Focus? Who Cares, it's Snowing.

It has been a really long time since we have tried this. I am using my new (newer) Olympus OM-D 10, which I have never tried doing this with before. It does not have the focus speed that my usual Nikons have, but then, nor do I. I made some mistakes, next time I will try to fix them. The camera has a quadzillion settings, so getting them all set right is one big issue.

This one came out pretty good. You can see Blanca on the left. They are running around a group of bushes. The camera will not follow focus, tracking, so I have to plan to get the photo at a predesignated spot. I have done this before and can get pretty good at it, as long as I know the routine of the chase. I did most of these with the shutter too slow. Been awhile.

They come running at each other, it looks like for sure they are gonna collide, but they just slide by one another. They do not chase, but run in opposite directions. Sometimes they will do this for 15 minutes, but only in the winter.

Here comes Chocolate.

I am hesitant to post this, Blanca looks so vicious. But it is all in the game. She thinks that Choco is her chew toy. He puts up with it, to a point. He has 10 pounds on her, not that it does him much good. She has 50 pounds of attitude on him.
They had an absolute riot. They love the snow. I enjoyed myself too. I love my kids.

First Snow

It's finally here, the First Snow. November 20. It was cold too, in the mid-twenties. Cold only because we are not used to it yet. We cut half a lap off, because it was blowing in our faces and ChocoBlanca were having issues with snow in their feet.
Saw a post on Facebook this morning; "I am not built for Winter, where are my flipflops". Feeling that way now.

My boy gets his own photo. This is a good photo of him. He does not always please the camera so much. Blanca is always getting the attention. 

It was really snowing for awhile. It was very pleasant. But it was cold. We were the first footprints through this section. When I arrived ours was the only car in the parking lot except for Merle, who is there all the time. But someone had been out earlier, there were foot prints.

Beautiful Fall Day, with Fox

Beautiful Day at Norm's Island. My kids and I were sitting in a field north of Dog Beach and out of the brush and onto the trail comes this beauty. She was walking away from us, so I barked and she turned to look at us. Thank You. Even though she was close, she was pretty far away for a camera. This is a 300mm lens and it is cropped. It was thrilling to see her.
Hopefully more to come. This is the the most beautiful fall I can remember, but then I love them all.

Skoobie

We see Skoobie at Norm's several times a week. Not so sure about that spelling. He is a very attractive mix of an Australian Shepherd and an Airdale. Pretty energetic. He walks with his peeps Cheryl and Jack, who are good friends with Sharon Peterson's son Scott. Sharon has been telling me about them for months, and today (it was a couple of weeks ago, I moved this post from May 13, wanted Skoobie to have his own posting) for the first time she met them. It was fun. I would like to get more photographs of Skoobie, he has a very nice personality, plus is a great looking dog.

Friends

Ah, it sure is nice to have friends. Michael E. Garcia and Missy Seu, my friends. Thank You.

Just to keep my faithful blog followers happy, I paste a current photo of myself. Taken on my recent birthday, and sporting my new hat, a Ridley C-Crown Fedora. I like it. It is the best fitting hat I have ever had, it is stretchy.  I got it at The Village Hat Shop, on the internet. Not a popular style in Billings.

Blanca Smiles Choco Grimaces

It's okay Choco. Still playing with my new Olympus OM-D. I am just beginning to figure how to get it to focus the way I want, so we have to endure a lot of photos of my kids, the most at lens subjects.

Got a Brand New Camera

This is a Test

Here is my first test photo. The new camera is an Olympus (let's see if I can remember all this) OM-D E-M10. Very small, but high performing camera.  I am making no judgements about it yet, I just got it yesterday. It is small, I will say that. Has lots of customization options (overwhelming, actually).

Anyway, Diego Garcia, with my kids, Nina Blanca Pup Face Finnegan and Chocolate Dulce de Leche. Today was a gorgeous day at Norm's Island. We walked with Diego's peep, Mike, and totally enjoyed the whole time.

Spring 2015. One Year Later.

I have been feeling some pressure to post to my blog before a full year passed and finally the motivation arrived. I got an email from my dear friend Ann Marie, whom I had lost track of for twenty five or so years.  So Ann Marie this is what we are looking like circa 2015. Nina Blanca and my boy Chocolate join me for our official spring 2015 portrait. Spring has been very early this year, and I am very late in getting the portrait taken, swat those mosquitoes. Not a very charming photo of my girl and my best friend, but a better than usual photo of me. Finnegan would not participate.
Photo by my great friend Michael E. Garcia

"Whatcha doin" says Blanca.  "Get on with it, would you" says Chocolate

More to Come (maybe not)

This is Rudy.  Beautiful high energy dog that walks at Norm's with his peep Karen and friend Nikki.

We have several new photos to post, but since it is a holiday and I expect everyone is looking at my blog I figured that I better get to it.  I will.

First Timer - Bentley

Hey Whatcha doin?  This is Bentley.  Last Thursday, April 10 was his first time at Norm's.  To say that he had a blast would be to understate it.  All new stuff.  At first he was a bit shy of my "big" dogs, but he cottoned on quickly.  He is a great little man, he has a wonderful presence about him.  He will be walking at Norm's with his peep Sharon.  We enjoyed walking with him emmensely.

As always, one click on the photo and it gets BIG.

Notice The Green Stuff?

Wadda ya mean, I'm in a rut.  Go on, get your dogs to sit like this every time you ask.  This is close to being our official spring portrait, but alas, not enough green.

Strike a Pose Chocolate

My beautiful confirmation perfect TRose Kennels Master Chocolatier Dulce de Leche.  23 inches at the shoulders, perfect. 56 pounds. Perfect.  Actually his eyes are too big. Not perfect.  Pink nose, not perfect. Oh well.  I never even registered  him.  I just love him and He just loves me. My very bestest buddy he is.

Fergus's Day is Everyday! at Norm's

This is the boss.  Fergus.  He walks at Norm's every morning with his peep Larry.  Fergus is small but carries a big attitude.  On this day we found him to be pretty playful, so we took the opportunity to snap a few photographs of him.

Don't let anyone fool you, Fergus is a really great fella.  We like him. Even Blanca gives him the nod.

Choco Blanca's Sister Little Girl

Looking for something else yesterday I came upon this picture I took several years ago of Little Girl, the sister of Chocolate and Blanca.  She is a beauty, I think.
It was a very disappointing outdoor photo session, it was windy and the sky was clear and bright and the light was harsh and the dogs would not cooperate.  So I never, after one quick look, looked at the proofs again, until yesterday.  It still was a disaster, except for this picture of this beautiful girl.  I believe she would be 7 months old here.  Very regal look.

Master and Student

Chocolate, the student, is followed by the master, Diego.  Blanca could not care less about the ball, but she likes to harass her brother Chocolate.  Three happy dogs.
Diego taught Choco several things.  How to go for the ball with vigor, to go into the water after the ball, also with vigor (though Choco has not mastered that yet, he is still hesitant sometimes)
When they first met Diego would pick on Choco.  But now when they see each each other they run up and bump chests.  Choco idolizes Diego.  It is fun to watch.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.