December 30, 2012

Good Friends and Big Ice, by Michael E Garcia

I have never seen the ice like this before.  Not in Billings.  There is an ice jam downriver and it has caused the water to back up, then freeze, creating these huge hunks of ice.  The river is not this deep, the water under the ice is pretty shallow still.  Finnigan broke through the ice a couple of days ago, before it was this thick, and I had to test the depth, thinking I would have to wade out after him.  He got back though.
I am standing here with my wonderful, intelligent, and informed friend Missy Seu, and her Black English Lab Emma, and Chocolate on the left.  Missy Loves Emma.
It is cold, like 8 degrees at this time.  We have had a long cold spell since the day before Christmas.  Christmas morning was below zero when we crawled out of our warm warm bed.  This morning, Sunday, was a more reasonable 18 degrees when we went to Norm's.
This photograph was taken by our friend Michael E Garcia with his beloved Canon 7D and his equally loved 70-200 f4 lens(which causes me lens envy-Nikon just introduced one similar).  F11 at 125th of a second.  I made that part up. 
Glad that I am friends with Missy.  I am glad that I prefer to were desert khaki when I walk at Norm's.

December 24, 2012

Happy Holidays Everyone

I Love this photograph.  My Happy Holidays Family Photo.  My good friends Bonnie and Rick, and l- r, Spice Girl (dog) Cleo (cat, aka "Peeps")(how did you get a cat to do that) then a very eager Maggie May, and of course sceptical Marne (will you just take the picture mr.)  Love it.

December 21, 2012

It's a New Era! Three Beautiful Girls

Marne and Koda, two of my very favorite dogs.  Marne is a  6 year old Weimaraner and Koda is a 7 month old Vizsla.  Thanks for the spellings on those breed names Mike.  German and Hungarian I do believe, in origin, but both beautiful in reality.  Thanks girls for finally posing for me.

Of course, not as beautiful as my Nina Blanca.  I will own up to being biased, partial, opinionated. Prejudiced. subject to a particular pattern of behavior, yeah.

And one eager boy. Focus.  Michael E Garcia is about to throw a stick, and my boy Chocolate goes into deep focus mode.  I have been trying to get him to move away from Mike so I can get a photo from his front, but he is very determined and focused on that stick and will not move.

December 18, 2012

How Your Dogs Should NOT Behave . . .

We will keep the identity of this person a secret, okay Steve?  This morning this undisclosed person said that he was giving up on treats after this.  I am embarrassed to say that the two worst offenders in this picture are my dogs, followed by two well trained Aussies. Then we have one very good, though very interested, Emma.
I do apologize for  my dogs behavior.  Not much at this point I can do, I just blame it on those beautiful blue eyes.
Dogs from the left; Kiva(white), Emma(black), Shanti(yellow), Rolo, Finnegan(just his bumm shows), Blanca, Chocolate, Selkie, and beautiful Bally.

Stick Games

Just a few frames later, they return.  These two have become good friends, after a rocky beginning.  Choco just idolizes Diego. To the point that it is a problem almost.  Dogs that Diego has issues with, when I am walking just with Choco he has issues with the same dogs.  He copies Diego.  Since I have had Choco and Blanca I have learned and been amazed by how much dogs learn by observation.  It is obvious once you see it, but otherwise not.

Finn Goes Bumm Up





Apologies Little Man for posting this, but it is funny.  I have no idea what happened to Finny to put him in such an embarrassing position.  He must have tripped over a limb.  In the next frame he is up and running after the pack.  Nothing keeps Little Big Man down for long.  Their favorite human Mike is throwing a stick.

December 11, 2012

Little Big Man

I was taking some photographs and Finnegan came around " Hey Little Man, sit on the cushion for me" He allowed me 5 frames.  Just enough.

December 7, 2012

Koda at Norm Schoenthal Island

I got some nice photographs of Koda at Norms on Wednesday. We spent a couple of hours and 500 frames trying, so we should have gotten something. She is a very photogenic dog. She moves alot, so that is a challenge.

