New Feature: FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE (FOTP)

As many of you know by now, my girl She-Ra {Princess of Power!} has developed an immune deficiency disorder.  While it is mostly under control thanks to medication, we discovered a new infection a few nights ago in one of her front paws.  Ordinarily, this would not be a big deal - and it still may not be - but for the moment we have to investigate if this is a sign of a bigger problem.  I called and left a message with a tech at the Nashville Vet Specialists, asking for our Dr. Wang to call me at work to let me know if I needed to bring She-Ra in.  NVS had taken in some of the dogs rescued in Operation Sweethearts, so I didn't want to pester the vet unnecessarily.  At the end of my work day, I still had not heard anything, so I called back.  Turns out that Dr. Wang had indeed called. Now I RARELY leave my desk.  Apparently she literally called in the two minutes I was not at my desk to answer my phone, so a co-worker answered.  And said that there was no one in the office by that name.  Dr. Wang had asked for me using my boyfriend's last name.  Boyfriend and I have been together for 6 years, so when they call me Mrs. S at the vet, I don't think twice.  It happens all the time.  It never crossed my mind that calling me by his last name would make me miss a message.  It never crossed my mind that I wouldn't be at my desk to answer the phone!  So at that point, it was too late to drive all the way back home (1 hour) to pick She-Ra up, and then to drive her back in to see Dr. Wang (another hour).  Dr. Wang suggested I try to get She-Ra to my local vet.  Which closes at 5PM.  It was 3:45, I had an hour drive to the house, and then I had to get to the local vet.  Sheesh.  My extremely understanding boss let me bolt, and I hit the highway.  And hit traffic.  And got stuck behind a semi.  And I tried not to cry.

Are you wondering about my "focus on the positive" yet??

It was when I got stuck behind the semi that I tried to force myself to calm down and take a deep breath.  I do honestly believe that all things happen for a reason, so I repeated that outloud a few times, and then turned on the radio.  I switched it to WAY FM, a contemporary Christian radio station.  The band Red greated me with their song "Not Alone."  And at that point I smiled.  It's a song that has - no joke - been on each time I've had to drive She-Ra to/from the vet.  And here it was again.  A few minutes later the local vet called to let me know that they had a sister clinic that was open until 7PM, and that our local DVM happened to be there that night.  I'm not making this stuff up, folks. 

So there's my FOTP point for this entry: I am not alone.  You are not alone. 

For some people, this is a cop-out that Christians use when people are going through a rough time..."God is with you" sometimes just doesn't mean anything to a person in the midst of hurt.  I can only say that yesterday, it brought me back to a place where I was ok.  Where I was reminded that I am not, in fact, alone.  I have friends and family who have been supporting us along the way (a friend kept my other two dogs while I took She-Ra to the vet, so they didn't have to spend 18 hours alone), and I have a God who notices me sitting in traffic stressing about a dog....

....my beautiful dog, if I do say so myself :)

"I am with you.  I will carry you through it all...I won't leave you, I will catch you.  When you feel like letting go, you are not, you're not alone..."

~ God, via Red

Cutest. Baby. Ever.

So baby Farryn was one of my first shoots of a non-family member.  She may possibly remain my favorite (non-family member) of all time.  She doesn't stop smiling.  She is BEAUTIFUL.  She is so loving, and she has some super cool parents who stay cool when I freak out about her moving close to the edge of the bed (how do parents DO IT?!).  Farryn's mom wanted some pictures to share with family who live on the other side of the country, as F is getting ready to turn 1, and she wanted some in a gorgeous vintage outfit sent by F's aunt.  As it was 23 degrees outside, we opted for some indoor shots.  As you'll notice, we couldn't help but get ALL the family members involved ;).

Quality mother/daughter time

Happy Girl!

 Showing those teeth!  I was trying to catch those ALL morning!

Isn't this dress gorgeous?!  Sent by her loving aunt!

Quite possibly my new favorite picture...I mean really...you can't fake that kind of enthusiasm!

This is where I started to freak out...slow down!!  There's a cliff at the end!!  (Mom and Dad just laughed at me, and as it turns out, Farryn did NOT take a dive) 

I am in love with the following pictures of Farryn with Delilah - one of the family's dogs (I couldn't quite catch the other until the end, in the family shot).  Soooo sweet!

Oh this gorgeous baby...

 

Let my dog out!

(Although there are a few pictures with Delilah out of reach, Farryn and Delilah actually spend a great deal of quality time together...I love dogs and their babies!)

And finally, one big family shot:

 Can you believe it?!  All looking in the same direction?!  This is such a great family, and I can't wait to take more of their pictures!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Several weeks ago I was able to finish up some pictures I had taken of my friends T&D.  I figure today is an appropriate day to finally post the rest of their pictures, as they are happy in love, and happily awaiting the arrival of their first baby (a boy!).  I'll start off with a "before and after"....before they found out they were pregnant (they just wanted some pictures of their new pup!), and now while pregnant (look how big the puppy is!) - I knew I wanted to photograph a series like this as soon as I found out she was expecting!  Our next session will hopefully have some baby feet added!

