On Wednesday we woke up to 2.5 inches of frozen, crusty snow, and a gale wind that whipped both trees and snow around like a carnival ride. 

We had had no internet overnight and into the morning, so when it came back on I decided I might get this blog done, just in case future wind and climate issues took the connection away again.

We could call this story "Party on the Patio."

We have a local hotel that often has "party on the patio" themed nights, but this party is WAAAAY different.  Instead of offering a cash bar, we offer a seed bar that tends to attract locals.

When the weather is too cold for words, putting seed in protected places  often makes it easier for guests to stay out of the wind while enjoying their selections.

Word gets out fast.

Pretty soon there are lines forming.

Humans are not invited to this shindig.  We are mere servers who just need to keep the supplies refilled when necessary.

Juncos, titmice, chickadees, phoebes, downy woodpeckers, jays and squirrels are the typical customers

Bar peanuts are always a favorite.

Some dine alone and some dine in small groups.

Make no mistake, there are some swingers in the crowd.

And every once in a while, some cat who made the mistake of thinking it was Spring again and ran out of the house, even though we gave him our best advice on NOT doing that, crashes the party and decides he wants back in immediately.

Whether you tell your story with a series of photos (as done here with one theme), or one single photo, I hope you have a storied weekend, and that you will head to the blog circle to see more interpretations of this week's theme.  Start with Jackie Petersen Pet Photography, serving pet lovers in Northern Utah.  Jackie is a new blogger with the group, so welcome!

Side note:  This blog is dedicated to my Mom, Celia Mueller, who passed away on Thursday, January 9th.  She constantly encouraged her children to be who they wanted to be and do what they loved.  Thanks Mom.

I heard a conversation at the grocery store the other day.  A woman was asking the clerk if he said twenty twenty or two thousand twenty.  He replied that he hadn't really thought about it, but he would probably stick with twenty twenty.

I have caught myself using both.  How about you?  What will you use?

Regardless of how you decide to approach the number of the year, there are a few things I have decided to do with my year, seeing as how it is in fact a new one...a clean slate.

I have decided to get up and greet each day with thankfulness and purpose.

Even if the road is rocky.

Even if the sun isn't shining.

I have decided to celebrate more.

And worry less.

And make sure there are always balloons full of wishes, even if some of them don't hold up, pop, or their colors fade away.

I have decided to rest when needed.

Because life isn't all about work.

Because clear minds come from peace and quiet.

And I have decided to let the squirrels eat the birdseed.

Because every single day for them is a clean slate, and they forget where they put yesterday's stash when they last robbed the feeders.

Keep your fingers crossed that I can follow this plan.  I will let you know how it goes.

If you haven't already guessed, this week's blog theme is "clean slate."  To read more interpretations of the theme, click on the following link for Jo Lyons Photography, the down-to-earth dog loving photographer for cherished dogs of the Great Lakes NSW, then look for the link at the end of each blog post to get to the next one in the circle.  We have quite a number of photographers posting today, some for the first time!  Welcome to all new photogs! 

Enjoy your weekend.  Hopefully something good is on your slate!

As another 52 weeks of blog posts come to a close, I want to thank all of my fellow photographers for giving me great moments to enjoy, different perspectives to think about and loads of informative posts.

To wrap up the year, I just want to share some of my favorite photos from 2019. First, here's a collage of some of my favorite studio pet portraits.

The Goldens and Labs are tied for the number of dogs in each breed to visit the studio, and while I did not feature every photo (I had plenty more) that fell into my "favorites" category, the ones I selected are the same photos selected by their pet parents.

In the people category, some of my favorites included:

I decided to poll Instagram to see what my top 9 photos were for the year.  These 9 photos received the most likes during 2019 on that account.  I do not always post the same photos to my Instagram account that I post to my blog, so you may see some variance.

And, there you have it.  That's a wrap!

I want to thank all of my clients, who make me smile all the time.  Thank you for trusting me with your very special fur babies, thank you for counting on me for that very special head shot or senior portrait.  I hope you all had a great holiday, whatever you celebrate, and Happy New Year!

To see the end of 2019 posts from the rest of the blog circle, start here with Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography fetching portraits in Coppell and surrounding communities in the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex.

I have been flitting in and out of the blog based on my schedule and other life events.  Turns out I had some spare time this week to participate.  The subject is outtakes, and yes, it IS all one word, but we submit our blog titles to a group page on Wednesday night and at that time, I submitted through my cell phone...never looking up the proper spelling of the word.  It's one of those words that I stumble upon spelling-wise, and I was either too busy or too lazy (you can pick one) to get back and change my original submission.

