Tomorrow (Thursday) morning this is who you might see if you're traveling east on Hwys. 402, 401 & 403 across Ontario. Or maybe you'd see me crossing the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge over Niagara Falls into upper New York State. Hey, maybe we'd even stop for the night at the same motel somewhere between Rochester and Syracuse, NY.

Yes, my friends, I'm off on another road trip! This time I'm traveling 600 miles/965 km from my home in Detroit to the Center for Photography in Woodstock, NY. At 9:30 a.m. on Saturday I'll be in a workshop with the master photographer, Mary Ellen Mark. Saturday is scheduled to be portfolio reviews of each of the fifteen participants (10-20 prints each), and at 8 p.m. that night Mary Ellen will be giving a lecture/slideshow. The workshop ends on Sunday afternoon with a trip to the Ulster County Fair where each participant will be completing a personal assignment given us by MEM. When we return home, we'll send Mary Ellen the contact sheet of our prints and she will mail us back a critique.

Can you imagine how I must feel to be working with not one but TWO of the photographic giants of our time in one week??!! First it was David Alan Harvey on Monday, and now Mary Ellen Mark on Saturday and Sunday. My gawd, what have I done to deserve this? All I can say is that I feel like the most fortunate person on earth. May I use these opportunities well!

And now I must start to pack my clothes. It's almost 11 p.m. on Wednesday night and all I've done is study my maps, put my back-up scooter in the car, and print out my photos for the workshop. But, hey, isn't that what's important? See you next week! After the workshop I'll be spending a couple of days hiking in the Catskill Mountains with our niece Carolyn and her S.O. Jonathan. All going well, I'll be home either Thursday or Friday, August 7 or 8. Have a great week!