52 Weeks of Misty 2015: 4/52 - "I want a refund..."

This was my submission last week:

"Misty was in bad need of a haircut and no amount of brushing was going to get all the tangles out. Due to her age and to minimize any undue stress, we stopped taking her to the groomer. Armed with a new clipper, I went a little "Edward Scissorhands" on her--ok, so it's not the prettiest haircut, but all the knots and tangles are gone and she's not scratching anymore...mission accomplished in my book!"

4/52 - "I want a refund..."

Cutting Misty's hair wasn't so easy and it turned out uneven in some spots, but I really liked using the new clipper. I think I'll write up a little review of it in a separate post.

Veggies & Fruits: Chestnuts

I picked up these chestnuts at the farmer's market last week and they immediately brought back memories of childhood. Gosh, I can't remember the last time I've had these...must've been over 10 years ago, at least! It was always a treat when Mom used to make them for us during cold winter and the chestnuts always tasted so warm and delicious. Nostalgia aside, photographing them was not as easy as I envisioned. Their teardrop shape made them hard to manipulate and position, and I struggled to come up with any interesting arrangement. Then, I decided to try adding in some leaves and that seemed to do the trick. I'm pretty happy with how these pictures turned out and I think they're quite fitting for the winter season.

On a side note, cooking the chestnuts after the photoshoot did not go as well. After doing some internet search, we were excited to try roasting them in the oven, but they were impossible to peel afterwards. We kept cooking them longer thinking that would help, but after over an hour, we just gave up. I know my mom used to cook them by boiling in water and maybe that's what I should've done...very disappointing and a huge waste! Sad...

52 Weeks of Misty 2015: 3/52 - Calm

Still playing catch up...this was my submission to 52 Weeks for Dogs last week:

3/52 - Calm

The crazy restless energy mentioned in the last post has finally subsided when the sun returned at the end of the week, and calmness was restored...

1.16.2015: Look what you've done!

It's been a long week of cold, dark and rainy weather and all of us were starting to go a bit crazy with restless energy, and finally an accident happens to top it all off...thankfully, no major injuries to report.

The guilty look afterwards

We got this baby gate last summer when Misty had her back injury and we needed an additional gate to limit her movements around the house. Although it was a bit of a stretch for our extra wide entryway, we made it work with some wooden spacers. Normally it's quite sturdy, but clearly not if you have 2 large dogs trying to pass through it at the same time, at a full speed. I really would rather not put any holes into the door frame, but we may be headed in that direction...

52 Weeks/12 Months: January - Hello!

On my last post, I mentioned that I was in the process of searching for a new photo project to do with my dogs, and I found couple of Flickr groups that were perfect for us: 52 Weeks for Dogs (Misty) and 12 Months for Dogs (Jasper, Misty & Jasper). I was a bit late in my search and these groups had already commenced for the year, but luckily I was still able to join. So, like a proud mom on the first day of school, I got the dogs all signed up and did this "Hello my name is..." photoshoot as an introduction piece.

Misty: 52 Weeks for Dogs 2015 - 2/52

Jasper: 12 Months for Dogs 2015 - 1/12

Misty & Jasper: 12 Months for Dogs 2015

1.8.2015: A New Photo Project

With the start of the new year, I been thinking about and searching for some new photo project ideas to keep me engaged in my photography. I would like to continue taking photos of my dogs and I'm currently looking into signing up for a project. I've also been thinking that I'd like to branch out and try some different subject matters. Then, while grocery shopping for the New Year brunch last week, an idea came to me to maybe try food photography. I saw this most vibrant bunch of radishes and I had to get it even though we don't usually eat radishes. But, of course I procrastinated and by the time I got around to it, it was a sad wilting bunch. Still determined to making it work, I proceeded to cut off all the stems and gave it a shot...and a lot of post processing. If I do continue with this project, I think the radishes definitely deserve another chance to shine.

Curious Misty...

Happy 2015!

It's the first day of 2015! I've spent the last few days of 2014 reflecting back on the year and trying to prepare ahead for the new year. There's a lot to be done and a lot I wish to accomplish. It's always exciting to feel like you're starting with a blank slate at the beginning of each year and I'm trying to start off on a good note. So, today was spent doing a lot of cleaning and planning...and of course carving out some time for the "New Year Mugshot" photo session, which has now become a mini tradition in our house. You can see the full collection of all the previous years in the previous post.

Happy New Year!

New Year Mugshots

Here's the collection all the shots from the past 5 years. It's been a wonderful way to start off each new year's day and hopefully we can keep the tradition going.