Project 52: week 29: Backlight

First of all, my apologies to the other photographers for my late entry into our project 52 challenge. I've had an exciting couple of days and I have been distracted. I was really excited when I saw the challenge for this week because I love images with backlight. I had the pleasure of working with Charlotte Reeves of Charlotte Reeves Photography when I was in Spain in April at Barkelona. She is famous for the way she backlights her subjects so I got to learn from the best. However learning and then actually doing proved to be 2 different things. :)

Here is the story of my shots for this week.

I've been working on getting a new logo made for BARKography. My thought was to try and use my lab Moose (you know.... the crazy one) as the model for my logo. My goal was to use him in these backlighting shots and also create an image to use for my logo. I had been texting with a friend about this and she offered to help me with crazy Moose.... get this, at sunrise! She is a good friend.

We met at Freedom Park which is a nice park, with a large lake and stone bridge. I have an app that helps me see where the sun is going to rise, it gives you the golden hour times (the app is The Photographer's Emphemeris) so I felt pretty prepared.  The app is fairly complicated (to me anyway) and what it would've told me but I failed to do was check the elevation. It will determine elevation and the surrounding terrain and factor that in and I skipped that step. If you've been to Charlotte NC before, there are lots of tree.  Lots. Of. Trees. Said trees were interfering with my sunrise shots.

My biggest takeaway from the weekend was to assess the location and work with what it is giving me. I'd gone into the session thinking that I could take photos of Moose with the lake in the background and the backlight behind him which was perfect because the sun was rising behind the lake. What I didn't learn until after the session was that all that water and sky behind my dark brown dog was tricky at best to get the proper exposure.

This is a blog circle. Click the link at the bottom of each post and you'll end up right back here. I can't wait to see the other's photographs using backlighting. Next up is St. Cloud based & serving central Minnesota, About A Dog Photography.

Pet Photography Project 52: week 26, 27, 28: See the Direction of the Light

For this week's challenge, we are talking about the direction of light. Using front light when taking a photograph is usually the easiest and what most people do because it evenly lights the front of your subject. Side light can be more challenging especially if you're only using natural light because whatever part of your subject isn't lit, will be in the shadows. This week we are to post images that use both front lighting and side lighting. I also have another purpose for the photos that I am taking this week and for those photos, my intent is to use my dog Moose. Remember him from a few weeks back? I used him as my model and we had a few instances of chaos, broken sunglasses and a photography assistant who ended up on the ground when Moose started running too fast and she was the one holding the leash. Does that ring a bell? If not, find the blog post entitled Horizons and you can read about our escapades.

Why do I want to even attempt to get another photo of Moose? I want an image of him that can be used in a new logo I'm creating. The logo that I use on my See Spot Run page is actually an outline of our yellow lab Willow's head.

Why am I creating a 2nd logo? I made a BIG announcement this week and for those of you who have either "liked" me or my See Spot Run page on Facebook, you've seen the news. See Spot Run Photography has a new name.

BARKography

BARKography was officially launched on June 11 which also happens to be my mother's birthday and she is probably my biggest supporter so it seems fitting.  My new facebook page is BARKography by Kim Hollis. Please visit, if you feel so inclined 'like' the page and comment. If I haven't liked your page, please feel free to send me an invitation. We need to support each other! I commit to doing better at commenting on others' facebook pages. Too often I wonder if anyone is ever reading what I write. I promise to comment more often so you'll know someone is reading what you write. :)

I am so excited for this I can't stand it and I'll blog about all of this soon but back to Project 52 and the Direction of Light. With the photographs of Moose, I needed a background without a lot going on so we went up to the top level of a parking deck. I wanted a side shot of him so I could use an outline of him. This was the result.

This next photo is an example of what the graphic designer could do with the photograph. I can tell that this is definitely Moose but to me it looks like clip art I could get anywhere on the web. Back to the drawing board and trying to get more photos of Moose. If anyone has any suggestions on what might look good, I'm all ears!  btw - Moose was leashed up this entire time and he was very well behaved. It was super hot outside so I think that zapped some of his energy. That also explains the tongue hanging out of his mouth here. I definitely got some great photos to post for "Tongue Out Tuesday" on Instagram!

I didn't have photos of Moose where the direction of the light would be side lighting so for those, I'm using a model named Ursa. She is a pet sitting client and I love her eyes.

