We made it! We made it! We made it!  It's week 52!

For those of you that have been following the blog, I hope it was an entertaining and educational year.  I know I learned a lot, experimented quite a bit and enjoyed the experience of following a text as part of the process.  I am also glad to have been a part of this great network of photographers.

The 52 Weeks Project starts all over again next week, and in 2017 we are leaving all book work and going to suggested themes from group members.  I love challenging myself this way, and seeing what others have done and how they interpret each week. 

This week's theme--Holiday--had me looking back over all of the photos I have done over the course of the last month, as well as in the past.  I haven't even gotten around to editing some of my own, personal family photos.  Hopefully, when the dust settles from New Year's Eve, I will be able to sit back and work on all of the family photos and pet photos that are lurking in an on line folder and calling my name. 

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays for photos because there are so many things that can make a photo festive.  I thought I would do a small slide show of some of the photos I have taken during the holiday season, not only in this year, but in the past as well.  You may  recognize a few from previous blog entries or my Facebook page (but I may have embellished or added  things to them since you last saw them),  and some are new.  The last photo of the slideshow is a brightly painted photo of our cat, Dilly, who is no longer with us.  He was one of the best cats ever, so I wanted to include him.

Thank you once again for being a part of this year with me, and following along with the blog circle posts.  To see more "Holiday" goodies, start here with Kim Hollis of BARKography, based in Charlotte, North Carolina.  The circle is a little larger today, so be sure to read everyone's posts.  You will eventually find your way back here.  Happy New Year to all!  Stay healthy, safe and much success in 2017!

First, let me say.....IT'S WEEK 51!!!!!  One more week and this year is out the door.  It is very hard for me to believe that the year is coming to a close. 

That being said, this is also a very busy time of year.  This week's theme is very helpful, because Simplify has been my mantra this year for the holidays. I am not yet at the 1950's primitive hermit stage, but give me a few more years.

This week we had a number of themes rolled into one.  We read about TRIPODS (I use one for portraits, and when I want the background and props to remain exactly in the same place if multiple animals won't sit together and I have to photograph them one at a time and add them to the scene); OPTICAL FILTERS (I use a polarized filter when I am at the beach or in really bright sun; I don't do many waterfall shots, but if I did, I would use a neutral density filter because I like the effect) and STAYING PRESENT (I have learned this last item the very very hard way--in practice--and have taught myself to get my camera settings early on for the area I am going to photograph in, so that when I have the subject in place, I don't look away and miss the best shot).

Finally, all of these mini-themes rolled themselves into SIMPLIFY.  Once again, learning from experience, if you have 1000 things in your scene, you probably will only need 3 of them.  That means you will spend countless hours figuring out which 3 and editing the other things out.  My rule of thumb is 3 maximum items other than the subject, and most of the time I use 2.

So here is my first photo for the week.  I stuck with a Christmas theme because.....well....for me, it's Christmas.

 Rule of 3:  Stool, Swag, Backdrop.  This is our famous barn cat, Barney.  He cleans up well.  With a simple photo, I can crop and add things at will.

Like a twinkling bokeh overlay.

Or a closer crop and some seasonal text.

But what I am not doing is taking away.  I am not having to edit anything out.  The luxury of adding, instead of taking is a beautiful thing when you are doing a large volume of photographs.  This photo honestly took me 15 minutes.  I set up the stool and swag in front of the back drop, set my lights, left my studio door open, and in walked a cat--in this case Barney.  If you have a cat, you know that it is only a matter of time until they will jump on something they haven't seen before and investigate it.  That's exactly what happened here.  I was sitting with my camera ready, settings already in place from a test shot of the stool and swag.  I said "Hey, Barney."  He looked.  I snapped.

Which of these images do you prefer?  It really just depends on what style you like and what you are attracted to.

My second photo needs a little story.  I needed an updated photo of ME for my website, which I am updating.  I hardly ever find myself on the other side of a camera.  I don't trust many people to take my photo because I am not photogenic.  My thought was to possibly have one of our dogs in the photo with me.  Since TRIPOD was on our reading list this week, I set up my tripod, attached the remote and held the trigger.  I set up the lighting and took some test shots.  I tried my first photos with Billie the Blur Tweedy.  NOPE.  She kept thinking the trigger was food and moving all over the place and didn't understand she needed to look at the camera if I wasn't behind it.  I think I actually had one photo depicting her back legs leaping out of my arms when she'd had enough.

