Day 89: Capturing Expressions

I realized today that I use a lot of photos of Bailey where he is looking out of the side of one of his eyes.  It is one of my favorite expressions to capture of his.  I think the reason why I tend to prefer photos of him like this is because of his dark eyes.  Bailey’s eyes are very very dark brown, which normally just appear black in both photos and real life.  When I am able to capture that little bit of white in his eyes, I feel like it adds so much more expression and personality in his face.  It also makes him look a little mischievous.

Thanks for everyone’s comments on the new watermark/logo in yesterday’s post.  I’m torn between the new and the old.  The opinions in the previous thread seem to be split down the middle.  I agree with most everyones points about the two.  They are definitely different as well so there are ups and downs to each.  I liked my old one, but I felt like it was too obtrusive and bulky in photos.  However I am really liking the simplicity of the new one.  One problem that I ran into with the old watermark was that I had to place it in a corner because it would be too distracting anywhere else in the photo, and there wouldn’t always be room, or the right colored background for it in the corners, or it would throw off the overall composition of the photo.  The new one can pretty much go wherever in the photos without bringing too much attention away from the picture.  I’m leaning towards keeping this design for the photos, however still using the old design whenever I get off my butt and make/order business cards.

 

Day 88: Hot Hot Hot

The temperature has spiked, and it will be in the mid to high 90s both today and tomorrow (luckily cooling down a bit for the weekend).  I don’t do well with extreme heat.  Heck, I don’t do well with extreme weather of any kind.  I would be quite happy to live somewhere where it was 70 degrees all year round.

Bailey doesn’t really like the hot weather either.  I kinda wish that he liked to swim or enjoyed playing in water, so we could take him somewhere to swim or fill up a kiddie pool for him to splash in on days like these.  He hates being wet though.  In the summer, when we are down at Craig’s parents house on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland or at my parent’s house in North Carolina, we can sometimes get him to swim.  It normally involves us going in the water and him coming in to swim after us, because he wants to be near us.  He doesn’t do it because he actually enjoys it and wants to be in the water though.

So instead, since Bailey doesn’t enjoy water activities on hot days, he spends most of his days hanging out inside in the air condition.  Honestly, I don’t mind much though, because that is where I like to be as well.

p.s. I designed a new watermark today.  Much simpler and less bulky then the last one.  What do you think?  Opinions?  Like it better? Worse?

Day 87: Time Warp Tuesday #5

Return of Time Warp Tuesday this week!  A simple photo trying to re-create Bailey and some leaves in our garden.   I always imagined his thoughts in the original photo being like “Woah, these leaves are bigger than me!”  I like how his expression has changed from the original to today’s photo.  In the first photo it looks like Bailey is a little timid towards the leaves and unsure of them because they are so big.  In today’s photo, his head is held high and he’s like “psh you little leaves don’t scare me.”

The original:

I’ve been non-stop editing Costa Rica photos to try to catch up and finish them before Craig’s parents come up this weekend so that we can show them all of our photos.  I also promised a couple we met that I would send them the wildlife photos from a tour we went on so I needed to finish them up.  I’ll probably do a post soon with my favorite wildlife images from Costa Rica.  There are way too many to post them all.

Day 86: Bailey had a little lamb…

Today’s post is dedicated to Bailey’s favorite toy “Lamby.”

Lamby is Bailey’s absolute most favorite toy in the world.  Before Lamby, it was “Bunny” but ever since Christmas, Lamby has taken the spot as #1, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

Here are some fun quirky facts about Bailey and his Lamby…

• Bailey’s bedtime and morning routines with Lamby are always the same.  When it is time for Bailey to go outside for the last time before bed, he finds Lamby and brings Lamby to the door with him before he goes outside.  He leaves it by the door and then picks it up as soon as he gets back inside and brings it to bed with him.  In the morning, we get up, and Bailey comes out of the bedroom and lays down in the living room until I am ready to take him outside.  When he comes back inside, he then goes and gets Lamby from the bedroom.  I don’t know why he prefers to wait until after he has pottied to get his Lamby, but he does.  It’s the same thing every day.  I guess he likes to let Lamby sleep in a little bit.
• Bailey needs to get Lamby and proceed to carry him around in his mouth after every meal.
• Bailey likes to use Lamby as a pillow.  He will lay down with his front legs stretched out, set Lamby on his feet, and then his head on Lamby.
• Bailey knows Lamby’s squeak.  When we have foster dogs, if he hears the other dog has Lamby, he will react so fast to go steal it back.  No other dogs are allowed to have Lamby.
• Bailey is on his 3rd Lamby since Christmas.  He has loved all of them the same.  The first Lamby had his leg torn off.  The new second Lamby arrived when we had Jay.  Jay also loved Lamby so since Lamby #2 was still pretty new, we decided to just send Lamby #2 with Jay to his new home, and got Lamby #3 for Bailey.  Sometimes I worry that we will stop being able to buy Lamby and have thought of buying like 20 of them for backups when needed.
• Bailey for the most part doesn’t chew Lamby.  Lamby is mostly a cuddling and carrying around toy, but occasionally gets chewed on, which is how Lamby #1 lost its leg.
• Bailey got very upset with me when I took Lamby away to take it’s picture for today’s Blog

So does your dog have a favorite toy?  Do they have any strange quirks with it?

Day 85: Warm Golden Sunlight

There is a photographer who I follow on facebook who recently posted a status update saying “There is so much beautiful natural lighting in the world. It’s our job to find it.”  Her quote really inspired me for today’s photos.

I am all about natural lighting when it comes to my photography.  I absolutely abhor flashes (although I do recognize that they are a necessary evil for certain indoor photography).  Since I’m too poor to buy really expensive lighting equipment anyway, nothing can substitute good ol’ natural sunlight for me.

My favorite lighting to shoot in is right before the sun starts setting.  The result is a gorgeous soft golden sunlight that cameras absolutely love.  As strange as it sounds, one of my favorite places to experience this sunlight is my bathroom.  Yes, I know, but stay with me.  Our bathroom window faces west so when the sun starts to set, it sends that beautiful light straight into our bathroom.  Our window is frosted so it softens the light even more.  In addition, when it shines it on all of the orangy tan tiles, it just creates this beautiful warm aura of sunlight.   I’ve never considered myself a writer, and I don’t feel like I’m doing it justice with my words, so lets just move onto a few more photos from our bathroom photoshoot.

Now, this lighting doesn’t work for all types of photos, and its all a matter of opinion, however when you want a natural warm tone in your photos, this is the lighting you want.  Another example of this particular sunlight in outdoor photos is back in my photos from New Jersey… you can check them out here

For all my other blog buddies who are into photography, whats your favorite lighting?