Today is Saturday. Back in the barn days of Montana, Saturday was Finish-Chores-Early-and-Write-Something Day. There was always something to write about, and the landscape inspired me. Plus, when you spend hours and hours chiseling frozen horse poo out with a metal pitchfork, you come up with a lot of deep thoughts. I've spent a brief few months in Asheville, North Carolina, and some time overseas, and the conclusion I've come to is that the west is best, and more than that, the wide open west is more my style than the heavily-forested, always shadowy, trees-are-taking-over-my-brain kind of west. I have nothing against trees; I still like to hug them, but I feel awfully squished here in Washington. All these shadows make me nervous and twitchy.
That said, I've been feeling less-than-inspired these days. Everything is the same, and same also makes me nervous and twitchy. I strongly believe in the Arby's Doctrine: Different is Good.
Lately when I come home and look at the day's photos, they all. look. the. same. Green grass, black dogs, some trees in the background, cloudy skies. I thought maybe I needed a break, but turns out I just needed Lightroom! Changing an image to black and white from color has really made me see my dogs totally differently. I was so focused on getting an exposure "correct" that I forgot to take pictures that I liked. I've been liking them a lot more over the past week, ever since the purple dog incident.
I find inspiration from other pet photographers, and there for a while I was forgetting that I have my own ideas, and that just because I love someone else's work doesn't mean I can't love my own, even if it's not perfect. Funny how that works- it's the same in real life. But that's a story for another day. Here's one of the black and whites I was talking about. This was during a walk to the pond, after a chilly swim after some ducks. This dog will dig through ice to get to water- she loves to swim that much.
And just because you can never have too many pictures of a smiling dog....
5 comments:
ahhh...the old "change versus stability" dichotomy. Your age is showing. :-) It's good to like change, since it's inevitable.
Like the monochrome. Maybe you need a new subject. KIDDING!
US
i love love that first picture. the sky in a puddle is awesome. trust your eye--you have a good one.
Thanks, Jo. I'm learning to trust myself, not just my eye- though it's slow going. Apparently I'm trying to see how many times I can screw up before I actually listen to myself. : )
US- maybe it's a sign I need to take Chance off your hands for a while? And when you say my age is showing... I do believe I've always craved change. I hope I never grow out of it, but I guess that's to be seen. Oh I KNOW!- You could come visit me and we could have a chat about it over a beer on the harbor. Please? I miss you, especially this time of year.
Sweetie, (knocks on her forehead) hello, take it from me, these pictures of yours are outstanding. Try to remember the worst critic of all is none other than ourselves. I totally love the shots you are getting with your dogs. I wish I could get some of the same type with Pickles (who is a blk dog herself). (Hugs)Indigo
Hayley - your B& W are awesome - way to go! And the first shot of the puddle is so GOOD! You must give your pup lots of baths :)
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