Party animals

So. I posted about cleaning (or procrastinating that) yesterday. Once I hit the publish button, I got my bum off my computer& got down to business. The place sparkled. Seriously, ask my boyfriend. It was so lovely ..for all of ten minutes. Then the children arrived and chaos ensued. We moved the couch. We moved the dresser. We took the photos off the walls. We put everything in a different spot. Then, we set up the backdrop. Rolled some white paper on it. Pulled out some props (thanks, Mom, for bringing those! They served us well) and proceeded to have too much crazy fun with all of it.

These two girls sure do know how to party! I also think they make pretty good rockstars. I have to admit hanging out with them makes me feel young at heart ..and very tired ;) They made a music video AND a movie trailer last night. When was the last time you did that much?! Last night I got to star in the trailer, along with Penny (who was the evil villain). I was the viking superhero who came in& saved the day. They got to dress me up anyway they wanted. So they found makeup, used it as a way to turn me into a man& a lot of laughs were had. Seriously.. we even managed to snag pretty much the most hilarious photo of myself that possibly exists. You'll have to let me know- do I make a good viking superhero man?! I'm inclined to say I make pretty much the best one ever ..then again, I'm also pretty biased. I did, after all, have the best makeup artists in the industry. They swore it was true ..and based on results, don't you believe them?

*I feel like the beer belly, fox tail& eye patch really add to my street cred. 

I am seriously the best non-relative ever ..these kids had better love me most!!

I know what you're thinking. You're wishing you HAD this much fun on Friday nights. So, tell me.. how did you spend last night? Did your adventures compare to mine? Are you 26& still playing dress up like you've never really bothered to grow up at all? I am and I have to admit, it makes for some pretty memorable times& some very serious belly laughs! If you have any kids that you can borrow for a night (heck, even if you own the kids ;) ), I suggest you scoop them up for a few hours& enjoy going back to your childhood.

Anytime it feels like I'm being too much of an adult, I just think about all the late nights, early mornings& sunny afternoons spent with these two (and my other not-quite-but-almost nephews) and instantly feel better! And tired. I'm not sure I comprehend how parents do it. The mere thought of spending all my days like that is exhausting ..which, I suppose, is why I'm the fun one. I've only got this gig as a part-time, temporary job. I can afford to be fun 24/7 and leave the true tasks of parenting up to someone who has the qualifications for raising babies ;)

All that said, I have to admit. It's nice to sit here, in my messy apartment, and just be able to enjoy snuggling MY child.. you know, that little red dog that I do so adore. Yeah, the weekend got to her too. We played at the dog park for 2.5hrs this morning& the kids needed her in almost every video scene& to be the star of their trailer. She's almost as grateful as I am that this place is returning to normalcy after 24hrs of chaos!

Happy weekend, everyone! Don't forget to kick off your shoes, put your feet up& relax! Even if you only have five minutes to yourself, take them. And then re-read this post& be glad you didn't have my weekend agenda ;)

Snow ponies!

Today was another barn adventure kind of day. It was so beautiful this morning that we were on the road by 9AM. I had Pony ridden by 11:30& he did great. Tomorrow he gets a day off because it's going to be -26°C (15°F for you Americans!) so I'll be spending the day snuggled into my covers. Then Crystal& I visited with a friend from our last barn& lastly, we stopped in to see Dixie. Remember the Haflingers? Yeah .. we don't do much with them anymore!

Linked to {snapped}& Creative Exchange!

By the time we got to Dixie's barn, it was bitter cold& snowing like crazy. So Crystal did manual labor& I took some photos of the ponies. There were some guys playing hockey on the pond who scared the crap out of the horses while I was in the field with them& I almost died laughing at them trying to get their footing to run away. After that, the snow realllly started to pick up so I snapped a few photos of them running like wild beasts.

I am so glad I was up early& now I can just spend this evening curled up in my bed, taking medicine for my jaw& eating soup. Does anyone out there have any recommendations for soft food? I'm going nuts .. I've been surviving on egg whites, tomato soup, chocolate milk& tea. Everything else hurts to chew. It is so ridiculous. The pain hasn't let up since it started& it actually hurts to brush my teeth. Someone please have some home remedies!

One last photo of some ponies just for some good measure! I hope everyone had a delightful weekend :) I am now going to catch up on some blog posts .. I love evenings like this!

Handsome dog

Yes, I often get to take photos of handsome animals. A few days ago, I got to take some photos of a super handsome golden retriever! His name is Ty& his owner& I rode together for a few years. We braved the cold& snow to get some photos. They turned out pretty good not to mention it is always nice to catch up with old friends. So, we walked around the park& caught up for about an hour before we even decided that we should probably get to the task at hand- taking some photos! My zoom lens makes photographing animals so much easier. I don't need to get right on top of them to fill the frame. I absolutely love the following shot ..he is just such a sweet, sweet dog. He melts my heart!

Linked to {snapped}!

