This Forum Just Received Some GOOD NEWS!

My Duck-Buddies....the forum is a big money-loser now, and I have to watch expenses very closely, since most of it comes out of my pocket these days. I am working to get the "Donate" button fixed, but there are other issues associated with it that I have to solve first.

So I cannot afford photographers, or I get a picture like the background one you see now....but I am paying almost nothing for it. Well, I wanted pictures from the USC game this next weekend if we win, and I asked a superb photographer I know if he knew of anyone who would shoot it in LA this next weekend for free?

He found a young woman who is building her photo library, and is excited to shoot for us. So I applied, but since we are now NOT an article site, but a forum--I doubted we would be approved.

But I received the email today that we were approved! Now the parking there is TERRIBLE, but she got a media parking pass! Fantastic news, and I hope to have pictures to share with next Sunday and beyond. So COOL!

I have been lucky to have some great photographers shoot in the Coliseum over the years, and we have collected great photos. But that is when we created enough revenue from advertising to pay the bills of both sites, but there was one year where I was running short, and hired a young woman to shoot the USC game for free like this time.

She agreed to shoot the game for free for the experience, as she primarily shot Ballet and Operas, but wanted to dip into sports, so this was 'taking a chance' for both of us. Turns out she shot some good pictures for us, and created a FishDuck story that will never be forgotten.

She was standing on the sidelines waiting for a good play as an older refined gentleman pulled up next to her. She figured he knew football better than she, and asked a question about what was going on in order to plan her next shooting location. He answered politely, and they began to have quite an interesting conversation, as she wanted to know more about the game, the Oregon football team etc. and this distinguished-looking older gentleman was very kind in supplying her the answers.

He asked her who she was shooting for, and she told him "FishDuck.com," the unique circumstances behind this shooting, and he responded that he knew the site well, and was pleased she was shooting for us. They went on to have quite a long conversation, and she reported later that he appeared to be quite satisfied with this extended conversation.

She even asked him to watch her camera on a tripod as she had to run down the sideline to check something....so he did. They introduced themselves to each other early in this interaction, and proceeded as nice people do.

When she got back home, she communicated with other photographers, and then later it was confirmed by media people nearby who saw the conversations taking place. If you had not guessed by now...

She was talking to Phil Knight, and did not know who he was. He clearly detected immediately that she knew nothing of him or his impact upon Oregon, and thus he could now have a "regular" conversation with someone who was not obsequious, or catering to him. He enjoyed this exchange, and I'm sure her cultural background made the brief connection that much more interesting for Phil.

She had no idea!