The book won’t be available to the public until August 5 (although you can pre-order it online discounted from $14.95 to $11 and change) since Sam’s Club bought out our first printing, but I ordered some extra copies from the publisher in advance. Lucky I did, since I can give them away to the nice folks who pose with the book. Opening the box of books right there in the garden where I took the photos was kind of neat. 
Lily was a great sport to make a portrait with the book. 
At the Mandeville Canyon Fire Evacuation drill yesterday at Paul Revere Middle School:
1. Fire Paramedic Larry Redden (left), Captain Tina Haro (right), LAFD Station 19, Brentwood, note helicopter flying upper right; 2. Engineer Leo Byrne (foreground), Fire Paramedic Larry Redden and Firefighter Paolo Sasso (background), LAFD Station 19, Brentwood; 3. Fire truck close-up, LAFD Station 19, Brentwood; 4. LAFD helicopter. 5. Fire Paramedic Larry Redden of LAFD Station 19, Brentwood, holds up my new book Backyard Bird Photography. What a great guy and a real hero. 
David has won the Pulitzer Prize and was President Ford’s White House photographer. Recently, he has been branching out into some nice bird photographs himself. He’s a photographer’s photographer. Thanks to Garvin Meehan for taking the photograph of Dave and me. 
One more for the road. The Hooded Oriole makes the big time. Just after signing the piece at my printer The Icon. Photo by Luis Diaz. 
Fire Paramedic Larry Redden of Los Angeles Fire Department Station 19, Brentwood, poses in his truck yesterday with my new book Backyard Bird Photography. Back in February, this fire truck stood in front of my house for a few hours as the fire department protected the area while the DWP arrived to fix an underground fire in the power cables. The fire department guys asked to see my bird photographs as we waited. I showed them a portfolio. Yesterday, Larry asked how the book was going, as we were both at the Mandeville Canyon Evacuation Drill (for possible fires) at Paul Revere Middle School. I said, “I have the book right here,” and pulled it out of my pack. Larry was so nice to pose for me. These are the true heroes.