Oh, beautiful animals make the world go 'round. Well, at the very least, they make my world go 'round! There is absolutely nothing that can make me happier than taking photos of people& their pets, especially if the people are happy with the end results. It would be great to make the animals happy as well but I think they prefer loving& treats to a good photo of themselves ..just a wild guess on my part ;) I also managed to convince Ty's owner to get in a few shots with him. Have I mentioned how lucky I am that I get to photograph some of the most beautiful people ever? So many of these photos are awesome that it was really hard to pick my top 2 for this post. When both owner& animal are as photogenic as these ones, it's hard to get a bad photo!

Such a fun winter day. Not to mention the weight that is lifted off my shoulders when the people invested in the photos end up liking them. I've never had anyone NOT like the end results but that doesn't really make me any less nervous when I uploading them to be seen for the first time! Does anyone else always get butterflies before hearing feedback from the 'client'?

Also, does anyone else feel silly when they use photography terms/ give advice? When you consider that I've really only been doing this since the spring ..I feel completely ridiculous when I do. I feel like I have to add a disclaimer to let people know they should probably check out some other blogs if they are looking for awesome photos. I have certainly improved but I don't think I should be out here giving advice or using terms like clients!

If you like these sneak peek photos, check out the rest of the shoot over here! They are definitely worth checking out ..Ty is handsome as can be& you can clearly see the owner is stunning as well. If you do visit, let me know what one is your favorite!

Luca

This morning I had the chance to photograph a pup named Luca! She is just as hyper as could be& could barely contain her excitement. It was bitterly cold this AM& so we snapped a few quick photos then decided to let it be at that. My hands were frozen plus I had actually managed to get a few great shots of her alone& with her owner! It was snowing by the end so the photos of her+ her owner turned out very wintery& awesome. Sometimes I am start to feel like I might be catching on to this whole photography thing ...and then I check out some other photography blogs& am promptly brought back to reality! That being said, I do love the photos from the shoot today so I figured I'd share one of my favorites with you guys.

Linked to I Heart Faces!

How sweet& calm does little Luca look in this? The answer is very ..and that is hilarious because the outtakes from this include all kinds of photos out of focus because she jumped up at me to say hello right as I was snapping the photo. Which proves that photos do lie ;) Thankfully, I managed to get this shot. I just love the colors in it& the look on her face is so sweet! She just adores her owner who was standing exactly where Luca is looking. I will probably share one of the photos with the owner later in the week! Just this one for now.

I think if you look back to some of my earlier photo attempts, this is a giant improvement! I shoot fully manual now ..something I thought I'd never do because I didn't think I'd ever learn. Turns out the learning curve was not too awful at all. So my advice to anyone out there with an SLR still shooting automatic? Just switch to manual& learn white balance, ISO, aperture& f-stop! After you know what all that means ..you simply have to make a promise to yourself to shoot in manual regardless of how awful your photos will be at first (trust me on this. You'll need a bunch of photos of the same thing to get one properly exposed/ sharp)! It gets so much easier& now I never shoot on fully automatic. The switch to shooting manual has really helped my photos. Especially when you consider most photos are taken with the kit lens on my Rebel XS. This photo, however, was taken with my portrait lens. I adore it. Cannot wait to move up to a better camera body& get myself some better lenses.

Side note- some men who swim laps at the pool heard about my photography& suggested that if I ever needed models they were available. I asked them would they were Santa hats to which they replied sure. Who wants to buy a 2012 calendar filled with the handsome swimming patrons of the NSCP?! I hope everyone is having a delightful Monday ..or at least as delightful as a Monday can be!

Me times 3

Today I worked& found out that my pay is going to be three days late. So that sucks. It's also illegal. Oh, well. Now I'm tired because I also swam 2k in the pool. Not to mention standing on deck watching other people swim laps& do Aqua Fitness classes is exhausting. Aqua Fitness also gives me a headache when I guard it because the music is incredibly loud& the instructor yells above it. Awesome. I love me some noise-induced deafness.

Since I worked, I took absolutely no photos today. So when I got home from the pool, I figured I had to try for something. I know the dog hates me for all the photos so I decided to give him the evening off. My volunteer pool is nonexistent so I did the only thing I could do- photograph myself. Three times! Then I quickly (I mean like in 5 minutes) slapped the photos together in photoshop. The result? Not technically amazing but still makes me laugh!

Linked with {snapped}!

It is probably a good thing I'm not vain ..these photos would have required A LOT of touching up if I was actually concerned with how I looked! I just quickly masked out the backgrounds so I have some strange body shapes going on. I couldn't be bothered doing anything with myself before taking the photos. Like I said ..I worked. It was exhausting. Of course now I can't fall asleep so I'm late-night posting instead!

Speaking of late-night posting, I also have a birthday to celebrate on Friday! My boyfriend is turning 28. In honor of that, we're going to go to Boston Pizza to eat wayyy too much food! Afterward, we are probably going to go to the movies where we'll eat popcorn ..possibly my one true love. Okay, all my favorite foods are my true loves. I can't pick a favorite! Birthdays are my favorite when they involve food& cake.