As I was writing this post, I got an email from the graphic designer. She is going to show me a couple of logo proofs today. I'm so excited. I've been up til midnight twice this week (and that is sooo late for me) working on my logo. There are a ton of fonts to choose from so I'm excited to see what the graphic designer has created. Once I get the logo finished, then I'll be on to creating a new BARKography website.  My See Spot Run dog walking and pet sitting site will remain but I'll have one dedicated specifically for photography.  AAAAHHH (angels singing emoji would be appropriate here!)

Remember this is a blog circle. Click the 'next up' link at the bottom of each post to see each photographer's take on our assignment this week Direction of Light. I always enjoy reading Northeast PA Pet Photographer, Elaine Tweedy's posts. Her sense of humor and personality come through when she writes. Makes me wish I could meet her some day... but I digress (as I always do!!) Keep clicking the links until you end up right back here. Happy reading!!

Pet Photography Project 52: Week 23 Learn to Sketch

Week 23 of our project 52 challenge has the title Learn to Sketch. When I read this, I really didn't know what to expect and then the first paragraph states: "The idea that this craft is easy gets unfairly promoted from all kinds of corners, not the least of which are the camera companies themselves. But it's not easy. No new camera will help you 'shoot like a pro...' " This resonates with me on so many levels. I was guilty of thinking this way. A year and a half ago when I bought my first professional camera, I thought I'd buy the camera and boom, I'd be a professional dog photographer. Wow, was I wrong. I had no idea there was so much to learn and I know I need to do a better job of educating others about everything that goes into creating an image that has an impact on its viewer. It is hard. It is frustrating. It is expensive. It is time consuming. It is amazing. It is worth it. It is gratifying. It is humbling.

I truly love it.

If it wasn't hard, everyone could do it and everyone's photos would be great.

Back to Learning to Sketch. In our book The Visual Toolbox by David Duchemin, he says and I am paraphrasing: Because we so often see only the final work of the photographers we respect, I think we miss what would be an otherwise eye-opening chance to see their process.  One that he likens to 'sketching.' He says painters sketch out their images and many even have a process that often involves scraping the canvas clean and starting again. He says as a creative person, you have to be open to not getting it right the first time.  You have to be open to playing and to experimenting. He looks at his failed images as rough drafts and he says he makes hundreds of them.

Here is a true story: an amazing photographer whose work I admire so much posted several images recently. I was with her when she took some of them and my images don't look like hers. Her photography skills are certainly better than mine as are her editing skills. I responded to her post by saying: "I mean this in the highest form of flattery but I envy your talent so much it hurts." I want to be that good.

Duhcemin says he keeps his old images and looks back on them and sometimes they take him to new places. They remind him not to get discouraged because they might lead him to the heart of what he's trying to create. The first sentence in our assignment instructions this week: 'Stop being so hard on yourself.' Ha! If he only knew how close to home that hits. Well timed sir, well timed! :)

So I decided to take a look back on some older images of mine. The next two photos are ones I took after having my camera for about 2 weeks. I had no idea what I was doing. For the photogs reading this, I was in Aperture priority (ha! that's a miracle! I now shoot in manual but I half expected to find I'd been in automatic mode.) My settings were f/5, 1/80 and ISO 1000. Typing that makes me laugh. None of those settings make sense at all and at least now I know that. I have made progress, hopefully a lot of progress since Aug 2014.

Back to the challenge this week, to me, this comes down to editing. If you don't get the shot right in the camera, some times there are things that can be done in post processing that will make a photo heaps better. For example if you underexpose the shot because you didn't have a change to change your settings because your subject was moving around, things can be done in post processing to fix this. (I am not at all implying that photographers should rely solely on their post processing to "fix" their images.) Because I feel as though my editing skills are really lacking, I try really hard to get the shot right in the camera. I don't know LR and PS well enough to try and adjust the colors too much. If I do play around with them, inevitably I end up with a green cast on the dog or some sort of result that I don't want.

Here are two images from a photo session I had this past week. I love images that have a lot of bokeh in the background. In this image, as much as I wished that were the case in the background here, it wasn't happening. I'm posting the final version first (but I can't guarantee I won't tweak it some more) and then one of my attempts at working on the background.  My very first attempt at editing involved trying to mirror the left side of the image on the right side. I was trying to get rid of the green leaves because I prefer the background on the left side of the photo. That attempt did not work at all. Just like a painter, I started over and over on this image several times.  My next attempt I tried mirroring the right side on the left side. (see below.) After spending more time that I should admit (it was hours), I went back to the original background. Perhaps next time, I will remember to really look at my background and consider re-framing it when I am composing the shot. Perhaps this will be one of those shots that Mr. Duchemin is talking about when he says that hours, months or even years later he'll go back to one and consider it again.  Perhaps I'll decide that the original is just fine. But if I am being honest, all I was worried about at the time was I had 3 dogs holding a stay in front of me and I needed to take their picture!

