A man and his dog walking along at sunset.
In bocca al lupo. m (no v)
Showing posts with label Dogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dogs. Show all posts
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Thursday, November 13, 2014
My Dog Spot!
My Dog Spot Photography is born! The web site is up and running. I'm excited and curious and scared. I am learning so much and isn't that what makes life really fun? The style of photo I create is with a white background although certain props can be optional. Family members can be included in a few of the shots as well. We've had fun adding a couple of "extra legs" to a photo. As time and interest go on I will be trying out different styles, so stay tuned.
Public debut will be at the Holiday Craft Fair at the Monterey Bay Aquarium this Sunday (7-9:30pm if you're a local). 10% of my proceeds will be donated to the educational fund established in v's name at the aquarium.
Other vendors will be donating 10% to an educational scholarship being set up by the aquarium itself. Since 1985 the aquarium has hosted school groups with students 18 years and younger at no charge to the students.
Please wish me luck!
In bocca al lupo. m (no v)
Friday, November 7, 2014
Into the Unknown!
Big breath and deep sigh...I'm starting a small business: pet photography.
I figured there are any number of wedding and portrait photographers around. I have sent the card designs to the printer. I have my contact info blurred because I haven't quite gone live just yet and most of you who drop in aren't exactly local, though if I'm ever heading back to Europe I will make an announcement. (And for those of you in Russia, v would have loved practicing his language skills with you!)
Once I have the website up and running I'll publish the address. I will keep this site in the loop as far as any successes I may have. I am nail-bitingly nervous. v was the impresario and had all the courage and hutzpah. He was a born salesman though his heart was in wood working and his vocation was teaching.
So, I'm soon to launch in a quiet, modest way. Fingers crossed!
In bocca al lupo. m (no v)
Friday, October 31, 2014
Congratulations San Francisco Giants!
As much as Halloween has always been my favorite among fun holidays, this year my heart is not in it. If you follow this blog you will understand there won't be any holidays for awhile. But, I continue to explore my life options. One of those options is developing my skill as a photographer in the field of animal portraits. It isn't something I set out to do, it has evolved.
So, Happy Halloween to all of you. Good-bye to October.
Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants! You guys are amazing! Keep in mind, with all the great players and the heart of that team, their fortunes turned toward championships in May of 2010 when Buster Posey was added to the roster. He knows how to manage his pitichers and the games.
In bocca al lupo. m (no v)
Monday, October 27, 2014
Black and White
Black and white editions. More fine tuning to stay tuned for...
My baseball buddy. She looks like this when the broadcasters get excited. I like to think she's enjoying the game with me.
In bocca al lupo. m (no v)
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Color Seeking IV (Building the portfolio)
White on White. I can combine my color experiments with my studio work. Enter the blue-eyed white dog.
This turned out to be one of the best studio sessions so far even though I was worried about her being a wash-out with my background. She's gorgeous!
Taking five on the carpet.
In bocca al lupo. m (no v)
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Close Encounters
Yesterday morning, as I sat at the kitchen table writing a "to-do" list for the garden, I had a surprise visit from one of my most important and newest garden helpers. In broad daylight Baby suddenly appeared at the bowl just outside the kitchen door. For the past four years we have had the pleasure of opossums in the garden. Generally they come at night.
Our first encounter was with Arthur. We were returning from an evening's rehearsal at our local community theater. Upon entering the kitchen we found all three of our cats and Hannah the dog, sitting at the kitchen door looking outward. At first I thought there was a tiny kitten looking back in at them, but when I turned on the back porch light, lo and behold, it was a tiny opossum! He just sat on the other side of the glass door watching all of us watch him.
That was my first encounter with a live opossum, and I wasn't sure what to think about it. He was very tiny and unaccompanied. Research told me that he would be a benign visitor. During a conversation with a fellow volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium about wild visitors to our gardens I mentioned Arthur and her first response was "then you probably don't have any snails!". Well, as a matter of fact v and I had been remarking about the fact that the hundreds of snails we used to deal with had disappeared mysteriously. I wondered if this were a sign of global warming. Were snails becoming extinct? How bad was that? Well, mystery solved! And Arthur was an honored visitor, as were any of his relatives who happened to accompany him from time to time.