Hunting

Jerry Seinfeld was awesome. If you need further proof, go watch an episode of Seinfeld. Then come back to read& comment on the blog! My father& I laughed until we cried. Then we did at all again!

So, what is the reason for the name of this particular post? I finally managed to get all the items for Scavenger Hunt Sunday! Go check out all the other entries since some pretty awesome photographers submit photos to this link up! I feel oddly proud of myself for managing to accomplish this. I know, big deal. Five whole photos. Such an accomplishment ..I'm rolling my own eyes at myself! Onward to the photos..

1. Portrait- taken last evening! Garret came over to help me decorate my downstairs tree& also got sucked into moving an incredibly heavy couch from the upstairs to the basement. After all that, I figured we needed a portrait on the newly moved couch. So I scooped up the pup, grabbed my tripod& used a sneaky trick for the built-in flash to bounce. End result?

Linked to Simple Things!

2. Nostalgic- I didn't take this photo within the last week. It's a photo of my favorite gray pony, Shyann! It's an outtake from the sale photos we took of her. It always cracks me up because it captures her personality perfectly! I am missing my girl like crazy lately so I figured I'd use this word to give a shout out to the best pony in the world! Miss you, flea-bitten gray. I even miss those monstrous ears!

Time- I thought this was vague. I think most prompts are vague so no different really! I took a photo of my favorite clock in the house because I decided to take the prompt literally. Time is told on a clock. If I was into sentimental quotes, I'd include one here now. But I'm not so here's the photo!

Full of Light- Normally, this would be really hard for me& probably be the prompt that would be the reason I didn't have a complete scavenger hunt list. Thankfully, last night we set up our Christmas tree! I was unsure whether to include a photo of our lime green tree's lights done as a bokeh shot or to include my tree. I decided to get with a photo of my tree. I'm partial to it& I figured lots of people would be rockin' the bokeh.

Motion- And lastly it's been awhile since I've posted a floating photo, so I figured what kind of photo shows motion better than someone floating away?! I assume absolutely no other kind. Or at the very least, this one is a pretty cool way to show motion! Here is a photo of my momma floating up to the light fixture to change a bulb. Easy as pie when you can fly!

Well then

Today it is no longer extremely mild out and we're getting snow tomorrow. Hello, winter. Since I didn't take any photos today, I figured I'd show my before shots. Not that that many people were impressed with my floating photo ..I actually lost a follower LOL!

Tada. Easy-peasy. I just opened them in photoshop with the bottom photo as the 'background' layer& the photo with me in it as 'Layer 1'. Then I added a mask layer to Layer 1 and masked out the stool. Then I flattened the image. Since I forgot to stand on my tippy toes (there is a lot to remember here folks!) I had to copy my leg from the knee down, add it as a new layer (which I called 'Leg' ..so creative) and then move it so it looked more like I was floating away rather than standing on thin air. I couldn't get the focus right because I was doing this completely alone with a tripod and, obviously, there was nothing to focus on where my head ended up being. That looks like a lot typed out but it really only took about ten minutes. And it was my first time ever doing it. Here is the same photo, only in black& white. Because I can't decide which version I like better& one end result is in this post, just below the one you're reading now! Which do you prefer?

Linked with Photo Story, Fabulous Friday, Photo Friday, 
snapped, SES& Favorite Friday
Also Photo Tip

Still floating..

My love of levitating photos has survived yet another day! I spent yesterday afternoon with a tripod, an umbrella and a stool. Yeah, I'm that cool. One of my neighbors stopped chopping wood to watch me and then mentioned until he realized who I was he thought I was stealing stuff. Secretly I think he wanted to say something about questioning my very bizarre behavior. Here's a snapshot of the scene he was seeing-

Girl sets up tripod. Snaps a photo of the empty space. Runs out& puts down a stool. Runs back to camera to see where the stool is placed. Sets timer. Runs back to the stool while unhooking the umbrella. Climbs on stool and poses. Then hops off the stool once the camera clicks& runs back to check. Repeat multiple times.

I'll be honest ..I can see why he was intrigued/ concerned! In the end, I sort of got the shot. It started to rain (thanks, umbrella) so I had to end it with a semi-decent photo. I just wish the focus was on my face instead of my Uggs.. but regardless, I love it! I am officially in love with levitating portraits. It was good to get some practice to make sure I could even do the whole Photoshop steps needed to make a really cool floating photo. It is also super easy to do ..I have the before photos& can pretty easily explain it if anyone is interested! I have decided Photoshop magic is the best kind of magic ;)

Linking up with Wordless, Daily Wyatt, 

Wordful, Wild Wednesday& Project Alicia

 Next up? My dog. He's so excited already ..I can tell from the look on his face when I mentioned it to him! You'll notice there is absolutely a 100% lack of Squirt in the above photo. I tried to get him to come out with me but he was enjoying a mid-afternoon nap& wouldn't hear tell of my shenanigans. What a jerk.