Next up in the blog circle is Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area.  Be sure to click the link at the bottom of each post and you'll end up right back here again!

Project 52, week 22: Horizons

For our weekly photography challenge, we are studying horizons. The definition of horizon is the line at which the earth's surface and sky appear to meet. I spent a couple of days trying to figure out where I could go in Charlotte NC to find a place where I could actually see the horizon and put a dog safely in front of it to get a decent photo. I ended up with this image and below is the story of how I got here.

My two best photography assistants are 12 and 13 years old (they are my neighbor's daughters.) They were out of school over this long weekend so I had them booked to help me on multiple photo sessions over the weekend.  Ideally I wanted to find a great location for shooting horizons but I also planned to try out a couple of new locations to use for future photography sessions with clients. There is a park on the outskirts of uptown Charlotte that I've wanted to get a dog too so I decided to take Jax. Jax is a small mixed breed puppy that I knew would be easy for my assistant to handle. I got a couple of nice photos of him (to see them go to my Instagram page) but none of them included the horizon.

The next pup I photographed was Ivy and unfortunately Tropical Storm Bonnie rolled in during my shoot with her. I DID GET HER IN FRONT OF A COLORFUL WALL THOUGH!!! For those reading this in the pet photography challenge, they'll understand. :) I posted a photo of Ivy in front of the wall on my Instagram. However, I want to go back and do the shots again. It was sunset on Saturday night in an area of town that gets more lively at night and I had a 12 year old, a 13 year old and a client's dog with me. To get the shot, I needed to lie down on the pavement just at the entrance of this building's parking lot.  In the photos I took, I'm not low enough in the shots because I was too chicken to lie down so I will go back. AND...... Let's just say I wanted to get the 12 yr old and 13 yr old out of this setting. :) We were totally safe the whole time but let's just say the building with the brightly painted side we were using required some explaining and that conversation as a non-parent was something I was not comfortable having!  HA!!

So, afraid that I might not ever be able to utilize the services of the 12 and 13 year old again after they got home and told their moms about where I took them, I mustered up the courage to ask them if they could help me on Monday. Kelly said YES! So at noon on a cloudy day, we took my crazy dog Moose to this setting. (Wow, I didn't intend for this post to be so long so if you've made it this far congratulations!)

My guy Moose has a wild streak. We adopted him at the age of 7 and we've had him for 1.5 years. Within a week of having him he locked himself in our laundry room and then tried to claw and chew his way out. We learned very quickly that he suffers from separation anxiety. We've figured out how to manage that now and he really is a good dog. Really he is.... about 75% of the time as my husband says.  We think he is a lab/hound mix, perhaps weimeraner or german short haired pointer. He is definitely some sort of hound and he has NO RECALL what so ever and because of his hound-like qualities I am reluctant to take him on photo shoots. Monday reinforced my hesitation.

First of all, all of us are fine. Moose is fine. Kelly my assistant is fine. I am fine. My sunglasses, however are not so fine. They are on their way to Maui Jim to be repaired. Kelly's knees may be a little bruised. Moose.... well he is sleeping well this afternoon. The big guy had a big day and big fun!

To set the stage, Sunday evening around 8pm as I am driving from one pet sitting client to the next, the sun is setting and it looks amazing. I decide to take a different route to enjoy the view and as I am enjoying it, I see a large open space that I think, "Hmmm, I could put a dog there with the horizon in the background and that might be nice." So on Monday, I ask Kelly if she is game. Amazingly (after spending most of Saturday with me, she says yes. AND she knows the dog model is Moose.  This is huge!) She is game so I take what I can get: we go at 12:30pm. It is cloudy so this might be okay.

Have I mentioned this open field is in front of probably the biggest church in Charlotte? Google Calvary Church Charlotte NC. Locals call it the Pink Castle. This is where we are. I have Kelly take Moose about 50 yards from me and I snap a few shots. I am on my stomach so I can play around with where I want the horizon.

I asked Kelly to run towards me with Moose and this is where the first sign of trouble begins AND I captured it all on film although the photos are blurry. Moose and Kelly are running towards me and then in one frame you see the look in Moose's eye and I know immediately that this is not good. That look in Moose's eye is his "I am having a great time look" and he picks up speed.  Too much speed for Kelly to keep up. She ends up tripping and drops Moose's leash. She immediately hops up and runs after him because of course he keeps running... and not towards me. Luckily the hound in him takes over and he has to stop and sniff a bush so I yell at Kelly to step on his leash.  She does and we have once again have our model under control. Bless Kelly's heart, she is apologizing for dropping the leash and it's totally not her fault. I have a crazy dog.

