I never thought much of this photo. But I posted it on Flickr and it received thousands more views than 90% of the other images I’ve posted there. That’s good learning for me, all thanks to social media tools. The social media path has had a lot of twists and turns for me over the last year. There’s lots of advice on the web to process: “you should have a blog instead of a Flash-based website;” “you should Twitter more often;” “Foursquare is huge – are you on it;” and so and and so forth. What began as basic photo sharing suddenly started to feel like a huge pile of work. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure what parts of the Internet help my craft — parts that I, personally, find valuable. I’ve focused on three major categories: photography blogs, Flickr and podcasts. Blogs put a face on the photographers and film makers I know and admire. I use Flickr like other people use Twitter and it provides me with valuable insights into what images appeal to other people — the analytics on Flickr are great with the pro accounts. Podcasts work as career development classes — there’s always something new to learn and they make it easy to stay on top of the latest discussion in just about any category. Everyone will find what tools and platforms work best for them online. I think what matters most is that you’re trying to find them in the first place.

Antietam Creek, Maryland. My friend’s son didn’t realize that the dogs smelled the bait in his pocket. He kept moving into deeper water and Mosby and Gizi kept following.

I have been photographing at Cape Hatteras for over 20 years. The rejuvenation factor there is huge…for me AND the pups.

Emerson is learning how to shoot. With as many pictures as I’ve taken of her, she probably feels like the paparazzo follow her everywhere she goes.

She’s having fun now getting behind the camera. She has a couple of kid-friendly cameras and I also let her play with my old digital ones. The shutter lag with digital can make taking pictures of fast dogs a challenge, but she’s persistent. And I’m…proud.

Snow has come early this year. Soon we’ll see it in Maryland. I have two new puppies who will see it for the first time. I couldn’t ask for something more fun to photograph.

The Battle of  Antietam, or The Battle of Sharpsburg as the southerners call it, gives this creek a very heavy feeling when you’ve spent as much time as I have near it. Tubing, camping, night mountain biking, night canoeing and wading much of it all the while photographing. I’ve spent over 20 years getting to know the light there.