A Whole Bunch of Hot Air!!!

This weekend was an annual balloon launch at my neighborhood park. Didn't realize it till my girl Skittles and I came upon 4 balloons setting up and preparing to launch. Yesterday was a bust cause weather moved in and fog covered the sky.

This morning, things looked more promising out my bedroom window, so I grabbed my gear and my girl and we headed out to the park. Only one balloon set up, but with no intention of launching - wind was blowing the wrong way. And, as it turned out, the sky closed up with fog yet again.

However, I did get some interesting shots. Have a look, hope you enjoy!

To get an idea of the power of these things,
check out the drag marks!

Families waiting, hoping to catch the lift off

Almost as soon as it was up, it was coming down!

Nosy!!

I believe I've mentioned that I volunteer at Balanced Dog training services several times a week. Yesterday, I got a chance to hang out in their day camp with the daycare dogs. Took along my camera, of course, but this time thought I'd try a different perspective, so I limited my lens choice to my 16-35....

Meet Vito - he's got a face you can't help adoring.


Don't know this guy's name, but I called him the nose
cause he kept sticking it into my business...


Then there's the tongue, who thought she should make
sure my lens stayed clean...


Lucy - sweet girl, a bit shy of both me and my camera.
With a little patience and positive association I got
her to not freak when the camera clicked.
Lovable girl!!!


The world's longest dog - part Dachsund, part Airedale
and part nose!!!


See, got the name right, didn't I?!

Horsin' around

So, there's this property I pass all the time on my way to the freeway. It's a large property with horses, but I wouldn't call it a ranch. Unless, of course, any property with horses and a barn constitutes a ranch.

In which case... there's this ranch I pass.... ..... ....

Most times when I run across horses they're too far away for my 70-200 zoom lens. Yesterday morning I got lucky - they were right next to the fence. Parked far enough away to not spook them, then sidled over.

Most times when I see horses, all I get are backsides and sideways glances. Can't get close enough, they wander away. THIS group didn't seem to care that I was there. As a matter of fact, one of them seemed downright happy to pose for me. Here's a few samples of what we came up with...

A profile....

A Head Shot...

And Stretching Excercise!

Hope you enjoy...

Shooting in Denver - pt 1.

A promising young clothing designer from Albuquerque N.M. came up to Colorado to work with a couple photographers to add his latest designs to his portfolio. He liked my portfolio and asked my help, so we got together in downtown Denver to take advantage of some cool locations there.

I get there just a little ahead of schedule, and his entourage gets there just over an hour late, so I had some time to kill. I wandered around, capturing shots of potential shoot locations, and just stuff in general.

We planned to start at the courthouse that I'd shot the last time I wandered around downtown (there should be a country song there somewhere). On my previous visit, there was a wedding party doing portraits on the south side, so I had to wait till now to get this shot:


I really like the symmetry here - and the lamps really stand out against the marble columns...

At one point I ended up on the 16th St. mall stretch, and happened upon a cool reflection of a building across the street. Seemed cool to include the building across the alley too...


Took lots of shots of textures for playing with photos during post-processing. Can never have enough of those, but by themselves they're nothing special, not worth sharing here. So, I'll end part one with this shot - which I could argue is one of the best shots of the session with RJ. Meet his younger sister Miranda!


Stay tuned, got some great shots of RJ's outfits coming!

Hope you enjoy....

it's all in the angle....

Sitting on the couch watching History channel and glanced over at my girl Skittles. She was anticipating dinner time, early as usual, and was laying there waiting patiently for me to get up and feed her.

She had her paws in so tight to her muzzle I couldn't pass up the shot. Tried a couple different angles, and when I got them into the computer was blown away how different they are!


I bent down over the arm of the couch for this shot, and she didn't move her head, just raised her eyes to look at me. And of course, like us, her eyebrows lifted when she did. The intensity, coupled with the post processing really gives her an intense look. Those that don't know her will likely see a mean, angry dog.

I got down on the ground, and for a change, Skittles didn't get up and come over to visit. Might have something to do with me saying "Stay", but that usually doesn't work. I took a couple shots, and this one had the best emotion. Looks like she's sad, resigned, bored or something...


Like I tell the models I work with: making a small change with your eyes and mouth can make a tremendous change in the emotion captured in the image.

Hmmm.... maybe I should show them these 2 shots......

Back to the Water to shoot Bunnies...

