At a recent exhibition of the Ferrin Collection, a collector of my work asked, “Do you enjoy photography?” “No!” I answered, “I love what I do and I am the luckiest man in the world!” Passion is a quality I admire in others and I try to surround myself with passionate people. The simplest way I know to define passion is with a phrase I used when I was coaching farm teams of the Detroit Red Wings: “Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone, Dare to have a purpose firm, Date to make it known”. When I am in the field, alone, focused and creating images, it never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to capture that spectacular shot. I learned early in my career that a relationship with my subject is the most critical aspect of what I do. Techniques are techniques. Compositions are compositions, and, light are light. But the synergy between you and your subject is critical. It takes hours, days, even weeks to record that image that best depicts the soul of my subject. To do that, I feel we must become as one. When I look through my view finder and down into the lens, I see not only the heart but the very essence of my subject. Some of my best shots are those I didn’t capture on film but they are etched in my mind’s eye. I was more satisfied enjoying my relationship with my subject then I was in creating an image. I believe that my relationship with my subject results in both of us becoming comfortable with each other and our interaction is so relaxed and trusting that the images we create together tell the story that best portrays our feelings for each other. Love, they say is a many splendored thing, and I love my subjects and I sense the feeling is mutual. My concern; how long will I be able to continue enjoying these relationships? Our government is allowing our wet lands to be destroyed in the name of economic growth. International commercial fishing operators are destroying school after school of fish. Others are ruining the bottom habitats of lobsters. Still others are dumping pollutants into our bays, inlets and streams, forcing us to close down our shellfish industry. It appears that we are living on borrowed time. I pray that I will leave enough captured memories behind for my grandchildren so they can say they remember when! You are welcome to join me in the field, all I need is a call or e-mail 1-269-615-1944 / info@naturenfocus.com. I limit the number of guests to four and we can discuss how to share our expenses; food, transportation and lodging you pay and I provide the time as a gift to nature lovers and photographers…for now. Bob Belliveau-Ferrin Lemieux