So what do you think? Am I inspiring anyone out there to try to get a cool levitating photo of their own?! Have you already taken photos like these? If the answer to that is yes ..please leave me a link so I can see them! I am promising to probably flood you guys with these photos for the next, oh .. forever. When I'm not doing self-portraits, it will probably work out a little better in terms of where the focus is!

Beer

I am not a fan of beer, really. I mostly only like vodka& insanely fancy liqueurs; just call me classy! Today, however, I was thinking I really needed to pick up my camera& shoot something. I think I forgot I took photos of the buggy yesterday ..oh well. I got super excited to follow the same recipe for success I always use- 1 insanely cute dog, props, light box& my mediocre skill set! My props for today included an empty ale bottle (Picaroons ..a micro brewery in New Brunswick), one of the Picaroons glasses, water, food coloring& soap. Yes, I know what you're thinking -I have way too much time on my hands. You're probably right but look how cool the photo came out!

You'd never guess that all my playing around with food coloring would actually be useful at some point in my life, eh? Turns out it helped me know exactly how to make a 'beer' color! I thought I was brilliant until I realized that water didn't foam ..but beer did. DILEMMA. Thankfully, I am a genius& realized that we had foaming hand soap right within arm's reach (thanks, mom) so I got to work making it look like beer. Did I fool you?! I didn't fool the dog because he refused to lap it up like he would have done if there was real alcohol in there. I can't say I blame him ..I'm not sure I'd want soap, food colored water to drink either.

See? This is definitely his 'I hate you& I'm so over photos in this stupid box. Please, never make me do this again' face. He wouldn't even play along. I got so mad at him ..don't you understand how important you are to my photograph, little dog?! I yelled at him& everything. Before you get alarmed, I immediately felt guilty& gave him some lovin' to make up for it. I mean -how can you be mad for long at that face? Then I pleaded with him because I swear sometimes he understands me. I said 'Dog, behave yoself& give me one more chance to get a good shot of you with the fake beer?'. His response was to run& hide under my bed. I guess even the most seasoned models have off days. Unfortunately for him, I am bigger than my dog so I simply scooped him out from under my bed with promises of dog treats& walks to get one last shot. It isn't great ..this didn't work out at all as I had planned in my head. Squirt was determined to really make me want to sell him today. You can see the extreme shame on his face. Suck it up, pup! You're free for at least 24 hours.

Linking up with Favorite Photo& Capturing Ordinary!

Check out some of the other photos :)

Not wordless

...but almost! I don't really have much worth saying today other than I woke up early in order to drive my dad to the airport. It was cold& there was frost on my car. Hello, winter. Nice to have you visiting my fine little island again. I hope this visit is short& mild.

Since winter is here, most of my photos from here on out will be of indoor activities. I hate the cold weather& prefer to avoid it all costs! You'll be getting lots of light box photos& whatever else I fill my wintery days with. For now, I'll show you a photo I took the night the boyfriend& I went to play some pool. We played 5 games& he won 3-2. I am slowly getting better& I loveee it! Plus, pool is an indoor sport which is always a plus when the temperature drops!

 

Linking up with  

Wordish, Wordless& Project Alicia! 

I totally improvised with this shot. The pool hall has typical, sketchy pool hall lighting. That means that I either had to jack up the ISO or pray my hands were steady for 1/13 of a  second. "IMPOSSIBLE!" I shouted and proceeded to use the pool table as my makeshift tripod. It appears to have worked pretty decently! No camera shake there baby :)

Results are in..

My very first Fossil watch came in the following box- meaning none of you were right! Since there was no real prize, I guess it's not toooo much of a let down ;) 

I know it doesn't seem to match the watch that came in it all ..in fact, Jess had the best guess when she said paint glob box because that seems to match the pastel feel of my old watch. Fossil doesn't play by the rules though. Frig matching the packaging with the prize inside! They are artistes -said with a French accent!

Okay so now that I've revealed the Fossil box my very first watch came in, what else could possibly be more exciting than that?! A lot but today it's that yesterday I took some photos of Mona (fabulous rider& lady in general)& her little painted reiner! Her horses' name is Izzy& she's super sweet. She is a gem to ride ..I know because she let me ride her after I was done taking photos of them! It was so nice to ride a horse who listens& responds instantly again after working with green horses. I promise this isn't turning into a horse blog again- I just have had a few days worth of horse photo shoots so basically that's all I've been taking photos of! I promise you'll love Izzy though ..allow me to show you with a photo :) I absolutely love this shot! Of course I do. It's black& white ..who would've guessed that I would love the black& white shots the best?! Perhaps everyone who reads this blog even semi-regularly!

Photo Tip Tuesday, Communal global, Tones on Tuesday, Touch Up Tuesday,
52 Weeks Happiness& Simplicity. Check them out!