Here are a few others of the family...

Isn't she just gorgeous??


As for my Valentine's Day, I came home to a super fun surprise from two of my neighbors (both neighbors were kind enough to think of me today - I have apparently failed at being a good neighbor!!): two cards pups (I think you know by now how much we love ours!), some chocolate and some homemade doggie treats!

I'm so lucky!!  

Project 52 Week 6 ~ Linear

I'm going to join the ranks of the bloggers who say they're way behind.  Because I am.  Another weekend gone, with not enough time to write all I want to write, or show the pictures I'd like to show.  Really, I'm not sure if I'd be writing at all, if it weren't for the Project 52.  There's such an amazing community of photographers (not pro to pro) participating, and I don't want to miss a thing!  This week's themes were Linear and Topsy Turvey (chaos)...I thought chaos would be a piece of cake, since I feel like everything about me is in chaos right now!!  


(A beautiful chaos, but chaos nonetheless)


As it turns out, I just didn't have (find?) the time to capture my chaos, but I did take a picture of my amaryllis...remember the plant I was trying not to kill?  Well I haven't!!  I will not see a bloom this season, but I have leaves.  Bright, beautiful, tall and alive leaves.  I'm pretty excited :)

I will be making a concerted effort this week to share some more pictures that I have taken recently...yes, some more of the dogs, but some more baby bump pictures, and some of the most precious almost-one-year-old little girl!  Also, I've entered into the world of shooting RAW.  Not a big deal for the experienced, but a big deal for me!  Shooting in RAW allows the camera to capture ALL of the light data, and therefore allows for greater manipulation in processing/editing.  Add this to my first complete shoot in manual mode, and I'm feeling pretty good.  Well, I'm feeling pretty terrified, and overwhelmed, but excited and motivated...I need more time!  

Project 52 and Some Great News...

This week's theme included putting ourselves (the photographer) in the picture - too often we hide behind our cameras!  I had been trying to think of how I'd like to pull that off, when I snapped this picture:

My oldest dog (4 years old, a female named She-Ra {Princess of Power}) has recently been diagnosed with a frightening condition called Evans Syndrome - the short explanation is that her immune system attacks its own red blood cells and platelets.  After two blood transfusions and a ton of ongoing medication, we received word yesterday that her red blood cell level had returned to normal (slightly better than!)!!  This was the picture I sent to my boyfriend to let him know the good news :).


So although this picture didn't really test my photographic skills, and "editing" was merely the push of the "Earlybird" filter in my Instagram app, it is a picture that holds a whole heck of a lot of happiness for me...

A New Lens!

This past Thursday my new lens came in...it's a 50mm f/1.8.  I've read of so many photographers who have a similar lens, and how much they love it, and finally I couldn't take it anymore.

Now, first let me say, I love my zoom (75-300mm).  I use it all the time, because it lets me put some distance between the scary camera and nervous little kiddos, and I have so many options, near and far.  I feel less invasive in family space. Plus, I'm just plain comfortable with it.


That being said, I now know why others love a 50. I can take much closer shots with greater depth-of-field that help blur out the messy background - or create beautifully blended backdrops....and in not-so-ideal lighting conditions (I did that with my zoom, I just had to be so far away!).  And WOW are the pictures crisp.  Today has been the first day that I could really spend playing with the Nifty Fifty, and as you might expect, the dogs were my subjects.  Tomorrow I'm taking pictures of real people :).  Thank goodness they're my friends, because I need time to work with both lenses, to see if I will develop a new favorite!  So although I usually reserve the dog pictures for the Dog Page, they've been upgraded to the main page today...

Lighting in my house is terrible - this picture would not have been possible with my other lenses.

New favorite of this guy....

Again, an indoor shot that my other lenses just didn't allow enough light for...this is where they sit and wait for someone to come in the door :)

And this was my submission for Week 4 of Paint the Moon's Project 52...the theme was "unexpected perspective" and while plenty of people take pictures from above their dogs, I usually don't.  So today I teetered on a stool to get those shots of the dogs looking up, and here's my favorite of one of my girls:

Project 52 - Week 3 + A Baby Bump!

This week I was fortunate to have the opportunity to photograph some friends of mine - they are expecting their first child (a boy!) in early March.  It has been cold and dreary, but we finally found a nice evening to get some shots.  We will be going out for some more shots next week!

The Project 52 themes this week are "everyday tools" and "white/negative space."  My favorite of the couple happens to fit the "white space" theme (ok, they all fit the theme, but as I stated, this was my favorite!):