A little while back I posted some pictures from Washington DC. In that post the last two pictures were of fire hydrants. At the time I had thought that that would be a fun post to do each Friday.

So why fire hydrants? Well when I was in high school I started to take pictures of fire hydrants where ever I went. Then for one birthday I was given a book called American Hydrant, by Sean Crane. The synopsis of it reads:

Using conceptual portraits of fire hydrants to document the urban and rural American landscape, this humorous, clever collection of more than 100 images of fire hydrants includes at least one picture from each of the 50 states. Each image of a hydrant creatively mirrors its locality, from a hydrant reflected off a hubcap in Detroit to a hydrant as seen through the window of a Seattle coffee shop. This eclectic mix of photographs provides an entertaining, curbside view of America.

This book was truely an inspiration to the realm of fire hydrant photography (I know this is a huge genre that everyone is trying to break into). If you ever get a chance to flip through this book, DO IT! It is a very interesting look at hydrants.

My view of these wonderful metal, water creatures is that they each have personality. I hope that over the next many Firday’s you see these hydrants as more than parking obsticals and dog toilets.