My photo tip for photographing horses? It's probably incredibly hard if you don't already understand some stuff about horses. In general though, you want the horse to be in the most stretched out part of their stride& a good headset. You need a fast shutter speed (SS) to avoid blurring their feet, meaning shoot in sunshine or with a higher ISO. I feel ridiculous giving tips about photography since I'm just learning myself but I do think I have an advantage when photographing horses since I've ridden them for years& years. I know what the rider wants when they look at their photos. I edited this by changing it from color to black& white and then just simply added a slightly pink overlay (possibly color.. can't remember) layer to it. Simple but I think it works :)

My settings for this photo were-

f/stop -5.6

SS- 1/800

ISO- 200

I got the bluesss

Okay, I don't really have the blues. But I do have the song from the Kraft Dinner commercial stuck in my head ..which will make me sad if it stays in there much longer! Oh, and I have to break it to you guys which Fossil case was my first. I didn't forget, I just want to get to these photos from yesterday :)

The weather is officially turning to winter on my little island ..our days have been cold& there's been snow. We also had a little bit of an ice storm one evening so that was awesome. I woke up to about 1.5 inches of ice on my car with no ice scraper& needing to leave the boyfriend's ASAP to get to work. I had to dig through his garage but I found one& made it! I am so good at life survival skills!

Then yesterday was a little more pleasant, we had some sunshine& in the photos I'm about to show you, you might believe it was even a little warm. Well- it wasn't& my nearly hypothermic fingers can attest to that! The kids were troopers ..I never would have survived this photo shoot without complaints! They deserve gold stars of recognition. So now onto some of the photos :)

A boy& his horse! His mom wanted photos of the siblings with their horse since they are selling him this winter. It is sad when people outgrow their mounts but it happens& this horse is so sweet& well-behaved that he is definitely going to be perfect for a little child to learn the ropes on! This horse has personality plus .. he is such a character. I love him. Both kids absolutely adore him- you can tell from the looks on their faces! And the horse is just so quiet! They could do anything with him. As someone who spends my days riding not-so-quiet horses, I can attest to what a major plus that is!

Linked at- 

Favorite Photo, Amaze Me&
Capturing Beauty!

So they each had a photo shoot with the pony separately& then together! They hoped up bareback on him, walk/trot& the horse never batted an eye. Which was great because it worked out perfect for the photos! I don't think they would have been nearly as cute if the horse was running around madly& the kiddies were falling off in a heap on the dirt ;)

I threw up a preview of a few photos on my facebook& they seemed more than pleased with them so that is a huge relief! People leave out one of the negatives to being a new photographer (or maybe it never leaves) - the stress of wondering if the people you're shooting will like the results!! The kids mom told me she loved them all so far& had no idea which ones she was going to print& frame so I'm taking that as a positive sign!

You know I couldn't leave you without a black& white photo! Love this one. The horse looks so happy ..can I just say it was sooo easy to get him to perk his ears that I think every horse needs to take some modeling lessons from him! They were great to work with& my fingers recovered from the crazy cold so I'd call it a successful venture overall :)

Happy Monday everyone!

Fossil Watches

Seriously. I wrote once about my love for Fossil (upon finding that post, I laughed out loud at the conversation with the boyfriend ..check it out!) by photographing my purse in my light box. Yeah, I'm that awesome. I also have another awesome Fossil purse ..and a wallet. And, combined, my family has quite a few Fossil watches. I loveee them.

One time my mom went to New York& bought me a watch face. You then just buy straps to go with it. Best idea ever? I think yes! The sad part to this is that I cannot buy straps around here (Cape Breton needs some serious shopping improvement).. so now it seems whenever Mom goes away she brings me home a strap. It's a good deal! Today, in honor of the fact that it seems to be rainy outside& I didn't manage to get any horse photos yesterday, I took photos of the awesome boxes from our watches! So I quickly gathered the 7 of them, turned on the light box& got to work.

Think Fossil will hire me to be their new product photographer?! I bet that comes with all kinds of perks like free things .. a paycheck .. meeting cool people (I imagine everyone who works there is really awesome) .. and other things I'm sure. Like a dental plan or something. I actually had a lot of fun photographing these bad boys except that now I want to go on their website& start looking for things to buy. Danger city as they aren't exactly cheap free! Maybe my boyfriend will read this& realize that he could purchase something from Fossil (<-- that link will take you there, Garret. Right to the women's section..in case you're reading this ;D)

So much fun. Can you guess which was the very first watch box I ever owned? The watch in it was gorgeous. It was a thick ivory band, painted with pastel designs. The face was a pink color. It was so beautiful that I left it in my car one day at the beach& someone must have really wanted it. They stole it! Yeah, it really sucked. I loved that watch. Okay, so does my story help you figure out which box it is?! Leave your best guesses in the comment section& I'll post a photo of it tomorrow. Winner will recieveeeeeee .. absolutely nothing except the satisfaction of being right ;)

 Linked with Photo Story, Fabulous Friday,
SES, Better than Best& Favorite Photo& Photo Friday!

