December 22, 2013

Snowy Fun


This was a few days ago, we are not going to Norm's today.  Too cold, too much snow.  But Choco sure is having some fun here.  He and Finny love sticks.

November 27, 2013

Absolutely Gorgeous


Absolutely gorgeous day at Norm Schoenthal Island today.  We walked with our new friend Halle, shown above, and her peeps Ivy and Morrison.  We had a wonderful time taking pictures and talking photography and getting a little muddy, but not too much.
Halle seems to be at least partly Spanish Shepherd (aussie) though she could be part English, or Border Collie.  Some kind of English farm dog I would say.  She has a nice personality and was accepted by Blanca, which is of course important.  She and Finny played some, though I had the impression Halle mostly thought him a pest.
We had fair lighting today, the clouds were sparse but did their job often enough.  The photo above is pretty hard light but the conditions are perfect, so no problem.

November 7, 2013

Gabe


Today we met Gabe, and walked with him and his peep Ilene.  Gabe is a beautiful 3 year old full size Airedale, Airdales being King of the Terriers, Ilene said.  Finnegan simply loved Gabe and they played pretty hard for most of the time we walked together.  It will be interesting to see what Finn does next time he sees Gabe, as I have written before, often he will ignore dogs on the second meeting. They had so much fun, it would be hard to believe.
Ilene said that she had just retired and has been bringing Gabe to the Island everyday.  He obviously is very happy with this development.  It is certainly good for him.
Today was an ideal fall day.  I was dressed too warmly, dressing for the 35 degrees the computer said before I left the house.  Must learn to go outside for awhile before leaving the house.


We got some nice photos of everybody today.  Earlier in the morning it was thinly overcast, my favorite kinda light for dogs.  But as the morning progressed, and by the time we got Gabe worn out a little and over to the south side of the island, the sun was pretty strong.  This photo of Blanca, she is watching someone walk by on the trail, we are off in the middle of a field taking pictures, was taken early.


Must be something over there.  The light is a little stronger in this photo.  Choco photographs best in profile. I like these two photos, and these two dogs.  Now I need to look for something with Little Big in it.

October 29, 2013

First Snow


We stayed home yesterday for some psychological adjustment, so today was our official first day of snow for 2013 at Norm's Island.

We had a great time, hardly anyone was there.  It was not cold, and the three mouseketeers had a wonderful time.  Not a one of them was thrilled to be sitting for this photo, but they did it.  Come on, Smile guys.

October 16, 2013

We are Going to Miss Missy - Gathering at Norm's Island


Sunday, October 13, a bunch of us devoted fans of Missy Seu gathered at Norm's Island to walk with her to show how much we love her and how much we will miss her when she moves to Bozeman.
I cannot even begin to name everyone, but those I know are Michael E. Garcia and Diego, Linda and Little Big Man Finnegan,  Merry Ann Peters and Rudy and Ollie, and Phil Seu, Justine Timmons and Marley. Emma is there somewhere, and in the front I see Chocolate and Jill, and I do not know the name of the goldendoodle.

May 15, 2013

Sweet Molly


Today I photographed Molly.  She is a Labradoodle.  She is a very sweet soft girl that I liked very much.  As you can see, it is hard to see Molly.  She is in there somewhere.  Maybe next week I will photograph her on a white, and put a light behind my head so we can see her eyes, maybe. In the darkness of the studio her pupils open all the way up.  I put a light on her to see if it would help, but it was not powerful enough.
We met Molly walking at Norm's Island.  She walks with her peep Sharron.  I posted a picture of Molly at Norm's last week.
Molly is a beautiful, and gentle girl.  Normally he is pretty high energy, but she was low key for the photo session.
Molly may have been cautious of me because my girl Blanca gives Molly a hard time.  Will not let her approach me.