Next I tried Lilah.  After an initial "trigger has to be food" thought process, I finally got Lilah to look at the camera by pointing at it a number of times and squeezing the trigger half way to make the "beep" noise.  I came up with a passable photo which is now in the ABOUT section of this website.

This photo was taken at 2:00 a.m.  I ran a comb through my hair, put on some lipstick, grabbed the first festive thing hanging in my studio closet (which actually matched Lilah's coloring) and planted us on a bench.  Lilah's expression is still saying "what the hey?" but if you ever met Lilah personally, this is quite normal, so it is acceptable.  Simple. 

I am surprised I don't look exasperated, because this was about the 10th photo into the process.

I can also add things to this photo, like a festive overlay to make it a bit more holiday-esque.

This image is a little brighter, but both are very simple.  In fact, there are no props at all.  Just me, Lilah and the backdrop. 

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, or very Merry/Happy whatever-you-celebrate.  Tune in next week for the final installment of the year!  Hit the rest of the blog circle now, to see what other photographers did with this week's theme.  Start with Kim Hollis of BARKography based in North Carolina, and work your way around the blog until you are back here where you began!

It seems like the perfect time for this particular blog post and theme in our year of Project 52.  It's kind of ironic that just when people are rushing around trying to make whatever holiday they celebrate happen, that's when there is also much beauty that we forget to take a moment to really enjoy. 

I am not a fan of the cold and shorter days of Winter, but I am a fan of the sights it brings, including crystal clear and vibrant sunsets, frozen worlds, and the magic of snow (at least it's magical the first few times it falls).

Here's a take away from this week's lesson that made an impression on me: "No amount of previsualization will guarantee the creative process or that the light will do what you hope or that the moment you anticipate will unfold in front of you. So calm down."

This is so very true.

I often have an idea or plan for a photo session, but that plan may be impacted by a number of things which change the process, or what I thought would happen.  You have to be flexible enough to allow these things to unfold and then roll with the punches. I also think that when you try too hard, you lose sight of the creativity in the craft.  Spontaneity can give you something unexpected and lovely.  But you have to recognize it when it happens.  Slowing down can help.

This week we had snow - ice - snow - cold...in that order.  The dogs were not  keen on staying out too long in the cold.  On the other hand, some of them LOVE the snow, and look forward to running with abandon in it every time they go outside.

I took my camera out after our most recent snow festival, and "slowed down."  It's how I was able to capture the first photo you see on the blog this week, the one of our dog, Danny, who recently has become very camera shy.  Naturally, I would have preferred if the large snow blob wasn't right in front of him, but he struck a handsome pose.  I was most delighted with his tail being up, because Danny is a very fearful dog, who for a number of years, moved with his tail glued between his legs.  This stance shows a confident dog against the white backdrop of nature, and he did not even know I was taking the picture.  He was intent on watching something and I took my time, snow blob be damned.  If I had moved in any direction to get clearof the snow blob, he might have lost his concentration and I would have lost the shot.

There definitely was quite a bit of snow celebration as well.  Lilah loves the snow more than any of our dogs.  She gets the zoomies as soon as her paws hit the white stuff.  It's hard to get her to slow down, but I made sure I did, being sure to place myself in a position to hopefully capture her exhuberance.  She was in a full throttle run in the photo below.

Finally, when you least expect it, one of the dogs goes against their usual modus operandi and instead of trying to herd chickens through the fence, or manage kitties, or start a full scale growly pants play sequence, he just sits down quietly in the snow and surveys the kingdom.  If I had been rushing around in my usual mode of trying to get this picture and that picture of our dogs in the snow, I would have missed the opportunity to capture our border collie, Piper, just sitting.  Piper is the kind of dog that when he does something that is unusual for him, you say it out loud.

"Look, Piper is laying on the chair."   "Look, Piper has the bone."  "Look, Piper is sitting in the middle of the yard not doing anything."

Piper is another one that does not like to look at the camera.  He is deaf, so you can't call him to get his attention, and sounds (like squeakers) do not work.  If there had been a cat around, I could have placed myself between the cat and Piper and he would have looked at me because I blocked the cat.  But no such luck.  However, his ears are up and he has that border collie concentration, even though I think he may be daydreaming. What do you think?

Remember to slow down in the mad rush ahead. Take a deep breath, and even if you don't have a camera with you, look for things you might not otherwise see if you had not slowed down.

To read more on this week's theme, head to the blog circle, starting with Darlene Dykas Woodward of Pant the Town Pet Photography serving Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  Stay safe and warm this weekend!