Bath time

When I woke up today, my dog was laying on my stomach with his stinky dog breath breathing straight into my nose. Love the dog, hate the breath. It reminded me that, in fact, the dog in general stinks. I had been avoiding it& just hoping the smell would go away.

It didn't. Thanks, Squirt. I needed that reminder at 8AM. It definitely helped my motivation to get you cleaned up. My dog hates baths. With a burning passion. It's hilarious how hateful he is when he thinks you're trying to get him in the tub. Since I haven't bathed him in months years.. he didn't see it coming! I filled up the tub. I threw him in. I knew it would make for some funny captures with the camera.

Obviously, you aren't disappointed. The only thing cuter than a child with soap suds on its head? My dog replacing the child ;) I know, I've been overloading you all with photos of him& for that I sort of apologize. At least I'm not horrifying your senses with something ugly! He's sweet as a cupcake. After the bath, he ran around& around& around the house. He rubbed his face on everything he could. He completely exhausted himself so now all he can do is lay uselessly on his pillow. Actually, that is how he spends the majority of his life. He has it some rough, let me tell you!

I think if you believe the look on his face in most of these photos ..you might actually believe he has a difficult life! Trust me, he doesn't, he just really hates the camera ..especially if I'm holding it. I don't know how come he refuses to just accept his fate as a model. His life would be sooo much easier if he would!

Okay, now I think I can make a promise that my pup will remain firmly off my blog for the next few days. I may have a few photos of horses to replace him with ..we'll see how that goes when I get up to the barn today. Their paddock is currently completely mud from all the rain we're getting lately! So sucky.

*Linking up with This& That& Happiness Is..
Black& White Wednesday, Black& White Wednesday,
Found Texture, Show off your Shot,

Middle of the week

Today I swam some laps. Then I came home& still didn't have a photo for my bloggy readers today ..I'm trying really hard to break out my camera at least daily for a new photo or two. Sometimes it is easier than others.. today was hard. I was going to take a creepy photo of one of my coworkers swimming laps, but I didn't want to touch my camera when I was drenched. So I passed. Then I got home& asked Momma for ideas. She told me to take one of her.

I tried to convince her to squeeze herself into my light box, but she said that that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. So I settled for letting her sit in a chair ;) I really like this photo& I'm pretty certain you guys must be getting at least a little sick of photos of my dog?! I have some funny ideas for him in the next post -if anyone wants to guess. Or, if anyone has any ideas for funny photos to take of the pup, drop a line to let me know! My parents& boyfriend aren't nearly as funny to dress up& take lots of photos of. Plus, they don't listen to my commands as well as the little monster! So, here is the best I could do with a human subject ;)

Since she was refusing to get in the light box, I had to make do with using the natural light from the window. It turned out pretty good ..if I do say so myself ;) Also, don't forget that my momma has a blog just like me! She loves visitors& comments.. hope on over& give her some bloggin' love.

Linking up with {snapped}, 7 Clown Circus, Supermom, Better in Bulk, Paper Mama, Live& Love, Baby Baby Lemon& By Word of Mouth! Check them out ..lots of great Wordless Wednesdays with words ;)

Post-halloween

I don't have the post-Halloween blues ..but I do wish I had of carved a pumpkin& gotten more into the spirit. Now it's November& guys are growing mustaches left& right.

In order to avoid the winter months looming over us, I decided to dress the dog up, toss him in the light box& take some photos. I don't actually love these shots ..but they are cute nonetheless so I figured I'd share them with the people who seem to at least tolerate my doggy! This was such a bad photo shoot ..he wouldn't stand still, the candies wouldn't go right& overall, he's very lucky he's cute!

Just admit it ..he is obviously one of the cutest puppies in the world. Look at that crooked smile! He always makes me laugh& he puts up with a lot of photographing. I think old age is doing him well ..at one point he would have bit me& walked away! Much more cooperation now that he's ancient ;)  I think his good looks landed him quite a bit of treats from last night! Thankfully, puppies can't eat treats so I guess I'll be a kind momma& help him out with his dilemma. Wouldn't want all those treats going to waste, would we?!

For this photo, I did what I usually do with my dog. Threw him in the light box! My settings were 1/50 second, custom white balance,  and f/5. I opened it in photoshop to clean up some of the dirt on his face (gross, I know) and ran an action ..but I forget which one. Sorry! Now, all you need is for someone in your life to build you a light box (best investment ever) and find a dog at least half as cute as mine ;)

Does anyone have any hilarious photos of their animals dressed up? Leave a comment to your photo ..I'd love to see them! Nothing brings me smiles like funny photos of animals. Hope your post-Halloween sugar high is still going strong!

PS linking up with Communal Global, Ordinary Inspirations, Weekly Kodachrome, 52 Weeks, Sweet Shot, Photo Tip, Creative Exchange& Simplicity! Check out some of the photos posted at those links! There are some pretty fabulous photography bloggers floating around :)

A new look!

