I lived up in the country for more than 15 years before I ever set foot in the bar and restaurant called “The Bog,” it’s real name is Foggy Notions. Some people said it was unfriendly to outlanders, that it was a biker bar and they were uncomfortable going there. Nobody told me it was the friendliest place in town, or that bikers are some of the nicest people in town. Or that it’s really a family place, and there aren’t even many bikers there.

No one has ever  said a word to me that isn’t welcoming, and of course I started wanting to take pictures in the Bog. I started to photograph Kelly, the waitress and bartender and friend who works there several nights a week and who has the best smile in Washington County, and I wanted to photograph people playing pool at the big table in front of the wood stove. There is no better place to get a burger than at the Bog on a cold and stormy night.

Tonight, four players were at the table, and I asked them if I might take a photo and they all said sure. If you try to take photos of strangers in Boston or New York City, the police may come up to you to see if you are a terrorist or predator – it has happened to me more than once. In the country, no one has ever refused permission to me to take a photograph, or even asked me what the photo is for.

These good people laughed when I asked them, as if they had been expecting me and threw their own pose, which I loved. We go to the Bog all of the time now, and I remind myself – for the upteenth time this week – that one cannot live by the perceptions and fears of other people,  you have to go out and see the world as it is. When I walk into the bog now, everybody says hello and asks me who I’m going to take a photo of that night. The burgers are pretty great too, and the fish wrap.