Project 52 - Week 6: Love

As a service to readers, I want to start today's blog by giving you a 4-day heads up alert to Valentine's Day.  If you have a significant other, human or fur-skinned, that will become pouty, petulant, or otherwise out-of-sorts if you forget, please remember you were warned.  End of PSA.

In the past week (and even the week before) I have been creating some images related to "LOVE" based on the day with the heart.  Having received some new overlays, I always experiment with them on my gang before doing any client or shelter work with them.

Below is a small gallery of some of the things I have been playing with over the course of the last week or so.  I have included the two images of Matty Matt the Valentine Cat because he is becoming a real pro at sitting wherever I put him and posing, and he does not even get any treats (which the dogs demand and have come to expect for their work).  So shhhhh.....no one tell Matty that this is not an equal pay establishment.

I also retooled an image I took, some months back, of a rescue dog named Church, who is still available for adoption.  I have shared a few of these images on Facebook in the last week, here and there, so if you are a FB friend or have "liked" my business page, you may have seen a few.

I have also thought about images that essentially show a loving connection between human and animal.  Immediately one came to mind.  The story behind the image is this.  Danny, an English Setter who came to us through rescue as a very fearful dog, took baskets full of patience and love to begin to trust that we meant him no harm, and to rely on that fact on a regular basis.  For many months we could not let him outside without a leash, because we could not get him back in.  Then we just started letting him off leash and he would follow the other dogs back.  Sometimes it worked out fine, sometimes everyone else was in the house looking out the window and wondering why he was still sitting in the yard.

During the course of all of this trust transitioning, Danny could never be approached in the yard, nor would he come near the side patio at all if we were sitting there.  I would hand treats out every day on the side patio, and eventually he learned to come closer and closer and sit for a treat (still on the grass, but very near the patio).  Then one day (a day when I happened to have my camera out on the patio table), he just came right up to my husband and sat on the patio.  That photo is below.  I don't even remember how I managed to snap the picture before he exited quickly.  But this day was the start of a new trust level for Danny.  The photo is a very important one for me, because it shows what love and patience can do, and that fearful dogs (often the ones cowering in the backs of their cages at the shelter) should be given a chance.

There's loads more LOVE coming up in the blog circle, so get comfortable and jump in!  Start with Rochelle Marshall of Dark Sapphire Photography from Nelson, New Zealand, and roll your way around the circle until you are right back here where you started.  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Have a wonderful and safe weekend!