Photo 365 Project

Was shooting a story and then noticed this 6 inches from my face…

He won, I had to go to work!

Sooo, I had a brilliant idea after I pulled my sister in law’s name from a hat for our annual Christmas gift exchange.  I was going to professionally photograph their dog! And make cards! Yeah!

Ummm, NO.

I’ll spare you the slapstick routine that was a good part of an hour with this dog in front of my studio.  And despite the valiant effort from my parents literally using all of their might to hold this beast in front of a backdrop…  It.  Did.  Not.  Work.

At all.

And by that, I mean the photos look blurry and horrifying…as if he was a prisoner after being water-boarded.  Except the water was saliva because he drools.  Anyway… we let him outside to get it out of his system (doggie therapist anyone?)  And these ended up the best shots of the day…you can’t contain a beast.

Bought a new lens for a wedding I have this weekend! (Yep, I celebrate someone else’s big day by buying myself something…class!)

Anyway, was running around town shooting random things:

Just a quick check-in tonight.  I am in DC and have a few shoots planned.  This is a quick shot of my friend’s dog, as we were discussing how to light subjects.  A real simple tip? The LAST place a flash should be is on your camera.  Create a more dynamic image by using a radio popper or pocket wizard to take it off and direct it from an angle.  Here is one example (light is on camera right — about a foot above the dog’s head)

Oops! I did it again…

I changed up my blog! Sorry for the schizophrenic move, but I HAD to.  The photos on the last blog were too small, and the photos on the blog before that, stretched in a weird way.  Hopefully this blog has the best of both worlds…big pictures and no stretch.

This was one of those “grab a camera and start shooting” shots.  Need a tripod for these sorts of things…

…I just work here.  Saw this guy hanging out on a window ledge right in front of my car as I left work.  I have no idea why he would be there and not nestled in one of the thousands of trees everywhere.

♥ For clients who want to save money on photo albums, do it yourself with Shutterfly.  They’re on the thin side, but if you don’t care about keeping it for a hundred years and need something to showcase an event…the books are a good deal!

I encounter some interesting things on my weekly drives from CT to CNY and back to CT.  More often than not, I’m lamenting about how I drove by a good photo-op but didn’t have time to stop the car and snap the shutter.  This time was different.  (Cue the screeching tire sound effects, car door opening, hurried footsteps…)

I saw this little guy in the middle of the road along the Mass Turnpike.  Just sitting there.  Staring.  Contemplating.  I thought he might be injured because his left foot was oddly tucked under his body.

What ensued was a 5 minute exchange of pure insanity.  Envision me (crazy human) talking to him (subdued turtle) in the middle of the Mass Turnpike…it mirrored that of a human trying to get a dog to do a trick.

Me (swaying my arms back and forth in the air): “Come on boy, c’mon! Move along!”

Him: Blank stare.  Crickets.

This honestly went on for what seemed like forever, until I thought maybe I had something in the car that I could use to pick him up.  (Visualize light bulb over my head) I thought if I could wrap a towel around him then I could shuttle him off to safety (in my head this seemed perfectly logical).  Of course as soon as I sprint back to the car the guy TAKES OFF running.  Yes, they can move quickly.  So while I was “problem solving” and yelling at this poor turtle to move, he was, in all likelihood…waiting for the insane biped to leave him alone so he could be on his way.