I believe we met his mother and there was a gnarly older, and much bigger guy that showed only once (I'm glad) that may have been his father. An old, rheumy looking fellow with a portion of his tail missing showed once or twice as well, we called him Uncle Nestor. Last spring a new baby showed up with dark legs and a deep widow's peek, Rosie. And now Baby.
Even though the literature tells us that opossums have a very short life span, Arthur was a regular visitor from when we first saw him peering in at the cats four years ago, til very recently. I have no evidence that he has died. Rosie comes frequently and Baby has been sporadic. We used to see Arthur during daylight hours, but until Baby showed yesterday morning he was the only one. We've never attempted contact, though the cats and the neighborhood Tom have all spent time sitting quietly by of an evening while Arthur munched away on leftovers in their outside bowl.
Some might be aghast that we welcome these little marsupials to our garden, but they are clean and benign visitors. I don't have to put out snail bait or any other form of pest control. My vegetable seedlings sprout and grow with nary a leaf chewed. Earwigs must be a treat as well, because they no longer consume the tender sprouts or hide in between rose petals.
Far from being the ugly, naked faced animal I used to think opossums were, Arthur is graced with a sweet face. Baby resembles him. Rosie has stronger features, but she's still a pretty opossum. No, I don't really know the sex of each, I just guess and may be quite wrong. Arthur could well be the mother of all the rest. Whatever...his family is welcome in our garden.
In bocca al lupo. m & v
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Nevada City Weekend
We've been on the road for nearly a week! This has been business and pleasure with the lines blurring to the point of indistinguishability. We started by visiting my oldest friend (as in longest duration) down in San Luis Obispo (some nice B&W shots on Biondography just click the highlighted word here). After a lovely cool night in Morro Bay we turned inland and headed to Grass Valley/Nevada City for a concert of the Nevada City Concert Band. They put on monthly pops concerts at Pioneer Park, click here for their website. Oh My Gosh! I'd forgotten what hot feels like!
v and I had the honor and pleasure of being invited to photograph last weekend's concert "California Dreamin'". I used to listen to the Boston Pops concerts on A&E every 4th of July. It was a "new" tradition of my father's and mine after he developed dementia. I have a friend who is actually visiting Tanglewood this week. This band, the NCCB, is as much a pleasure to listen to as the Pops band in Boston, truly. Lucky people of Nevada County.
The rehearsal was creekside in Pioneer Park. A great place to stand barefoot and try to keep cool!
Something else v and I are working on, and I've been hinting at, is greeting card design, or note cards if you will. We are going to start peddling them soon.
These are a couple that we've had printed recently. In keeping with our "local" philosophy we are happy to have a printer three blocks from our house who is willing to do small orders. If we can figure it out we will start having designs available for sale on line in the coming weeks and months.
In bocca al lupo. m & v
(mystery night? m-e?)
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Round 6 and the Dogs of Carmel
I'm very happy to say that he is tolerating this onslaught very well. He's still gaining weight. At the weigh-in he is only a pound under his heaviest weight of the past year. It wasn't his top weight at that time, but it has been a while regaining even that much. We are no longer pushing extra calories at him, this is a gain with normal, and irregular, eating. His energy is high and he is walking from 1 to 3 miles a day.
We made a goal of this outing to photograph the beach dogs. Wouldn't you know, there weren't that many dogs out on Carmel Beach that morning, but the ones we spotted were gems.
Small but fearless. Not a swimmer, but she enjoyed wading.
This guy dug us a nice deep hole in the sand burying his head up to his ears.
Almost every dog on the beach has a tennis ball to chase, unless they're swimmers, then all they need are the waves.
A beautiful, gentle bear of a dog on his annual pilgrimage to Carmel with his human companion. We enjoyed meeting and visiting with the special people who know what it is to have a dog in their lives. Pure love and trust.
In bocca al lupo. m & v
Friday, January 4, 2013
The Sea
And made as he would eat me up
As wholly as a dew
Upon a dandelion's sleeve -
And then I started too.
And he - he followed close behind;
I felt his silver heel
Upon my ankle, - then my shoes
Would overflow with pearl.
Until we met the solid town,
No man he seemed to know,
And bowing with a mighty look
At me, the sea withdrew.
Emily Dickinson
In bocca al lupo. m & v
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