So, we wrangle our subject for a few more photos and I am quite pleased with the results. Although in looking at them now, I want to go back again. But all in all, I am very happy.

Unfortunately, getting into the car led to the demise of my sunglasses. Moose smelled treats in the front seat and he stepped on my sunglasses which were on my console when he got in. (He's a hefty 90lbs.)

It turned out to be a good day. I found a location for a horizon shot when I really wasn't sure I'd find a place and I got a photo of my dog Moose that I like which is no easy task... b/c well he's Moose!

I believe I may start a blooper blog post series...... with Moose it seems appropriate!

So, back to horizons. I think when you insert a dog into the photo with a horizon, where the dog is trumps where the horizon is. I would like to go back and try this again and be closer to my subject. I was pretty far away from Moose. Getting closer to them would've allowed me to have even more sky in the photos but I've found that when I try to photograph Moose, if I try to get close to him, he always breaks his stay and wants to come over to me. Plus, I was in survival mode... let's get through this photo shoot with Kelly, myself and crazy Moose unharmed!

Next up in the blog circle is St. Cloud Minnesota based dog photographer, About A Dog Photography.  Be sure to click the link at the end of each post and you'll end up right back here!

Barkelona Day 2: Photo Session with Pruna and Boira

Every time I go to write a post about my photo sessions in Spain, I think "this photo session I'm writing about resulted in some of my favorite images." I guess I am lucky that way in that I probably have one image from each session that I can call a favorite. These two dogs Boira and Pruna definitely fall into this category. Pruna is a year old Spanish Water Dog and Boira was all puppy! She is a 5 month old Portuguese Water dog. Pruna had just gotten a haircut. Apparently her hair can look a lot like Boira's when it is long. This was my first time meeting a Spanish Water Dog and she was beautiful!

I really want to get a huge wall art piece of that photo of Boira. (and that is why these photos are LARGE.  I didn't resize them as I usually do.) As a photographer, I take photos and I do have my favorites. That has nothing to do with the dog itself or even how the dog looks, it has to do with my ability as a photographer. I hope that makes sense. This image of Boira is one of those. I never really knew I was drawn to the color yellow but in photography, I am. It's been over a month now that I've been home from Spain and every time I see this photo of Boira, I still love it. I hope that feeling never goes away. I do look at the image and I can see things that aren't technically correct with it but I still love it and hey, I'm the photographer so that is my right! :)

Project 52 - week 21: Leading Lines

For our week 21 challenge, we are to create images with leading lines. The author of the book we are using says that "the eye will follow a line." In the first image below, the lines are really obvious and they are leading you to the subject. Her name is Delilah and she lasted up on this bench for about 10 seconds which may have something to do with the look in her eyes. :) She jumped off and got the zoomies right after I snapped this. She was a good sport though and I appreciate her helping me this week.  I snapped a few more of photos of Delilah and her half sister Lucca while they were on the deck.  Do you think the lines add anything to the last two images?  Would it look much different if they were standing on their driveway with no lines beneath them?  I so appreciate these weekly exercises as they make me ask myself these types of questions.  Forever learning about photography.... :)

I was hoping to take some photographs this week with images of more implied lines but unfortunately I didn't get a chance. As I was driving through the Virginia countryside this past weekend I saw a train track below me leading into a forest of dense trees. Our challenge to use leading lines this week popped into my head because when I think of leading lines I think of a curved path similar to those train tracks.

I also have a vision in my head of a photograph I want to take.  It is of my husband and his dog (our dog :) ) Willow walking away from me down a path. There is something about watching the two of them when they're on a walk that just makes me happy. Willow is my dog that doesn't like any sound my camera makes so this type of photo would be a good one to take of her. I need to add that photo to my list of photos I plan to take (because I have not forgotten about taking a photo of a dog in front of the graffiti wall I found while researching last week's challenge colorful.) School will be out soon and my two favorite photography assistants will be available to help me. Hopefully then I can start to cross some of these photos on my "to do" list off the list. Yay summer!

Next up in our blog circle is About A Dog Photography, St. Cloud MN dog photographer.  Be sure to click the link at the bottom of each blog and then you'll end up back here when you're finished.  Enjoy!