That aside, I am using some past outtakes as part of the blog. 

This first one is pretty obvious.  If someone comes to the studio with their kitty, they are not necessarily looking for a photo of their feline hiding behind light stands.  I like to let kitties get acclimated to their surroundings prior to using any lights, and this kitty investigated and hid behind them for a while.  I snapped a photo of her I knew I would not use, but thought it was a good way to show others that cats can wander around at will in the studio.

She eventually did come out and posed with her Mom for one photo and with a flower for another.  So it all worked out in the end, and this outtake is still part of my archives.

Sometimes it's a little harder to decide what is and isn't an outtake.  I'll bet looking at these two photos, you might think the one on the left could also have been used as part of the final selections.  But I did not choose it.

Naturally, I would edit out the leash, and clean up the photo (the photo on the left is straight out of camera [SOOC] with a lighting adjustment and small color saturation adjustment), but there were two things I didn't like about this particular shot:  (1) the area around the head, ear, and eye on the left side (camera right on the dog) is a bit blurry, probably caused by slight movement in the subject; and (2) I thought that lighting needed to be adjusted at the time, and reset the studio lights.

I also thought the head tilt and tail position were cuter in the photo on the right, the image was sharper overall, and the lighting adjustment added some shadow to the body and opened up the lighting on the head.

I actually competed this image and it did very well, winning a blue ribbon, being featured in the NPPPA Court of Honor, and meriting at 84.

My final image is somewhat infamous. 

While doing senior photos of a subject and her horse, I snapped a quick photo of the horse giving her a head hug.  This was not the look we were going for, but we had a really good laugh that day viewing the image on the back of the camera, and I sent it to her because it was funny.

Her uncle featured it on his Facebook page, and it became a very well-liked photo.  I do sometimes send outtakes to clients, especially when we are having fun, and something does not go as expected.  Below is really what I was looking for in this type of photo.

So there you have it!  A quick example of some outtakes.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone else's in the blog circle this week.  If you are too, just start here with  Pawparazzi Pet and Animal Photography presented by Shae Pepper Photography, and then look for the link at the bottom of each succeeding blog's page for your next read, until you find yourself back here.  Have a great rest of your weekend!  TAKE some time OUT to kick back and relax!

I am not going to star in an infomercial, or be an advocate for any particular brand of light at any time in this blog post. 

I am just going to show you what I use in the studio, have become very familiar with, and have grown to love.

My Godox RS600p Strobe is my primary, go-to light.  It is portable and has an outdoor battery pack, which means I can also use it outside.

It makes life easier for me on many days.

I used this light as my primary in every single indoor shoot this past year, and in a few outdoor senior sessions on very gloomy days.

This week, I expect to be finished with all of the Christmas and Holiday card photo sessions.  All orders will have been placed and most will have been delivered.  Because Thanksgiving was so close to the end of the month this year, I am behind in my own work, including my own Christmas cards.

So tonight I tackled a session with Lilah in the studio, using the two sources of light I have come to rely on.  Below is the second.

This is a Yongnuo 568EX 4 Channel Flash, which I use off camera with many different types of modifiers.  For this session, I used a white shoot through umbrella.  (This technical stuff is for the photographers in the crowd, but for those of you who may not be well-versed in the lingo, just think "off camera flash."  What kind doesn't matter right now.)

I am going to show you some out takes from the session using the Godox as my primary light and the Yongnuo as my secondary light. They are out takes, because I am not dressed for holiday photos, and Lilah had her own plans for "helping" me out.

I normally sit in the scene and take a test shot with a remote trigger to get a feel for the light.  Even though I have used a light meter most times, you never know the nuances of that light until you shoot.  Lilah's plan was to sit with me and see if she could smell my head.  Main light is camera left.  Secondary light is camera right.

I shoot with a Nikon D800, so I set my camera in Commander Mode and it takes care of making sure all of the lights flash when they should.  It took me loads of research, four classes and many hours of trials to sync my camera and my lights correctly, and to understand the settings.  Even after all of that, there is still much to learn.

Lilah is such a help, isn't she?  I was not letting her smell my head just yet.  I took a few of these test shots, then got up and checked the camera to see the lighting.  I only tweaked it a little, then sat back down with my remote and took the photo below.

