Taking a photo of Biddy, this morning, I realize how important photographs have become for my writing, how well words and photos fuse and work together, what a liberating impact pictures have had on my work.

We got Biddy yesterday, and i have been writing about her. You know she exists, and you know what she looks like, so I don’t have to describe her. And photographs greatly enhance my credibility – any writer’s credibility. One message accused me of making stories up, they seemed too good sometimes to be true.

I have embellished a story for sure, although only once in awhile – I can’t stand stories that are not good – but I do not ever make them up, and photographs don’t lie. When I say Red is herding sheep, you don’t have to take my word for it, you can see the photos.

I think the Romney’s are remarkable animals, I love their bearing, the way they look you in the die and defy you to photograph them. Biddy has a badger face, she seems easy around people, she is still getting used to Red, especially after their brawling all day.

My photographs and writing used to be two separate things, but increasingly, they are now one thing. Photographs free me to tell my word stories, the pictures tell their own. Since I got serious about photography, the blog traffic has more than quintupled, and I love taking pictures more and more every day.

I am eager to move to the next level with my infrared work, that means getting a larger, full-frame camera. To purchase that and have it converted will cost about $4,000. I’m not seeking assistance for that, I will figure it out, but I am eager for that other dimension. It can wait. We have a lot of irons in the fire.