Better? Or Worse?

My good friend Emily, who I have known almost forever, is more blog-savvy than I am. She told me how to make my photos bigger in the blog, so you don't have to click on them. Let's see if it worked.... 

Huh. Well, almost. They each got cut off a little on the right. Back to the drawing board. In the meantime, can someone please tell my computer to stop shutting down without me asking it to?

Izzy. Or Kayla.

*Edit: I have just been informed that I made up names for dogs. She looks like an Izzy, though, doesn't she? Too bad her name is really Kayla. For the record, I only met this dog and her people for a few minutes on a trail in passing. 

Well, my father-in-law's request for less dog photos has been vetoed by other blog readers so here are a couple of Izzy from yesterday. None of the ones of Hope, the gorgeous chocolate lab, were post-worthy. That is the photographer's fault, not Hope's. 

Mad Smooshiness

Right now one of my dogs has the worst gas you could possibly imagine. Even the cat's eyes are watering, it's so bad. I can't think of what I might have fed them that has caused such noxiousness. And even worse, I can't pinpoint which dog it is, but I think Wilbur looks the guiltiest. 

Not me- musta been Char. My toots smell like roses and love. 

My fortune-cookie ear is telling me that I'm being watched. 

Wilber stays far, far away from Char and Roper's games. Try to ignore his flea-bitten legs, if you will. Today it was verified (after 8 months of varied treatments and diagnoses) that Wilbur's horrible skin is indeed an allergic reaction to flea bites. And the little ba$tards are mutant fleas, I swear. So the plan is to Borax the carpets and apply more frequent Frontline (bleh!) until they're gone. I was going to hold off on moving, but now I think I'd like to get the dogs to Colorado during the winter so the fleas will die. They don't stand a chance at 5000 feet. 

Please prepare yourself for a side of Wilbur you've probably never seen. 

It's a psycho bat baby! 

Enough talk about fleas and bats... moving right along to Char's game of ball. 

This girl's going to need a chiropractor to fix that crick in her neck before too long. 

Wilbur actually briefly considered playing with Char today at the park! He chased her once and tried to hump her a little bit, but he got told. 

There will be none of that, pleasethankyouverymuch. 

Can someone tell me how to make my pictures show up bigger on here? This one is worthy of bigness, if only to examine how exactly her ears are able to do that. 

I have had a rash of excellent luck lately- it seems good things keep showing up on my doorstep. Today was no exception! When I got home from work there was yet another lens waiting for me- this one is the EF 50mm f/1.8 which the wonderfully talented Michael Kloth has lent to me while I decide if I want to purchase my own. I was able to get some mad bokeh (which I really prefer to call "smooshiness") in my backgrounds. 

That is some Mad Smooshiness! 

Wilbur likes to sample things. Nothing is off-limits, even if it has thorns. 

No Dogs

My politically misguided father-in-law has requested less pictures of dogs. So even though I had some really cute ones of a lab and an aussie/heeler mix from our Tuesday meet-up, I will instead post a picture that made me miss my Montana family. No, it is not a basketball.  Isn't it funny that their daughter-in-law is a vegetarian liberal Democrat? 

These baby Herefords were so cute! Char's usually really respectful of cows, but she stayed home this morning so she didn't get to see them. I've never had Wilbur around cows, but he did alright today. Actually, he was pretty scared of them. When we walked past them he hid behind my legs. What a city slicker. We'll have to cure him of that pretty soon. 

This makes me mad- I had my tripod in my pickup but I didn't carry it with me on the walk. And it was pretty dark out this morning, so my shutter was wide open. When we came across this heron, I was kicking myself for leaving my pod in the truck. Every frame I got was fuzzy. 

 

Great, I'm turning into my mother. Birds and flowers. Don't worry, I'm still pretty cool. 

Swamp Thing

Last winter was my first one here in Washington, and I can tell you that it wasn't nearly as soggy as I had feared. I did miss the snow, but there is something to be said for walking the dogs without having to wear 14 layers and looking like the Michelin Man. 

I'm a little afraid of the upcoming winter, though. I think Mother Nature is being awfully nice lately in anticipation for what's in store. With a fall this lovely, surely we're in for a couple months of perma-wet-dog-smell. 

When I'm outside taking pictures, I get completely lost in my own little world. I am immune to cold, wind, and hunger pains. Once I snap out of it I might realize the temperature has dropped 10 degrees, and I'm still in a t-shirt, or that I haven't eaten since breakfast. I even tend to be able to block out Char's laser-beam stare for a while. 

Until she gives me this one. I'm glad she can't speak Human, because I don't even want to know what she would be saying to me here. 

I'm pretty sure somewhere in that look is "THROW THE FREAKING BALL, LADY!" 

You might notice that there are far less pictures of Wilbur. He is just an elusive, camera-shy dude. He came to work with me today so I could give him a bath in some special shampoo to help with his itching. I hope it helps. The poor guy has a seriously receding hairline, and the 8 months of medicine, blood tests and diet change have yet to enlighten us on what's going on. Paws crossed for him, please! He really is the neatest dog. He's my "go anywhere" dog. I can take him with me everywhere I go and he loves it. He's a sweet little man. 

Char's not so much my "go-anywhere" dog as she is my "go in the pond" dog. 

Char's my little Swamp Thing. 

My wild little Swamp Thing!

The Wildthing died. Wilbur murdered it. He tore out its little bum-oley-holey and left it to die at the pond. I almost left it behind, but then I had guilt, so I turned around and brought it home with us. I'm sure there will be another Wildthing in the near future. 

Well THAT was Easy!

Every evening, after I've taken the dogs out and I've done all the stuff I have to do, I tuck in with my beloved wireless internet and search for inspiration from dog photographers around the world. There is so much out there to learn. There are so many ideas, and that is part of the reason I love photography so much: Nothing is the same, it's always changing, and one image can mean as many different things as there are people who see it. 

I was looking at Kim Levin's website when it really hit me: This is what I am going to do. This is what I have to do, and I know I have a long way to go, but that's half the fun. I don't know if the stars are aligned just right tonight, or if it is just time for me to realize that, or maybe I just have too much sand in my ears from this morning. Whatever it is, it's very clear to me that I will be taking photos of dogs for the rest of my life! 

I don't mean to get all mushy on you all, but I had to get it out! Thanks for listening! 

Wait for it....

I took Christmas pictures of Diane's family today at the beach. The original plan included a sled pulled by her four dogs, with the Chihuahua in front, but we were pushing our luck just to get everyone in the same frame. Between Diane, her three kids and four dogs, that's... 24 legs.

 Right. For a beginning photographer like me... yep, it was a challenge. So I took a deep breath and took a picture of an airplane instead. 

... and Shane playing in the sand... 

... then one of Levi in the surf... 

... and Fling and Roper trying to break the speed of light... 

... and the pretty Point-no-Point lighthouse... 

... and then I found Cocoa Bear being really cute!  Even when I'm supposed to be taking pictures of kids, I just can't help myself! I don't think anyone could have resisted a cute little Chihuahua in a jingle collar, though. 

Pretty much anydog in a jingle collar is hard to resist, even if he's just rolled in the stinkiest, deadest, yuckiness on the entire beach.  I wish this could be a scratch-and-sniff picture so you'd believe me. 

After nineteen million frames of kids looking in every direction, and dogs half in the frame and Fling jumping out of the frame, this was one of the better ones I got. Hey, at least all the people are looking at me, and Fling and Roper are looking in the same direction, even if it's not at me! 

If anyone else on the Kitsap peninsula wants free Christmas card photos done, holler! Especially if you have less than 24 legs. I need all the practice I can get!