Hey, look what happened to my blog overnight! It got a whole new look. Isn't it completely amazing?! The only thing is that I'm back to square one when it comes to Disqus being integrated into blogger. That sucks but it has nothing to do with the redesign& everything to do with Disqus being incredibly frustrating when it isn't working correctly.

Now, if you remember my previous design (sort of wishing I had taken a screen shot of it for before/ after photos), you are well aware that I definitely didn't create this new look! You're right. I have zero ability when it comes to any of that. I did, however, take the photo that is appearing on the header. I love how it all works together! The face on the doll just cracks me up so much. So, if I didn't design the new look, who did? Kim from Kim in a Box! She is completely awesome. Seriously. I had no idea what I was doing or even what I wanted the end result to look like. She stepped in& did everything. She picked the photo for the header, designed everything& even installed it onto Blogger for me! I was super picky about how I wanted the header to look in the end& she exceeded my expectations! At first I was nervous to tell her I liked, but didn't love, the original design. Her response? Basically not to worry at all because she was going to work with me until it was my idea of perfect! She did a pretty amazing job, don't you think?! Thanks so much, Kim! You rock.

If anyone out there (blogger or wordpress) is looking for a new layout, I would 100% suggest Kim. She did fabulous work and she did it quickly. I cannot say enough positive things about this lady. If you're interested, click here to go to her design page! Her prices are completely reasonable, she is fabulous to work with& she is a great lady all around. Definitely keep her in mind if you are searching for a new or updated blog look!


So, now that you've read all that, I have some sad news. I've officially failed another photography challenge. I just can't get back into things after I've missed a few days and, once again, this is no exception. Don't worry, though! I've still been taking photos ..yes, mostly of my dog but sometimes of others things too. For example, today the pup& I went to the beach where he had a good run (I took photos) and then afterward, I snapped this photo of some random apples just hanging out in the grass-

Doesn't that just scream 'autumn'? No? Oh, well hey, at least it's not a photo of my dog, right?! I'm trying to branch out my photography from my main theme of my dog. With that being said, I also have a few cute photos of him. Seeing as he is an old senior citizen dog, I love when he's feeling good enough to have a real hard run around the beach. It is nice to know that he still has the get up& go of his younger days! The run obviously tired him out though because since getting back in the house, he has been simply laying flat out on the floor looking at me pathetically. I guess that is acceptable since he spent about forty minutes out the beach today running like this-

Look closely. All 4 of his feet are very high off the ground. Way to go little monster! You are still a speed machine when you are feeling good ..which was evidently today! I have a few other cute shots of Squirty, but I figure you guys are completely overloaded with the puppy as of late so I'll refrain from posting them! Thanks for enduring this much of him without complaining ;D

It was perfect for a trip to the beach. Overcast, a chill in the air& not a soul around except me& my pup. Not that great for swimming but perfect for walking along, my favorite beach activity! Oh, and taking photos while I'm there!We spent at least an hour there just enjoying some of the last few days it will be nice out before winter hits us hard!

Failed

Yup. Another photo challenge down the tubes.. I was doing so well with this one! It turns out I really have to work on taking silhouette& long exposure shots. It has been pouring rain allll day and I didn't manage to get anything even remotely worthwhile posting. I apologize. I am disappointed too. I may attempt tomorrow to try both of these .. it is supposed to be nicer out. The sad part is that I actually tried really hard but I couldn't figure out how to expose a silhouette photo? I just kept doing it wrong ..which lead to frustration which lead to my second prompt of long exposure. When I couldn't figure out anything decent for that one either, I just gave up. Ugh. I can paint with light or something but I didn't have a light sooo ..yeah. Tomorrow I'll do it with candles or something! I may hop back on the train& you can decide if being a few days late results in a failure or a slightly-tainted success!

Since I have no photo challenge photos for you, instead enjoy this old photo of Meg, Britt& myself. This is from ages ago. I like my jawline& I really loved these years of our lives ..it was so much fun! So instead of a new prompted photo, you're all getting a walk down memory lane from me. At least it's not a photo of my dog, right?

Something exciting is happening behind the scenes on the blog, though. You'll find out soon enough but for now I'll let the suspense kill you ;D It is going to be cool and hopefully you will love it as much as the lucky few who are getting a sample tasting of it. So far I've gotten 2 pieces of positive feedback and 0 negative. So, that's a good start! I can't wait for the final result to be here& be ready to be talked about! Any guesses?