It's no secret that my granddaughter called Lilah "La La" until she was almost 5 years old.  We often call Lilah "La La" now, so it seemed appropriate for Fa La La to appear behind her.  I wanted this image to be fun, so I brought up the power in the secondary light a bit.  Lilah did finally get her wish to smell my head.  It's a favorite pastime, especially when we come from someplace where she hasn't been.  I wonder if our hair holds the scent of all the places we have been?  Or maybe it's the closest thing to fur that we have, so it's familiar.

I am not going to show you what I decided on, ultimately, for the final Lilah Christmas image, in today's blog.  BOO, right?  But I will feature it on my Facebook business page the week between Christmas and New Years Day. So tune in to see how it all turned out!

In the spirit of "I've shown you my lights, now you show me yours," there should be lots more "light" interpretations in today's blog circle.  Start with Angela Schneider of Noses & Toes Pet Photography in Spokane and North Idaho.  And whatever holiday you celebrate, let there be light!

Writing this blog on Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for many things.  I feel very lucky to live in an area surrounded by parks, where I can take my dog and enjoy the day.  This is an older photo of Danny and I at a local park.  It is one of those rare photos, where I set up the camera and my husband was able to just push the button and get the shot relatively well. 

I like to snap photos in the park, no matter the weather, and walking is one of my best worlds.

Whether a winter walk in the snow, or a summer walk watching dogs lazily enjoying the grass, as the pup in the photo above, parks afford us the opportunity to get back in touch with nature.  We have approximately four parks close to my rural home.  Each of them have their own things to offer, from fishing off docks to kayaking in a pond, to simply enjoying a quiet walk with a dog.

I often cover events held at local parks, or sometimes even set up a booth at events to snap quick, mini session photos of dogs and their people.

If I travel a few hours, I can reach a horse park.  On a hot summer day, sitting under a tree with a cold drink, I can enjoy and snap some shots of dressage participants.

You never know just what you will find at our local parks and natural hot spots.

So I count parks among my blessings, along with the clients who have their own favorite park spots where they choose to have their pets photographed. 

And, I count stumbling upon the "here's something you don't see everyday folks" as a special joy in park hopping!

I would encourage each and every one of you to get out there and find the natural environments and parks near you.  No matter the weather, breathing fresh air and enjoying what mother nature has in store for us, is a grand thing!

I hope you've had a great Thanksgiving!

For more about PARKS, which is the theme this week, start the blog circle run with Angela Schneider of Noses & Toes Pet Photography, celebrating dog lovers in Spokane and North Idaho, and have a great rest of your weekend!

This week's topic is natural light, and usually I will skip joining the blog circle if the topic is one that is repetitive, but even though I have touched on this very subject in the past, I have learned so much more than the last time I wrote about it.   I decided to join in and talk a bit about how continuing education has helped me to look at natural light a little more to my advantage.

Some of the elements of natural light are clouds, sun and time of day.  Based on climate and weather, there are a gazillion combinations of clouds and sun and time of day. 

You would think that if you just get your subject in some sunshine, enough to light them, then VOILA! you will have a great photograph.  Nope.  So then clouds must be the key.  Put that subject in the shade or wait for it to be cloudy, and there you have it, a very viable photograph.  Nope again.

Bright sunshine throws harsh shadows and clouds tend to make for flat lighting.  Oy vey!

Sure you can change those camera settings, but if you haven't leaned to USE your light properly, you can dial up all the camera settings in the world and it won't help you.

What is a photographer to do?

For me, personally, learning to photograph properly with studio lighting and off camera flash has completely changed how I photograph in natural light (no flash at all).  Lighting my subjects in studio has taught me good and bad lighting, soft and hard shadowing and the importance to using lighting and shadow to create a pleasant photograph.

Here is a photograph of an English Setter enjoying some sunshine.

There are both clouds and sun, and the slight shade of a tree in this picture.  This photo would have been easier if the dog were in the shade, but the story wouldn't be the same.  If we were in the studio, we would be looking to highlight the profile of this dog, and balancing that out with some easy shadow, so why not also do that with natural light?

Since taking quite a number of sessions, classes and courses about "finding the right light," I can more readily identify the spot in a scene where the subject might do best.

Below is my own dog, Lilah, hanging over the couch looking out a window.  Again, nothing but natural window light here, and it is reflecting off snow.  I have used this photo once before to illustrate a different point.  Here I use indoor shade counterbalanced against outdoor bright white light.  And yes, there was a reflector involved.  But what does a reflector do?  It reflects the bright light onto the subject, so I manipulated the natural light.

This is actually one of my favorite photos of Lilah, because she loves to watch the birds and squirrels out of this window, which overlooks the patio.  She was so intent on this day, I could have drug an entire army of lighting out and she would not have moved, but I didn't want to take the chance of losing the photo.  So one small reflector was enough.

