosphere, and be amenable to being photographed. Finally, I realized the place I sought was all around me. I went to where people were fishing.

At the spillway of a local lake, I found Mark. I asked him how the fish were biting as I took a few shots of the scenery. He wasn't having much luck, but he had plenty of beer. We chatted about how the kingfishers down below were well fed, and I asked Mark what he did for a living.

Mark is a roughneck. He works offshore in the oil industry. Business has not been too good over the past year, and he has turned to fishing and crawdad trapping to help put food on the table for his family. He said his family was doing fine, but he misses going offshore.

As the sun began to fall, we watched a pilot fly loops in his prop driven airplane overhead, leaving streams of smoke behind him. Finally, I asked Mark for a photograph or two, explaining the 100 strangers project to him. When I told him it was concieved to help photographers get past the fear of asking a stranger for a photograph, Mark laughed and said "Hell, I wouldn't have a problem with that, just ask. What are they going to do? Say no?"

I asked Mark to turn a bit so his face would be lit by the setting sun, and I took a few frames as the lightning bugs were starting to flash. It was then that I noticed the catfish on his arm.

Mark is number twenty in my 100 Strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the flickr group page.

Nikon D200 50mm ƒ1.8

The 100 Strangers website can be found at 100strangers.com/

Tags:   Portrait 100 Strangers Mark 20/100 Fisherman Roughneck Father Nikkor 50mm ƒ1.8 Nikkor 50mm ƒ1.8 Studio d'Xavier 2009

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"Everything can be taken from a man but ... the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
~ Victor Frankl

The Rogue Players: Scarf Sundays

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Tags:   The Rogue Players TRP Scarf Sunday Scarf Burka Headress Eyes Square 500X500 Hip2BSquare Portrait B&W Eva головной шарф sjaal Посыл Catchlight 2009

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