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I guess you could say I’ve started a beer theme, and I think I’m going to run with it. Today’s beer is another porter, and has, amazingly enough,  a not so subtle coffee flavor to it:  Fuller’s London Porter. I tried a lot of color filters for the flash on this one. The final result was with a yellow filter, flash behind the bottle again. I’m not really loving these shots, but I ended up going with this one:

And the runner up:

On the one hand, beer bottles are a somewhat boring subject. On the other, it’s a great excuse to buy good beers, and it’s a chance to try and make a bottle look interesting. It is clearly possible: This guy has done an awesome job with a heineken bottle.

One good beer deserves another. I didn’t enjoy this as much as the Black Butte, but it was still damn good. The photo I like a lot more. Remote flashes just open up a whole new world of photographic fun…

I got a Camelbak fourteener backpack about a year ago, and have taken it all over since then.  It is probably the best backpack I’ve owned. While climbing Mt. Baldy a month or so back, one of the plastic clips that holds the sternum strap onto the shoulders of my pack broke off. I sent an e-mail to Camelbak telling them it broke, and asking if I could get just a replacement part.  I was more than happy to pay a few bucks for the part, I just really didn’t want to buy another $120 backpack. But, they did even better:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting CamelBak.  The defect you have encountered should not be expected from any of our products.  We stand firmly behind the quality of all the products we make, and I apologize for this inconvenience. Just let me know your U.S. address and I’ll be happy to send a replacement sternum strap for you.

I got the new strap last week, and it’s back to being good as new (just dirtier). Just wanted to share the pleasant response, and say that I can strongly recommend camelbak gear, even if the clip did break.

Black Butte Porter.  First sip left a good enough impression that I wanted to take its picture…and remember to buy it again!