Catching up on Omaha!

   I took a quick weekend trip up to Omaha July 6-8 with Allyson and Scott—my first time at the Henry Doorly zoo! I was shooting with my brand-new Canon EOS Rebel t4i (which, admittedly, I don't even know how to use yet), and Scott borrowed my Sony HX1. We both got some great shots, and I'm working on posting them now. Scroll down to the "blog archive" pulldown menu on the right and select the appropriate date range to see what we captured.

Birds on the beach

   Met a couple of macaws on the beach today. And there just happened to be a pro photographer nearby...

Asombroso!

   PADI just posted this photo by Armond A on their Facebook page: cave diving in Mexico! I'll be doing 2 cenote dives with the group, among other dives, in little over a week. Equal parts mind-blowingly amazing & frightening.

Omaha Zoo: Flocks of Birds

Peacock in hiding

His adorable family! (ARGH! My photo is blurry!!!)  :(

Scott gives Ms. Peacock a wide berth

Stork, sans baby

Flamingo quarrel

Meanwhile, a sweet moment between ibis

Watching from under the bridge

Spoonbill storks and their gangly, pink babies

A very serious-looking snowy egret

Testing, Testing... 1, 2, 3

   These are from the first series of shots I took on my new camera. The evening light was beautiful, so the dogs obliged as my models first.

   And then Kismet came out for a quick shot. It was already starting to get dark, and I wasn't sure how to compensate for it with the camera.

   As I was trying to figure that out, some loud, deep yowls came from the other side of the fence! Kismet looked worried, then ran and hid under the deck. It was a gentleman caller from next door, Mitty Moo, who jumped right up onto my 6' fence to say hello. I took a few shots, then he gave up (because Kismet wanted nothing to do with him!) and he took off. The session was over for the night!

   It will be very interesting to look back at these months from now and notice how I've improved. I'm hoping to find a good class to take to jump-start my learning, since I've used digital cameras with automatic features for so many years. I've heard of f-stop and aperture and ISO, but am not sure how to use them to my advantage just yet...

Happy 4th!!!

(Note: NOT taken with new camera!)

   Happy Independence Day to all. I celebrated by—finally—investing in a semi-pro DSLR camera (Canon EOS Rebel T4i... and I can't wait 'til it's charged & ready to try it out!!!) So hopefully my blog photography will be getting an upgrade soon. 'Til then, please enjoy these iPhone shots of some delectable treats I whipped up this afternoon.
   Sure, tacos brimming with homemade salsa may not be the traditional food of July 4th, but why not, I say?

    And I found a recipe this week for no-bake red-white-and-blue fruit tarts, so I quadrupled the recipe and am going to surprise my team tomorrow. (Okay, and maybe eat one myself tonight, too.)

Friendship & Photographs

   My friend Rick is amazing. Not only is he super knowledgeable and talented, but he's equally generous and thoughtful. He took me on a great hike on my first day in Portland last November, and loaned me a fantastic hiking guide for the Columbia Gorge (which totally got rain-soaked despite my best efforts, and he wasn't even upset!). Since Rick & his wife have a dear dog with kidney disease, he knew all too well what I was going through these past few months, when I quickly lost both kitties.
   Rick recently surprised me by sending me a few prints of one of my favorite Gypsy photos, on several different high-quality papers. Each has subtle differences in value, color, and texture and I can't even pick a favorite. Rick joked that I could wallpaper the house with them, and I just might.
   What a sweet, thoughtful gift… sure to be as treasured as the creature who inspired them. THANKS, RICK!!!
   Rick is a keen observer of nature, an incredible photographer, and relishes life—which all comes through in his work. I hope you'll check it out. Great stuff.

images © Copyright Rick Stare

Gyppy Photography

   I've been making a point to get some good photos of Gypsy while she still looks and feels as good as possible. (Yes, even more photos than usual!) She is such a striking cat, and so dear to me, that I want to capture her spirit to, in a sense, keep her with me forever.

"Now, how would *I* know why your pink sweater is covered with black & white hair?!"

I love how she sits with her white paws together

morning sunlight

Handsome Mr. Tay

Handsome Mr. Tay (an experiment with Camera+ on iPhone)

   Eric is teaching me why I should like Camera+ (and after seeing the filters, I do!) and now that I like that, he's selling me on Snapseed, which has even finer control over images.

iPhone 4s Photo

Gyp approves of the new iPhone!

   Not sure how to work the camera yet... so far I'm getting a bunch of blurry shots... yet, already better than my old Blackberry! And now for the Instagram version. I love you, iPhone...

Random Hallmark Moments: Shibas in Crown Center

   The pups have their photo shoot today, & they've been sleeping in the car all morning. So I took them for a quick tour of Crown Center & showed them the Mayor's Christmas tree. 

"This is going to require a lot of pee. Anybody got a bowl of water?"

Oh, finally, we get to go in the building!

So this is an elevator, eh? Like it. I can see a lot of squirrels from here.

   As far as the photo shoot itself, let's just say that the theme was Christmas (appropriately), and all three of us were dressed in ridiculous attire and asked to ham it up. It's going to be awesome... Thanks, Danielle!

Holiday Cheer

   I picked up some props at Petco tonight, in preparation for a photo shoot at work next week, starring none other than my furry beasts. I thought they needed to practice wearing them, so here you have it:

Keoki + the Ski Patrol Dogs

   While grabbing an après-ski Starbucks coffee at Northstar, I noticed a large photo hanging above the fireplace: "Nine dog sunrise", with nine Golden Retrievers sitting on a ski lift. Upon researching the photographer, Keoki Flagg, I found that Gallery Keoki sits in the village at Squaw Valley and features other, similarly-charming canine portraits. Keoki does a great job of capturing the joy on these working dogs' faces. Here's Rasco:

   And here are the two ski patrol dogs I met down at Heavenly, on top of the Dipper Express lift at the ski patrol station. Meet Madeline & Boulder. Adorable!

   My dogs would LOVE to be here with me playing in the snow. (And until I get a little faster on the board, they could practically run alongside me, too!)

Using Art for Good

   Much like our own Jana Brunner at The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, photographer Teresa Berg lends her talents to a local shelter in Dallas, Texas. By taking warm, emotional, colorful photos of the pets, they find homes much easier than their dark & blurry, behind-bars counterparts on most shelters' sites. Bravo, Teresa! And Jana too! (As seen on CBS Sunday Morning, 9/18/11.)