Cotton Crested Water Bunnies to be exact.

After shooting ducks and pelicans and "Batman" birds and boaters and swimmers I finally managed to capture these ellusive bunnies in a rare mid-day appearance. They almost never show themselves when others are around, much less prance and play in the presence of others....

The first one I managed to snap was a tiny little bunny I named Holly. She likes to stare you down, but I know that's just for show. Behind that intense stare is a sweet, friendly and playful spirit.


She was hanging out with another Bunny I nicknamed Amanda. Amanda is a bit shy, but just as nice as Holly. She had a tendency to try to ignore me at first...



So I remained patient, and didn't get too close as they wandered and played with each other. A long lens really helps in these situations. After a bit she got comfy enough to let me capture her grooming her bunny-buddy Holly...


After that, it seemed she didn't mind my presence at all, and even looked at me long enough to catch her frolicking in the water...


By this time Holly was quite used to my presence and graced me with a playful little moment of her own:


Couldn't help but try to out-stare me again, but JUST after I captured this great image she cracked a smile. I'd worn her down!!!



No CCW Bunnies were harmed or abused or undressed in any fashion during the taking of these images. Any implication of nudity was done with the full knowledge and consent of the Bunnies involved. And I have their paw prints on model releases to prove it!!!

Hope you enjoy...

My latest models

Latest project is not directly related to photography - I'm studying dog behavior, training, psychology. I'm working with my friends Nick and Ann of Balanced Dog in Denver Colorado. I've been doing photography for them, capturing their classes as well as their work with project dogs. Check out what we've captured so far, it's interesting stuff!

First, let me introduce my best friend - meet my darling Skittles. Caught her in a chair she knows not to get up on.... Think she knows she's caught?

Not really - I actually invited her up on the chair for some "out the window" shots, and she'd lay down while I goofed with stuff. This was my favorite shot of them all though. Skittles is a really cool model, patient to a fault, but not very responsive to posing suggestions.

Then there's Journey, a stray that was picked up frozen in fear by a creek in Arvada. He was so scared Animal Control Officer Kara couldn't get him to walk to the truck. However, once in the truck, he quickly came out of his shell and visited. Since then he's shown remarkable progress...


After a week in the care of a local vet for ear and eye infections, she came to stay at Indian Tree Pet Lodge to work with Nick and Ann. He was there just under a week when Kara came by to visit with a local camera crew. The crew is documenting Journey's journey (Nick's phrase, not mine ;) in the hopes it will help get him adopted.


Kara was walking her son on the raised platform, used in agility training, to keep him entertained while the crew shot Journey. Journey walked over as Kara and son came down, and fell in behind as they turned and went back the other way. He just wanted to hang out with them!

And then there's Kessel, who came to Nick all the way from Seattle Washington. Kessel is a Plott Hound (nope, I'd never heard of the breed either), is very friendly and upbeat. His owner reported that Kessel had bitten his 12 year old son, and it had something to do with food aggression.


However, in all the time he's been at Animal Tree Pet Lodge, he's shown no aggression of any type at all. So far, he's showing no real bad habits of any kind.

Looking at him with those legs that go on forever, you'd likely think he's a large dog, but he isn't'. Here he is playing with Skittles, who's only 38 lb. (most people think Skittle's is still a puppy when they meet her).


All 3 models are a blast to shoot, but forget staging or posing, just run around and wait for the shot to present itself.

Want great doggy shots? Get down low, crawl on the ground and/or get a right-angle viewer. Too many people stand and shoot their animals, which never does their physique or character justice. Get low, and up close and personal. Oh, and bring lots of Pep-pads to wipe your lens - they will nail it. A lot... Trust me!!!

Hope you enjoy...

Changing Subjects

Since I started this blog, I've posted nature, animal and architectural pictures. However, a large part of what I'm doing right now is Fashion & Glamour photography. Thought I'd share a few shots from my most recent efforts - meet Adriane and Lindsey...

Say "Hi" to Adriane:


Adriane is a hoot to work with. She's enthusiastic, artistic and expressive with her posing. Patient to a fault - and that fault is picking on me!!!! (grin) We've done 2 shoots so far, and I've come to appreciate that Adriane loves what she does, does it with a totally upbeat attitude, and she also loves to joke and tease. And in honor of that, I offer this from our first shoot....