It's December, and there is a high of 30 predicted for us on Saturday as an arctic front moves in.  "Trough" and "arctic front" are my two most feared weather phrases in Northeastern Pennsylvania.  That cold is a good catalyst for getting closer to the fire, our doggy lap covers, and any other significant snugglers we can find.

This week I used and experimented with several different lenses in an effort to get closer to things. I could not get out of my mind those flip board games we used to play as a kid.  You know the ones that would have 5 different faces, 5 different mid-sections, and 5 different rest-of-the-bodies?  You would flip one face, then flip until you found the middle section you wanted to match it, then flip for the bottom sections.  They were made with both animals and people.  I have seen versions of them in today's world with Disney princesses.

Maybe this came to mind because it is flippin' hard to get really close to animals with a camera and lens in your hands unless they are asleep or heavily sedated.

At any rate, some lenses will let you get close and some will not.  Some will present a shallow depth of field the closer you get and some will not (and this can also depend on your settings with a particular lens).  I tried a 50mm, my 24-70mm and a macro (35-105mm).  Over and over again.  Not in a PITA over-and-over again sort of way, but in a FUN over-and-over again mode.

What you are seeing here are the fruits of my labor.  By now you may even know which body parts belong to which dog in my household.

Because getting closer will undoubtedly leave quite a large portion of your image out of focus (that depth of field thing) I always feel it's a good thing to use a creative crop.  I also used texture overlays on all of these images.

As part of the process, I learned that Lilah will sit for anything, even getting uncomfortably close to her with the camera because she knows beyond the shadow of doubt that a treat will follow.  It is often hard to keep her OUT of photos you don't want her to be in.

Luke, on the other hand, will walk behind you whenever you point the camera at him and want him to be in front of you.  I use the very effective throw-a-treat-on-the-ground-somewhere method, which Luke will run and try to find.  Once he finds it, he will eat it and then he will look right at you for more.  By that time I'm focused in and ready to go and BOOM, I snap the photo and feel like I, the human, have won!

Of course, this method CANNOT be used with eight dogs in the room.  The resulting kerfluffle would not be something ANYONE would want to be close to.

So my question to you would be, do you think you can recognize which image I took with which lens?  I am not quite sure how to give you the answer.  It's not like a crossword puzzle, where I can put the answer on the back of the page, or write the answer upside down at the bottom. 

But, if you decide to respond in the comments section, I will reply and let you know if you are correct.  Give it a whirl.  See what you think.

Here is a final photo of Lilah's full head shot.  It's her close up, Mr. DeMille.  I find it much easier to get closer to flowers, insects and small amphibians. Except spiders.  Never spiders.

Now get up close and personal with the rest of the blog circle, starting with Jessica Wasik of Bark & Gold Photography, serving Pittsburgh pets and their people.  If you are in an arctic air mass this weekend, stay warm!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Yes, I missed a blog post last week.  It was kind of crazy here.  We had company and I had client work, so something had to give.  It was my blog that cried "uncle."  I thought for a while it might have been my brain, but that stayed intact and seems to still be working as long as I douse it with a Starbuck's every once in a while.

This week we are taking a scene and exploring the possibilities of it.  The possibility of rain was 80% in my area over the course of the last week, so that made the possibility of me venturing out 0%.  However, as many photographers do, I have a number of folders that contain scenes and photos I have never gotten around to editing or working with fully.  So I selected a folder that I had processed a few photos from at one point, but then let sit in an on line folder in storage.

The task was to take at least 12 photos of the scene selected.  I actually took 13 of this particular scene.  I remember it well because I pulled over to the side of a back country road when I saw this horse in his field.  He was fairly far away from me, but became more and more curious about me, moving closer and closer to where I positioned myself along his fence line.  The heavens had one of those changeable skies on a day that promised Spring would be right around the corner.

I framed out and took several different shots, some with sky, some without, some with distance...and then without distance as the horse began to approach me.  In the end, I am pretty sure he thought my camera bag had some treats because he came right to the fence line.

I have put six of the images below, processed in different ways.  The beauty of exploring your possibilities is that, not only do you have the opportunity of photographing a scene in many different ways, but you can then also explore different processing with your photos to set the tone of the message you want to send with each photo. 

Enjoy the slideshow, and even more exploration of possibilities in the blog circle, starting with Kim Hollis of BARKography, based in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Work your way around the blog circle until you are right back here where you started.

We are coming down the home stretch for 2016, folks.  Have a great weekend!