Finally, I have one recent (just a day ago) photo illustrating how useful finding the right spot on a very cloudy day can be.  Especially when you have set up an outside scene for Christmas and holiday photos, and the sun is not cooperating.

I walked the entire area around my studio for three cloudy days watching the light funnels before I set up this scene.  I cannot use a single light with this dog, because she is very afraid of them.  Since I never want her to be uncomfortable, I had to find a spot that would work to give me enough light to light her coat, showing its nuances, as well as her beautiful eyes.

The light is funneling in from my left (her right) where there is a large opening with no trees, but the scene is set somewhat into the wooded area on my right (her left) to allow for natural shadowing.  I love this photo of her because she is a rescue and has come a very long way, and her Mom has been a client since she came into her life, so I have been able to see her progress.

So, clouds or sun, if you become more aware of finding the light that will be the most flattering to your subject, or that will help you tell a story, you will ultimately have a great photo!  I can highly recommend taking some studio lighting classes if you have photographed in only natural light.  I look forward to taking more, because we never stop learning, and I love working with light!

I can't wait to see what others in the circle have come up with this week.  Have a great weekend, and start your blog journey with Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography fetching portraits in Coppell and surrounding communities in the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex.

As you can probably tell, I had a little fun with this week's theme.

Film Noir photography is typically black and white, dark, and plays up the shadows, sometimes severely.  I decided to take a few of my past kitten images and convert them to the genre.  I honestly did not take the shadowing to extremes, but in the future I'd like to shoot with Film Noir in mind and grab those shadows from the get go. Instead, I used a grunge overlay for the first image.

Besides the play on light, Film Noir images can showcase textures, grunge or texture overlays, and often tell a story.  Many of these type of images remind me of the lead in trailers for old movies.

Cue voice over: 
"How did the kittens get on the case?" 
"Is the case in danger?" 
"Are the kittens in danger?"
"Will the kittens escape the case?" 

Tune in for the riveting story of four kittens trapped on a case!

Yes, I had some fun putting this week's images together, including the final image.

How about a dog on the lam?  Third boxcar, midnight train? 
Originally a photo of a pup against a black background, I added in a stock photo of a train station at night and played with the lighting on the pup.  I was tempted to put a single street lamp next to him, but decided against it in the end, leaving the image a bit shadowy.  You get to think up the title to this mysterious case.

Film Noir is an interesting genre.  Enjoy more Film Noir moments in today's blog circle.  Start with Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati, the San Francisco Bay Area, and destinations nationwide.

It's the Case of the Weekend coming up, and I hope there is no mystery to your having fun!

Halloween has been postponed in our neighborhood (officially) to today, since inclement weather was going to make the Halloweeners travel about in small water craft.

I decided to develop a monochromatic image (in keeping with this week's theme) that might lend itself to Halloween.  The image is a composite made up of stock photography and several images I have taken on my own.

Monochromatic photography is using just one color theme, and manipulating the shadows and highlights at will to craft the image.  I hope you enjoy my creation, and have a Happy Halloween, whenever it happens!

You can see more monochromatic images by reading through the blog circle as well.  Start with Linda Perdue of VPShoots Photography serving the Tampa Bay area.  Have a great weekend!

This week's blog circle theme is "Photographer's Choice."  I have been going through many digital images and cleaning off some of my storage, as well as backing up items on external drives.  During that process I realized that I have been lucky to meet and photograph quite a number of dog breeds. Whether at local shelters, at events, on location, or in my studio, meeting many different dogs is one of the things I like about what I do.

In photographing so many different types of dogs, I have never had a problem meeting and working with any of the breeds.  All have been loving, smart, happy, and great reflections of their lovely owners.  I have learned that no matter the breed, a dog will do just about anything you ask, as long as you are patient and kind.

It helps that over the years our family has owned eight different breeds of dogs: Flat Coated Retriever, Australian Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Chocolate Lab, English Setter, Border Collie, Wirehaired Terrier, and Jack Russell Terrier.

It's been a joy these last seven years, meeting and photographing so many different dogs in so many different places.  As we are winding down 2019, I look forward to the pets and their people that I will meet and work with in 2020!

And, because my Facebook blog post will need an individual photo to post along side the link, here is one of my favorites from the past.

I am excited to see what others have posted today, as the free choice theme can lead us down many roads.  I hope you will take a peek at the blog circle with me.  Start this week off with Kylee Doyle Photography, serving the greater Sacramento area.  Have a great weekend!