May 11, 2013

Berkeley, Puppy Extraordinare


This is Berkeley.  She is a 12 week old Labradoodle, obviously leaning heavily to the Lab part of that.  She is a miniature version, and will not be too big.  She is very sweet, with sharp teeth and sharp claws, and she liked running toward me and jumping on my head.
Puppies are both easy and difficult.  They are easy because they are small, and they do really cute maneuvers, but the seldom hold still and are sometimes eager to explore beyond the local area, and of course they do not mind yet, oh, and they pee.  Berkeley was no different from this, but she did quite well.
We met Berkeley one day at Norm's Island when her peep Sharon was carrying her around.  Luckily for Berkeley Sharon is not going to let her on the ground at Norm's till she has her second set of shots. Very smart of Sharon.  So most days she stays at home while Sharon walks with her other Labradoodle Molly. When she is free to run at Norm's I hope to get some photos of her there.   I hope to have a photo, a studio photo, of Molly here soon.

May 9, 2013

Pearl


Today in our studio we were honored to have Pearl.  Four month old Chocolate Labrador.  She is a beauty.  I met Pearl at Norm's Island walking with her peeps Lee Anne and Nathan.  I could not pass up the chance to photograph this beautiful pup.  She is named for the white mark on her chest.
This was a lighting experiment. I have never photographed a dog with must one light before. I like it, but still think we need a slight kicker in from stage right.


That darn ball again.  The ball makes it much easier to deal with photographing puppies.  Trade secret there.  But it does become a problem when the same ball is in all of your photos.  Simon made this ball famous.

May 4, 2013

Good Friends


Rolo, Selkie and Bally.  My kids and I really like these three.  It lends one to wonder if dogs have a preference for other dogs of the same breed, or if it is just that the temperament of these guys and gal are amenable to Choco and Blanca.  Blanca will even play with them, and she seldom plays with other dogs, except for Chocolate, who she considers her chew toy, and Finnegan, who irritates her till she has no choice.
Rolo, Selkie and Bally walk at Norm's most mornings with their peep Kay.  We enjoy all four of them.


We have been working on walking on objects, Blanca has no qualms at all, Finnegan will do most things with some coaxing, Chocolate gets as far away as he can, like in this case to the middle of the slough.  This is a nice subtle picture of both of my kids. Mike Garcia is making funny faces at Blanca, thus her rapt attention.  Choco would prefer he be throwing sticks.

April 29, 2013

Molly


Today at Norms we walked with energetic Molly and her peep Sharon.  My dogs, including Finnegan were unusually rough on Molly for some reason.  It may simply be that when Molly first came to us I was sitting down.  If I am sitting, Blanca will keep all dogs away from me.  This may have set the tone for the day.  I was really surprised that Finn was even mean to Molly.  Molly is a sweet, soft girl.  I do not want my kids being pushy.  Molly is beautiful, and amazingly energetic.  She is a Labradoodle.

April 27, 2013

Beautiful Day


Update; As I have been looking at this picture the last few days, it has occurred to me; this is one happy bunch of dogs
We spent almost four hours at Norm's this morning.  We were lucky to see many of our favorite friends, both peeps and pups.  We walked a really fun 2 hour lap with Mike and Diego, Rick and Marne, Maggie and Spice Girl, and Petra and Addie.  All that after a quick lap with Steve, Brisbane and Shanti. We had a great time.  We kept meeting people and stopping for the pups to play and to talk, and for Mike to throw the ball, simply a marvelous time all around.  I have a bunch of photos to post, I will try to get them all up today.
Mike was throwing a tennis ball the whole time and I lost my usually dedicated boy dogs for the whole day.  Above is the Dog Piper of Norm Schoenthal Island leading his dedicated followers.  He does this while never carrying treats. He even got the girl here.


Chillin Diego.  Needing a moment of relaxation after hours of chasing the tennis ball.


This is a baby here, we did not write down the name, but he was great.  Maybe someone can inform me as to his name.


Wow! Maggie May.  We never get photos of Maggie May.  She moves alot, and of course she is the dreaded by photographers black.  She is the sweetest girl.  We really like her, though because of Blanca I can never tell Mags how much I like her.


My boy Chunky Chocolate.  Choco is Diego's main protege.  He idolizes Diego, and has learned ball from him.


Beautiful Marne.  I really like Marne, I know I say that everytime I post a picture of her, but I do.  She has a great presents.


I am proud to call Rick my friend.  Here he is with Maggie May and Beautiful Marne.  He was workin on getting a photo of Diego walkin on the leaning tree.  He had the problem that his lens was 4000mm, so all he could get was Diego's eye.  But it was still good.


