Must Use Flashbender

So, at Christmas I was given a FlashBender - it's a small-ish, flexible reflector that I can attach to my 580EXII flash unit. Yesterday, I learned that I need to actually USE it, too!

I was at ICAN taking photos of two new clients, Meadow and Lois. In the past, bouncing the flash off the white ceiling has been sufficient but, yesterday, for some reason, perhaps the dark colours of the cats' fur, I didn't seem to be getting the nice light onto their faces. (Of course, you only notice this after you get home and download the images!)

Next time ...

Anyway, both of these cats will be available to adoption soon: Meadow was found wandering around Fairmont, and Lois, who's only about 12 weeks old, was found dumped at the mill in Radium Hot Springs. As always, photos are available on my smugmug page, but here are a couple of my fav's from the session:

Meadow

Lois

Quiet Time

Early in the year and it's very quiet ... not much activity anywhere when it comes to my photography, either!

Today I took some photos of Billy-Bob, the newest feline client at ICAN ... an unneutered male who was found wandering around Dry Gulch. Such a pretty boy! More photos of him on smugmug.

Billy-Bob

I've been keeping myself busy with my 365 Project. Three and a half weeks into it already! I'd love to have you follow along and participate in the subject selection, so please do drop by my photography Facebook page and have a look at the galleries!

First Dog Session

Today I got to take photographs of two pet dogs ... dogs who I've never met before, and who weren't "related" to me through family or friends.

I was SO nervous ... and thus managed to pick a shutter speed that wasn't quite fast enough (won't do that again!) ... but I got enough satisfactory shots from the outing to do for now.

Oh, and it was below -10C out, so it was VERY cold for everyone! Needless to say, we didn't stay out long - only about 20 minutes!

Here are Sammy and Chloe, two foster dogs at ICAN who've just been adopted!

Sammy

Chloe

Thanks to these two sweetie-pies, I've now started an ICAN dog gallery in Smugmug!

For those of you who're following along on my photography Facebook page, I'm almost finished week 2 of my 365 project. This week's topic is doorways.

Last week's subject was a grave marker from a different decade for each day.

Next week's ideas are being submitted as we speak ... be sure to add your thoughts, and "like" the best so that I know what to shoot next week!

See you out there!

Cats and Challenges

I had the pleasure of meeting some of the other vollies at ICAN yesterday ... and enjoyed a Chinese smorgasbord (!) at a restaurant in Invermere that I'd not been to before! The lovely meal was a nice surprise, and the company was awesome!

Before the volly meeting, I popped in at the shelter to take photos of two new guests and to update the photo of one of the more shy residents. All three were a challenge today, but Roscoe was the most difficult! He can usually be found in his basket in a corner behind a lounge chair ... but if you take the time to go and say hi and have a little cuddle, you'll find it's very difficult to take his photo because he's wrapped around one of your legs from that moment on!

Here are a few photos ... the best are on smugmug:

Roscoe

Zeddy

Miss Kitty

Don't forget that I've recently started a new 365 project ... this year I'm putting the photos on my photography Facebook page, so be sure to click "like" so that you can follow along! Meanwhile, here's the link to the gallery from the first week so far!

Happy New Year! A New 365 Project!

It's 2012! Here's wishing everyone a healthy, happy, and prosperous trip around the sun!

And here's Day 1 of my second 365 project! Some of you may remember that I did a similar thing from summer 2010 to summer 2011. The object of the exercise is to take one photo every day that you're willing to share with the world. In the last 365P, I just shot what "came to me". There was no particular theme.

This time, I'm making it a bit more interesting and, no doubt, challenging! Instead of just running the 365P on my personal FB page, I'm posting it on my photography page this time! And I'm letting my fans choose and vote on what topic I will shoot each week! So at the end of each week, I'll be asking for subject ideas ... and the idea that gets the most "likes" on my FB page will be what I shoot for that week. What I shoot can be anything from "happiness" to "houses" to "horses" to "hurricanes" and everything inbetween!

My NYIP friend, Gavin, suggested that I shoot "a gravestone for a different decade each day of the week". I was really hoping to be eased into this 365P gently but, no, Gav's topic pipped Karen's "animals" overnight, by one vote!

Well, let me tell you, hauling out your camera in the middle of a cemetary in broad daylight is VERY uncomfortable ... at least, I was uncomfortable! Not that I'd want to do it in the middle of the night, mind you, but I can't image what passers-by were thinking about what I was doing!

This is the final resting place of Natia Nettie Forostiak Rzepa, who was born in Manitoba in 1918, and departed our mortal coil early in 2004. I took the photo from behind the gravestone because I love the etching, and because I wanted to show you a bit of the wonderful mountain view that Natia has:

Here's the link to the gallery for this first week's project, if you'd like to follow along!