Diggety Dog

We got some snow last night. The baby of my menagerie didn't like all of his sticks being buried, so he spent some time getting them uncovered. They're all in my den right now.

Young fans

These girls were super serious in preparing their "war paint" for the big game.

Happy little accident

My newest assignment is to capture depth of focus using aperture (don't I sound like I know what I'm talking about?!). I'm still thinking on what I'm going to do, but this is a picture from last week that didn't quite make the cut, yet I loved how the trees framed the picture. I'll admit I was totally going for the fountain, but this sort of leads in to depth of focus. Now for ideas for this week...

And the assignment for the week

I learned about shutter speed and ISO in week 2 and my assignment was to take a picture showing motion, using these settings. First, can I tell you how excited I am that I'm even talking about shutter speed and ISO? I'm sure when I put my camera on a semi-manual setting it was thinking, "What's going on here?"

While I didn't end up with as many pictures that were in the running this week, I did end up with 3-5 that I liked enough to consider, but finally decided on this one. I knew I wanted to experiment with water and I love how the droplets look at the top of this fountain. Runners up will follow in the days to come.

Another homework assignment picture

This week's assignment is to work with shutter speed, but before I go experimenting, I wanted to post this picture from last week. I just kind of like it.

And the winner is...

I went with this shot for my class assignment that was due today. I think it's a good close up and (hopefully) incorporates some of the things we learned in our 1st class. I guess I'll get feedback tomorrow night. This was more nerve wracking than I expected it to be.

**update: My instructor had nothing but good things to say about this picture! From the subject, the angle, the way her hair framed her face & the closeness of it, he said it was a great shot. Very excited! **

Reflecting

Today is my daughter's 13th birthday. It's also my husband's 41st birthday, so Happy Birthday to them both! We went out and took some pictures today. I thought this one turned out really cool.

Another birthday story...

Eight years ago I thought it might be fun to take my then 5 year old to the pet store to look at the puppies. We both fell in love with a long haired dachshund, who seemed to love us too. After convincing my husband that a 3rd dog would be a great addition to the family, not to mention this would be a dog for my daughter, we brought this little weenie into our home and named him Bosco (think Seinfeld for die hard fans).

This just happened to be the year that I tried to be a stay at home mom for a while (not for me!) and with all the time we spent together, Bosco became a Momma's boy. He's totally faithful to his Momma and stays by my side as much as possible.   Happy 8th birthday, Bosco!

It's also fun to think about how much convincing it took to get my husband to agree to have THREE dogs. We now have six.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BITSY & ELVIS!

Six years ago today, a creature was born that was half Capuchin monkey and half Gremlin. She was labeled "Pekingese" and brought to a place in Hot Springs called "Puppy Love".  My mother-in-law just happened to be keeping my daughter a few months later and went to said store. Of course, we had to make a trip as well and the rest was history.
Happy Birthday to the sweetest baby you'll ever meet. You're a sweet little Monkey, Bitsy, plus you share a birthday with... the KING!

(Elvis pic courtesy of www.8note.com)


And yes... that's how smart my dog is. She reads my blog too. Why else would I be wishing a dog Happy Birthday? DUH!