Also, tomorrow I'm going to do an anniversary date with the boyfriend. Best part?! We're going to see Paranormal Activity 3 .. oh, wait. I mean the best part is being with him for four years. The horror movie& supper is just an extra perk ;) It is even supposed to be nice out tomorrow ..this is one of those few times that I wish we had a beautiful restaurant to dress fancy for& pretend we lived in New York or something. As I age, I find myself actually wanting to dress up from time to time (3 times a year, max). C'est tragique, non? Another tragic thing in my world? An incredibly sore shoulder. I have been not taking any painkillers at all& just being a trooper. Go me! That streak is clearly ending tonight because I'm currently curled up with a heating pad& my neck held awkwardly to alleviate most of the pain. Bring on the pain relief, sugar! I am also obviously overtired because I am doing something I really try to stay away from on the blog- rambling. Sorry. I'm sure this was painful to read. On the bright side, I'm going to eat some Frosted Flakes& painkillers :) I hope that you have a fabulous Thursday evening! I'll try to post at some point tomorrow but you may not hear from me until after Saturday. Unless my secret is ready before then ..

Shot my dog

Linking up with;
Show Off Shot, LEM, Tip Tuesday , Creative Exchange, Happiness is& Snap& Share!

 
Not literally .. with my camera, silly folks!
The blog world hasn't seen this photo yet. Shockingly, it's of my dog. I know. You're all falling off your seats not believing that me, this blogger right here, took a photo of her dog. This is supposed to be my favorite photo of the week. Oddly, this week, I didn't take too many photos at all of anything.

I shot this in my light box in about 2 seconds. Thanks, boyfriend for building me that (you are amazing:)! If you're wondering why his face is dark? He HATES being photographed. I was snapping like crazy& he was trying to walk out of the light the entire time. Jerk. My camera settings were ..I have no idea. f4.6 .. 1/60 andd ISO 100. I think that's right. I edited it supremely quickly in Photoshop while saying 'This is cute but it's not like it'll ever make it to the blog.' Looks like I was lying to myself.
He is still wonderful and probably the most awesome thing in my bedroom right now. Especially since I'm not down there so he's really only competing with stuffed animals. Not hard to be a winner there, Squirty. Without further ado, I present to you, my dog.

Hilarity ensues..

My dog either hates me or feels bad for me because he thinks I'm certifiably insane. No, seriously. The photo challenge for yesterday was You with 13 Things. Uhh ..yeah, okay. 13 is a big number. So I'll give you guys the whole layout. I took my tripod, camera& dog downstairs to my room, where all my self portraits happen. I had no idea what to use. So I started gathering things haphazardly. I have labeled the following photo. Read on to see what each item is!

1. Dog I painted in grade 8. Yes, I framed it.
2. Giant giraffe my mom got me for Easter years ago ..she knows me well!
3. My Rumple bear!
4. Mirrors in the shapes of circles.
5. Yup. That's a nutcracker.
6. It's a diffuser for my curls.
7. Baby Converse shoes I used to wear when I had tiny feet!
8. A yoga mat.

So where are 9, 10, 11, 12& 13? Oh. They arrive in my following photo. This photo, I think, accurately represents how most of my self-portrait photos go.  Please tell me other people have the same problems? It also explains why perhaps my dog thinks I should be committed and never, ever released to torture him again!

I added my dog (yes, I made him wear the shoes. I am a cruel, heartless momma), a guitar (I look awkward even holding it), a photo album, my eReader& some flowers. You can see me sitting on the bed caused everything to tumble. The giraffe was caught mid-fall in this photo. The nutcracker, yoga mat& diffuser have disappeared and the dog looks seriously concerned about the whole thing! Good dog for staying inside the shoes though. I still can't believe sometimes the things I attempt. I'm counting this as my actual photo because, let's be honest, there ARE 13 things in there. You just can't see them all!

So my next photo prompt was Eyes. If you know me, you know eyes make me want to vomit. So, uh, what is a girl to do?! Abstract time. I was bored with trying to get a good photo after my failed attempts at 13 Things so, of course, I got mad and took a crappy photo for eyes. I readily admit that at this point just completing these themes on time& getting them to the blog is such an accomplishment that the quality of them isn't concerning me so much ;) Mostly I'm kidding but I'm still feeling sick& sluggish so for today it was a true thought. Moral of the story? I got it done. I am a machine. What day am I on again?! I just keep looking up the theme& forget to look at the day. It might be 14 maybe ..is that why yesterday I had to include 13 things in my photo? That would make sense, right?

Obviously I am a goddess with the camera. If you ever questioned it before, I am certain today's post has solidified it in everyone's minds. Don't kid ..you wish you had my skill! Abstract is my friend. Mostly because I don't really know what an abstract photo is so I take shitty photos& label them 'abstract' which instantly means that I can have my very own art show.

The photo coming up really doesn't have much to do with anything other than it seriously cracks me up. Especially when you consider that the dog was still putting up with me by this point. Everything about it makes me laugh out loud. I think it clearly shows that I am well on my way to becoming a superstar in the world of photography. I mean ..who doesn't want a shot like this of themselves& their pet hanging on their wall?!

AM I RIGHT?!

PS linked up with- 52 Weeks of Happiness, Simplicity, Communal Global, Project Alicia& snapped!