Very similar photo.  She is looking at me rather sceptically here. It is a bit frustrating because she is a very small (for a Vishla), but that does not show up in the photographs.  Nor did I capture her boundless energy.  She twists this way and that all the time, jumping up and doing complete circles in the air, it is great to watch, and I wish it were easier to capture on film, but I have not achieved the results.  Film. It is digital. Wow, the cost of developing 500 frames of film!  I have done it. Glad those days are past.  Sorry Kodak.
I have quite a few pictures of her, these may not be the best, I just picked two quickly. She looks older in these photos, she is only seven months old.  Maybe I will get another chance, Karla?

Sticky Snow


It was a beautiful morning at Norms.  We walked with Mike and Diego, and got a visit from Kiva.  Mike was throwing the stick and I was trying to catch the action.  I got a few, but I still need to work on getting this better.
A great photo of Diego.

 
Here we have Chocolate with Kiva and Blanca in pursuit. An oversharpened Chocolate.  He is covered in snow.  I also need to learn how much sharpening works on the new camera.
I have more, but I have to run now. Art Walk.

December 5, 2012

Koda Visits The Studio

Koda and Karla came over to the shop today to see what we could do.  Koda felt that being at Norms Island, or as Karla calls it, Dog Island, was much more fun.  I did not get very many good takes, Koda was not so happy with being inside.
I have some great photos of Koda we took earlier in the day at Norms.  We need to sort them, so I had better get to it.

Finally, Something in Focus


December 4, 2012

Treats for the Kids

Laura, with treats, obviously.  So, let's see.  Blanca, Finnegan, Chocolate, Beau, Gracie, Neeky.  Laura is a regular at Norms, almost daily.  She is a colourful dresser, with a distinct preference for purple. Dog Lady.  I hope that is okay Laura, it is better than treat lady, though that may be the dogs preference.  This is actually quite rare, nobody is jumping. Usually it would be 6 dogs jumping.
Laura is a quite accomplished artist, a very precious and rare thing for Billings.  Laura's dogs are Gracie and Beau.

Two Kodas

Such a beautiful dog.  There is only one Koda, the other is a miracle of photoshop.  This was taken with my new Nikon 1 V1.  A good example of how quick it is. (once you figure it out)
Koda walks at Norms most days lately with her very dear to her friend Karla.  Koda is very shy, though she is beginning to feel at home with the dogs she generally meets in the mornings. I think she is seven months old.  I hope to have more photographs of her tomorrow, as she is getting an official portrait session.

December 2, 2012

Nina Blanca & Chocolate's Grandpapa

Not My Photograph, so, maybe I should not be posting this, as I have no idea who the photographer is so I cannot give credit, but I absolutely love this.  I do wish that the photographer was me.  Perhaps, and I am hoping this, since it is a magazine cover I am okay using it.
I post this because I love the photograph, and, because Winslow is my kids grandpa.  He was, I do believe, 4 times national champion, and as you can see was a Hall of Fame champion.  We are very proud of him.  Of course we never met him, and his son, Choco and Blanca's dad, never was able to compete, and after one generation I understand all is lost. Oh well.  I love my kids if they never herd anything. 
I love this photograph.  It gives me the chills, it is so cool. It inspires me to keep taking photos.

December 1, 2012

Day Two . . .

My second day out with my new Nikon V1.  I read the manual last evening ( I use an after market manual by Thom Hogan - Great ) The light was hard, and because it is December there were alot of shadows, so I had to work around all that, but still, I learned that once you figure it's quirks the little Nikon can stop action. Our friend Mike is throwing a stick here, and Choco and his good buddy Diego are all ready for that action.  I have great photos of them running back, but I only have a normal lens so they are too small in the frame.  But they are in focus, one frame after another. Great!  I need to get a longer lens. Ha! and a job.

 I was impressed with this.  I was tracking Diego and Chocolate and Finnegan ran into the frame.  The camera did not lose focus on the two dogs, it ignored Finny.  That is cool.  Finny is out of focus more than it looks, I put some output sharpen on him.  The lens was wide open, so the camera has great depth of field, which of course is a mixed blessing.