Here comes Brisbane.  Beautiful boy. Australian Shepherd who walks with his friend Shanti and his peeps Steve and Bronwyn.  I like this photograph.  Try as I might I have very few good photos of Bris.


I kept my camera pointed at Addie the whole time we walked together, this is all I got.  She never stops.  Addie was very much on Finnegan's case to play, and he would not, he was busy with playing ball with Mike, Diego and Chocolate.  Annoyed Addie to no end.  Addie is very lucky to be with her very good for her peep, Petra.


We met this beautiful boy today.  One of the advantages, amongst many disadvantages, of walking on Saturday.  One meets dogs and people that one has never seen before.  This boy is, like Blanca, a victim of Merle to Merle breeding.  He is deaf and partly blind.  He seems to do quite well, and it seems he has a very caring mom.  He has the same pink rimmed blue eye ans Blanca.  He is lucky though, he has black nose. Because of the black on his ears I wonder if he does not have some hearing in that ear.
I hope I get to photograph him in the studio, he was beautiful, though he pays a high price for being so beautiful.


Looking back on a very busy day, my beautiful Nina Blanca.

April 24, 2013

Lucy's Day at Norms


We had a special treat today because Lucy came with Missy and Emma to Norm's Island.  She is good at getting us to maintain a reasonable pace.  Here we caught Lucy seeking a better vantage point on top of an outcropping, watching Emma and Chocolate foolishly splashing into the Yellowstone after sticks.


Lucy getting a ride from her very faithful servant, Missy.  Missy is one of my favorite people.  I think that Lucy would concur.


Best Friends.  Missy and I were discussing how Finnegan will like a dog when he first meets them, play very hard with them, but the next time they meet he will ignore them.  Well, this is not the case with Emma.  Finn absolutely loves Emma, and they wrestle and tussle, taunt and tease and posture every time they see each other, and love every minute of it.

April 20, 2013

Great Saturday at Norm Schoenthal Island


As always, if you click on the photo, it will get really big, which especially in this case is really good.

We had a great time at Norm's this morning.  We walked a long slow lap with our friends Rick, Marney, Maggie May, and Spice.   But then it got really fun, really, as we were leaving we met an old playmate of Nina Blanca's, Kaya.  They did not seem to recognize each other, or maybe Blanca was hoping Kaya did not recognize her, she gave Kaya a rough treatment when they were puppies.  But Kaya held her own.  Well, here is Kaya grown into a beautiful high energy three and a half year old.  Blanca and Kaya are the same age.

Yes, that is a rainbow.


Outta here, she says.  I am lucky to get these two photos, Kaya never stopped running the whole time we walked with her.  She has a buddy named, I think, Spenser.  They play constantly.


Just playin around. It is two Kayas. The rainbow in motion.  This is what Kaya looked like most of the time, constant movement.


For me this is a really fun posting.  Here is Kaya at about 3-4 months.  I love this.  She and Blanca used to play alot, they were very energetic.  Kaya still seems to have the high energy, Blanca has become layed back. Maybe she is laid back.  I think she has become more wary of the world, not being able to hear.

April 19, 2013

Ready for Spring


Constantly I am overwhelmed by the beauty I see at Norm's, just in the textures and colors of the trees and grasses and here of the Red Stick Dogwoods.  But seldom am I able to capture what I want on film.  I have done so a few times.  I like this one.


My friend Little Big Man on a slanted tree trunk.  You know where it's at.  Just west of Dog Beach.


Blanca had to get into the act.  This picture I took today (Saturday) and the picture of Finnegan I took yesterday.  I was trying to show the Finnegan photo to Rick and he exclaims "Hey, look at Blanca" She took the cue from Finnegan from yesterday and climbed the tree.  She went a body length higher than the little man.  It was really funny the way it happened.

Blanca Makes Happy - Here is Proof


One grumpy looking bunch here.  Warm, fresh air, gorgeous sunshine, a beautiful wonderful spring day, walking with good friends at the paradise that is Norm's Island, enough to make anybody grumpy.

But then along comes Blanca to save the day;  Woof, hey you guys life is good.  Life is wonderful. Let's be happy.



Weak posting, I know, but I wanted to show the photos of my good friends I am fortunate enough to be able to walk with at Norm Schoenthal Island.  That is them in the second photo with my Nina Blanca.  I have no idea who the grumps in the first photo are.

