I was driving away from a scenic overlook at Bolster Dam near my hometown of Plentywood, MT earlier this month when I thought I heard my cell phone ringing softly from the bottom of my camera gear bag. But when I turned down the radio, I heard the unmistakable sound of bagpipes and they were coming from the other side of the lake, about a half mile away. So I did what any curious person would do, I drove all the way back into town so I could see what was happening on the other side of the lake.
What I found was a man practicing his bagpipes in relative isolation, hence the title "Polite Piper". I approached and visited with him for a bit and got some close ups. Then as I was leaving, I turned back and using my 70 to 300 mm zoom, I got a couple shots of him framed in the vandalized opening of the picnic shelter where he was practicing.
I think this may be my last edit on this photo. I've used The Gimp to remove a BBQ grill that was growing out of the bagpiper's gluteus maximus. I also tweaked the colors a bit.
To hide the BBQ, I copied sections of the grass and the frozen lake in the background and then used the smudge tool to blur any straight lines that gave away the location of the edits.
