The office of West Monroe Mayor Staci Albritton Mitchell has pulled together another great show! This year’s theme: “People, places & settings that make you smile.”

This corner of the universe gives me lots to smile about, so picking images to submit to this show was a challenge. Too many to choose from!

Bayou Desiard is one of my favorite places to put in the kayak, and Sauté is the product of one such adventure. A paddle up the bayou usually produces at least a couple of fun bird encounters. This great egret was perching on a snag as I came back down bayou and didn’t flush until I got quite close. One of the visitors at the opening reception described the bird’s two-legged leap off the branch as “confident and committed.” Yup. Like all good dancers.

Egrets always make me smile. We have lots and lots of them in northeast Louisiana and I’m sure I have hundreds of photographs, but… “Oh, look, egret!” Click, click. These birds were fishing along the edge of the outflow from the D’Arbonne Lake Spillway until I walked out along the top of the dam and spooked them. Rude of me, I suppose, but I love the graceful, random-not random silhouettes of big white birds against a wintry Louisiana landscape.

BTW, the image above is a true pano, meaning the width to height ration is exactly 2::1. I’ve been using that lately and think it works well for some images. Unfortunately, however, it is hard to find decent ready-made frames in that proportion and I sure can’t afford to use custom frames.

And for a change of pace, railroad tracks are always interesting and on this foggy morning in Monroe, quite photogenic. The Ouachita River is really not terribly wide, but the fog was so thick that day that I couldn’t see the other side. So… Socked In is aka The Bridge to Nowhere.

I have a fourth image in the show: Scouts Clean Up Black Bayou Lake. It was in last year’s show and the Mayor’s Office asked to keep it for this show as well. I was happy to oblige.

To see this show, go to West Monroe City Hall and tell the 1st floor receptionist that you want to view the art. She will give you access to the elevator. It’s well worth a visit and the works are for sale.