April 13, 2013

Curious Girl and Friends


Beautiful Sweet Bally.  Bally and I have a thing.  We really like each other.  She is absolutely the sweetest girl. She is very similar to Chocolate, very soft and gentle.  She is always eager to see me.


Luckily, Blanca likes Bally.  It seems that Choco and Blanca favor very much other dogs of their breed.  There best friends on Norm's Island are all Aussies.  It is a wonderful thing when we come upon Kay and all four Aussies greet and play with each other.  Kay's Rollo seems to keep aside.  Of course Finny jumps right in the middle of it all, being especially rowdy with Selkie.


Blanca being curious about a new comer.  This is Skippy.  Love his ears.  We see Skippy quite often.


This picture is from this past December, but it is one of my favorite photos, so I include it here again because I mentioned Selkie and Rollo, and here they are.  L-R;  Rollo, Selkie, Nina Blanca, and Sweet Bally.

April 11, 2013

Aawwwwww


We are sad today because today is the last day we will see the beautiful girls Karla and Koda.  They are  moving back to Washington tomorrow.  They have been walking at Norm's for I think it is one year now, about how old Koda is.  We will miss them, they are one of our favorite peeps and pups to walk with. Finnegan likes to play with Koda.


Koda will not miss Nina Blanca I am afraid, Blanca was always nipping at her, telling her to stay away from me.  Blanca is not very fond of energetic dogs, which Koda certainly is, their erratic behavior puts her on edge.
As always, if you click on a photo, it gets BIG!


Koda's studio portrait. What a beautiful girl.  I was never able to capture the wiggleness she displayed.  She is always flipping and jumping.  Very fun dog. We will miss them both.  Good Luck Girls.

April 7, 2013

Chocolate Sunday


A pleasant photograph of my boy Chocolate.  He does not always photograph well, but I really like this one.  After my last post which was heavy on pictures of Nina Blanca, I figured that Choco deserved a post of his own.
We have been hanging out in the yard a lot yesterday and today.  It is raining a little, but the light is fantastic.  This was taken with the Nikon 1 V1, which I am beginning to like more than I initially did.  I have been working with it, learning its parameters.  It did a really nice job here, I think.

April 4, 2013

Beautiful Early Warm Spring


We have been spending long hours at the Island the last few days, it is gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.  It is kinda worrisome that it is so warm so early, but we are enjoying it.  The negatives of course are we are already doing tick inspections several times a walk, and I am feeling ticks on me all the time.  So far we have not found any, just fantom ticks.
My fans have probably given up on my ever posting anything again on this blog, well fans, here it is.
Blanca cares little for sticks, unless of course Choco has one. She takes them from the softie all the time.  He seems to be content with his role in life and does not fight it.
I like how the light is bouncing off Blanca and lighting the end of the log.


Blanca is smart, I cannot get Chocolate to carry sticks at the middle. He has a strong preference for the ends, probably because they are where he likes to chew.


Linda calls Blanca Princess, suggesting that I favor her.  Ha! no way.  Do you think?  She will walk away from this stick is 7 seconds and Chocolate will come and get it.


Princess, opps, I mean Blanca, up a tree.  We have been working on walking on logs.  This one is at 45 degrees, and they all three will go up it, it has bark and it is big.  Blanca will walk on most anything, as will Finnegan, but Chocolate usually will go around, no matter how many obstacles he has to negotiate.
This photo shows one of the issues with Blanca's eyes.  They are set low in her eyeball.  This, with limited function of her pupils, restricts her sight.  Wish they had eye charts for dogs so we could tell how much.
Looks like this has turned into Nina Blanca's post.  We had a wonderful time at Norm's.

March 25, 2013

We LOVE Emma


Yesterday we were lucky and were able to photograph Finnegan's good friend Emma.  It went really well.  I have some great pictures of her on black which I will post one of soon.  Emma is a beautiful and wonderful girl.  This is the very first frame of the photo session, so there may be even better ones, I just was so happy with it I posted the first thing I looked at.


I need a bunch of space between the above photo and the next one, we went 180 degrees on this one.
The promised black on black photograph;


I kinda like it.  Not my usual style, but hey! so what.