The site we were shooting at has a statue of an eagle landing on a branch. To be fair, Adriane was not aware of the strategic positioning of her and the camera till we reviewed our progress. As soon as she saw it she understood the great mood I was in. Nonetheless, in the realm of who's teased who more - I'm so far behind I just THINK I'm in front...


And may I present Lindsey;


Lindsey is a young lady I contacted about working together, and based on her portfolio I was expecting someone with a strong, serious edge to her. That couldn't be further from the truth, and I was blown away by the sweet, friendly and upbeat lady that showed up at my door. We did an evening/sunset session and caught so many great images. This terrific lady gave me such a range of emotions and characters that I was in heaven.

We started the shoot over by a local car dealership that had an interesting entry to the complex. Sun was getting lower and the light quality was coming alive when she peaked out and gave me just the right little attitude in the shot above.


We ended the session out in a field of weeds and dead trees as the sun set behind the mountains. Of all the fantastic shots we got there, my favorites have to be when she was sitting in this natural throne created by the root ball of a fallen tree. Here I get the greatest little smirk and tease as she played on that tree:


GEEZ I love my job!!!!


I hope you enjoy...

Water Critters

Back to Windsor Lake for our morning walk, we can always count on a variety of critters that hang out on the water. Beautiful day, animated behaviors, and a little of my sense of humor just made my morning...

It's "Caption Day"!!!!!

Hey, lookit me - I'm a Crane, I'm A CRANE!!

Hey, I'm Speedy - Check out that wake, baby!!!

Gear up, flaps down, More power, MORE POWER!!!


PSSST!! Hey, how's my neck?? Feels stiff...

IOk, I got nuthin...
it's a, well, it's a guy in a boat... ...
Yep, nuttin


Hey - you with the camera!!
NanananaNananana, NanananaNananana - BATMAN!!!!
Huh?! Yeah, Right?! Right?!?!

Ahh... The Nature of it all...

A couple days ago, I took Skittles for a walk in a park in Ft. Collins, scouting locations for model shoots. As we left, there was a bit of fog over Windsor, but the sky looked pretty clear. Now, Ft. Collins is about 20 minutes WNW (compass reference - I'm showing off again) of Windsor, and when we got there we had bright clear skies. Played with some backlighting shots with Skittles as my model, and since I keep talking about her, figured I'd show her off a bit...

Besides showing off my beautiful girl (and before you ask - no, that's not a muzzle, it's called a "Gentle Leader", and works much like a horse's halter) I wanted to give you a sense of how bright it was in Ft. Collins at the time.

We get done at the park, and head home into this:


Now, I've been wanting to shoot that tree for quite some time, but this is the first time there was something more than just the tree to make things interesting. Unfortunately, I was late for the best sky. As we started home I saw great variation in the clouds, dark grays, washed out whites, but before I could get to an interesting vantage point the sky got very uniform. Great shot nonetheless, with the sun burning through right above the tree..

And in closing, one shot from this afternoon. Took Skittles out for her mid-day potty run, and on the way back she got interested in a little tiny butterfly (her first one!). It hung around, so I got my camera, came back and was shooting away when a second one came along and started... well, I think the word is mate. They never hooked up, or whatever you call it, and the 2nd guy (gal?) soon took off.

Great shot nonetheless...


Hope you enjoy...

And Urban Scout

Had a chance to visit with a friend/mentor and review my model photography work. Went down and had lunch with him at Earl's on the 16th St. Mall (if you go there, try the steak sandwich - good stuff!). Break out the laptop and review a couple of my latest shoots, and got a ton of good advice and help! Thanks Ricardo!!!

Afterwards, he offered to drive me around and show me some of the really cool spots to shoot models in. Drops me off at my car, and as I started to climb in, I noticed an interesting reflection in the building across the street.


Ricardo gets out of his car and wanders over to see what I'm looking at. Next thing you know, we have our cameras out wandering over to an old court building just down the block. What a wonderful place to shoot in general, and can you imagine shooting (INSERT MODEL'S NAME HERE) in these settings?!




And of course, we can't close this without a shot of the Dark Tower, the Tower of Babel, the (INSERT CUTE TOWER QUIP HERE) that towers above us. Of course, pretty much everything in downtown Denver towers above you, but nonetheless, it's kinda fun finding ways to inject "tower" in this run-on sentence, donchuthink?!


Hope you enjoy...