Remember a few weeks ago when the mercury tipped in at 90 degrees, not your typical April weather, right? I had the ultimate warm weather assignment and looked forward to photographing students at Korn School in Durham. A couple of third grade classes have been raising trout with help from two wonderful Durham fishermen. The retired gents from Trout Unlimited are regulars in the Trout in the Classroom program which teaches kids the process of raising trout. Since I am a member of a "catch and release fly fishing family" I was pretty excited!

I could not believe the amount of kids who brought their Flip cameras and other portable video devices to document the event. I took a quick break from shooting to catch these third graders in action. Parents, rest assured, they were all very careful.

I realized the best angle would have been from across the stream, but I really didn't have time to hike around, so my only option was to wade across to the other side.

And then it happened...the chain reaction! Right about now, I bet you're thinking the kids began to take off their shoes ... wrong! This group took one look at me barefoot making a sorry attemptt to walk on a bed of sharp and pointy rocks when all of a sudden about a dozen kids insisted I put my shoes back on. I think they thought I was crazy. Well, I was not about to take on an agry group of third graders and although my feet were wet I managed to get my socks and shoes back on.

One mom actually offered her canvas sneakers to me. Her older daughter Sara and my son Andrew are good friends, but I felt kind of funny sending her home in wet sneakers. And then, it was like a brick hit me. Since my LL Bean suede loafer style shoes were about a half size to big, maybe if they got wet they just might shrink. So, I rolled up my pants, sort of, and crossed the stream this time with my socks and shoes on.

Unfortunately, this drew even more attention but I knew the better image would be better from the other side. I realized about half way across, that if I fell, my camera would also take a dive, but I have been asking the Press for a new camera and this might just work to my advantage either way. Fall, get a new camera, or make it across, get a better image.

Although the water was pretty cold, it was actually refreshing. I got to the other side, found a fairly comfortable position, although the bank was kind of steep and since I was wet, I was getting pretty dirty, I had a grand old time just shooting away!

Quote of the day. “If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you’re not out there, you’ll only hear about it.” – Jay Maisel