Saturday, May 03, 2008

Same Clothes, Different Outfit

One of the reasons I take photography classes is to force myself to step outside my comfort zones and look at things differently. It's easy, and tempting, to colour in the lines I already know - my dogs, and their canine buddies, do cute and/or funny things often enough to keep this blog full of material forever and a day. But coming up with new ways to take photos of the same old things is one way to make myself better at what I do. And when I'm better at what I do, you get more bang for your buck.

So, for example ... those of you who've been with 3WAAW for the long haul know that I like to take photos of wet dogs shaking. I especially like to take photos of wet Tweed shaking because he makes the funniest faces EVAH. But traditionally it has been difficult to take photos of Piper shaking because Piper only wants to shake while she is standing on the tips of my beach boots.

Most photos of Piper shaking turn out as a shower of drops with the following commentary from yours truly "Oh for f*ck sakes Piper, you got the lens all wet - oh HEY! Stop that! Christ! My pants are soaked-NOT-THE-CAMERA, NOTTHECAMERA!" etc.

To me, behind the camera, Piper Shaking often looks like this:

Tweed, OTOH, stands a reasonable distance from The Food Lady and tries to shake downwind. So today I snuck up on him a bunch of times and took photos of him shaking up close and personal. Turns out, he still makes The.Best.Faces.Ever no matter where you stand to take the photo.

Better:
ha ha!

During photo class, we often wander around the island and take photos of stuff. I somehow always end up getting photos of someone's dog (shocking, I know). Today's subject was the one-eyed wonder known as Patches:

Someone else shot this happy little guy, but not with a camera :( He's a good soul though, and doesn't hold it against anyone.

He's a rescue pup. And rescue pups are the bestest, as we all know (plug plug plug).

When you take a photo, you are framing a moment in time.

Border collies are smart, and do the framing themselves. If they had thumbs, they'd take their own damn photos, thanksverymuch.
(Also, they'd each like a Venti-no-foam-vanilla-soy latte while I'm in there. Kthnxbai)

And then there's Mad Teeth (tm). Piper still has them, but she likes to lend them to Tweed these days. Tweed likes to use them on Very Big Dogs.

Sometimes you just have to look into the light and shoot. Sometimes the results are magical.

And sometimes one of your dogs turns 8 years old and you take advantage of that occasion by buying that dog a cake and then taking mean, evil photos of No Touching and Cake Anticipation and the like. Sure, you've done it before but it's still pretty damn funny.

Check back later in the week for photos of such a criminal event.

Lastly, this past week we said goodbye to Buster, a good rescue dog who lived a long and happy life with his mum Wendy, and who will be greatly missed.

RIP Buster.





12 comments:

b13 said...

Thats some coat on buster. Great shots all around. And I agree with you on the rescues. They need our help in a BIG way.

What speed/settings where those "shake" pictures taken at?

And my Devon takes all of my "self portraits" for me.. who the f*ck needs thumbs? ;)

The Border Collies said...

"What speed/settings where those "shake" pictures taken at?"

When it comes to action shots I generally let my camera select the shutter speed while I deal with the aperture. Most of my action shots are taken with a zoom lens. I don't post my EXIF data though, because a girl needs to have some secrets ;-)

And a big thumbs up to rescue dogs ... except maybe Tweed.

Anonymous said...

My goofy (rescue!) dog waits until my attention is elsewhere and THEN she shakes. She's modest, apparently, as I've never been able to capture it with a camera.

I'm another one who looks for EXIF data on photo sites, particularly since I'm in the market for a new camera. I'm currently straddling the Nikon/Canon fence.

Decisions, decisions.

The Border Collies said...

I'm another one who looks for EXIF data on photo sites, particularly since I'm in the market for a new camera. I'm currently straddling the Nikon/Canon fence.

Well, I wish I could help you there but I'm a Canon girl. For whatever reason, Nikon doesn't float my boat. But you don't really need other people's EXIF data to make a decision purchase, what you need for that is model data and reviews! I'd visit fredmiranda.com for stuff like that.

Good luck to you!

Tracy said...

I guess Tweed is 8 now, huh, since Caiman will be soon.

Wowzers.

I don't plan to get him a cake. I don't plan to take evil "can't touch this" photos either, so it might be a fair trade off.

Katie said...

Wonderful shots! I love the one where they've framed themselves on the railing.

gracehoper said...

Wow! That's a scary looking shot of Tweed baring his teeth at that mean looking dog with the giant head. Loved all those photos. Keep them coming!

dogzoomies said...

My Ben turns 10 today. I would love to play the "No Touching" game with a lovely enticing cupcake, but from past experience, I know this will be a fruitless endeavor! He still gets a cupcake, I will just have to look forward to the upcoming B-day shots of Tweed(?) and live vicariously through the marvelousness of your "No Touching" and "Cake Anticipation" photos!

Anonymous said...

Oh my! That has got to be one of my new favorite shots of Woo in the water! Magical is a very good word for it!

Anonymous said...

Apparently that Very Big Dog has heard about mad teeth...

Great shots as always.

BC's doing the framing... I'm guessing that's not the only framing they might try to do.

How goes the apartment hunting?

Laura said...

Sophie just turned 8 on Thursday. Or it could have been Wednesday, or Friday, or it could be next Friday. I just picked May 1...

She got no cake, either, though. Instead, she was pawned off on a friend while I left town. Ah, it's not so bad. She got to stay with her buddies Onya and Shadow and dream about eating Sammie the Rat Terrier Who Mistakenly Thinks He Is Large and In Charge.

Love the magical Wootie in the water shot. Love all the Tweed shots, too, of course!

Anonymous said...

Your comments about the water/shaking and "NOTTHE CAMERA!!!" had me ROTFLMAO. A friend and I just did a herculean 10 dog bathing day and videod it....just imagine :-) Lots of "For f*&k's sake!!!" from me...but damn funny footage.