1 Year Anniversary Session

People get Engagement photos before they are married, so why not get Anniversary photos, AFTER they are married? I think surviving a year of marriage is a bigger achievement than just planning to get married. So do Robin and Wes, the happy couple I had the opportunity to photograph last weekend for their 1 year anniversary. They were even happier than many engaged couples I know, which speaks highly about their relationship. Thanks for being so adorably smitten with each other, y’all!

All photos taken with Canon 6D and 50mm f/1.2L, RAW format, processed in Lightroom and finished in Photoshop

First Maternity Session!

I haven’t done much “human” photography lately, but one of my best friends in the world is about to become an Aunt and her brother and sister-in-law let me use them as guinea pigs for my very first maternity session. I was super excited to see how these turned out… talk about an adorable couple!

 

 

All photos were taken with the Canon 6D and 50mm f/1.2L lens.

Fuzzy Puppies and Fluffy Stuff

These are the beautiful little monsters we’ve been fostering over the past two months… God knows I love them to pieces but can’t wait for my sanity to return. We’re down to 2… the deaf babies, of course. They aren’t so bad. They sleep like a rock and have tons of fun playing together. Luckily we have experience with deaf dogs (Buckley) so they aren’t hard at all. Love these babies… and they are SUPER photogenic. My gosh!

 

A Few Furry Faces {May}

I’ve been so busy lately, I haven’t had a lot of free time to sneak down to the shelter, but I managed to go a week ago. With the help of another volunteer, Chuck (thanks so much!), I was able to catch these guys (and gals) at their best…

 

Thor-in-a-box

My parents gave us a lovely wooden bench to sit on our back porch. It has a nifty little area that opens up and allows you to put junk and whatnots inside. We generally use it to keep our shoes in, but its most prominent occupant is an array of dog toys… and Thor knows it. So, every day, we let him outside to do his biz, and next thing I know, he’s sitting on the box, barking at us to open it for him and get out a tennis ball or frisbee and play. I’ve never met a dog more obsessed with toys.

Anyway, today he decided to stick his whole upper body in the box and Ryan just so happened to help his back end in the box too. So, there he sat. In his little toybox, staring at me like, “where did all the toys go?”

Pretty boy…

Thor in a Box

My pretty red boy

 

These photos were taken with my Canon 6D and 50mm f/1.2L lens in mid to late evening light. Adjusted in Lightroom.

Saint PAWtrick’s Day

As some of you already know, I live in a town named Dublin, which is located in the middle Georgia area. It was named by (you guessed it!) Irish settlers who thought the land reminded them of home. (I wish…) Dublin is about halfway between Atlanta and Savannah, which made it useful in trade of agricultural, textile, and other trading. It was also chosen as the site for a Naval Hospital, built in 1945 to convalesce those suffering from Rheumatic Fever. It is now the Carl Vinson VA hospital, which is where I work. I love my job, and Dublin is a nice enough town of roughly 16,000 people.

Anyway, I ramble… The town is named DUBLIN, after Dublin, Ireland… and of course, Saint Patrick’s Day is kind of a big deal around here. The town hosts a parade and other family activities. It’s a lot less boozier than Savannah, but kid-friendly, and makes things interesting for the locals. I’m not Irish at all (or at least that I know of… I’m Scottish, English, Cuban, Spanish, and Italian, actually… I describe myself as 25% Hispanic and 75% Generic White Girl) BUT I enjoy any kind of holiday and an excuse to act sillier than usual.

The Humane Society got in on the action, hosting a “St. PAWtrick’s Day” Dog Costume contest. And of course, since I am the volunteer photographer for the shelter, I was asked to come on down and shoot the event. It was going in the paper, website, and Facebook page, so, off I go with my camera in tow.

It was pretty cute… Here are a few of my favorites:

Copywronged

Something strange has happened.

One of my favorite images has been “stolen” and reused. When I say reused, I mean hundreds of wallpaper websites are using it. Literally, hundreds of hits came up when I did a reverse image search on it. Everything from demotivational posters to Facebook pages to bar advertisements to music pages, there it was. Here’s a snippit of what came up (with many more from where this came from):

The image is about 4 years old. I took it during my 2nd year of pharmacy school, with my very first DLSR, the Canon Rebel XS and a “nifty fifty” 50mm f/1.8, nonetheless. It is of my friend in pharmacy school. He asked me if I would go out and take some photos with him and his guitar, and being an ambitious little wannabe photographer, I happily obliged as a birthday gift for him. It was a blast! One of the best photo shoots I’ve ever had, and one of the most successful shoots I ever had… or at least I thought it was great. Toward the end of our venture around Savannah, he told me about this mechanic shop nearby that had some old junk classic cars out back. We stopped by, checked out the cars in the back and I positioned him in front of an old Cadillac. I took his whole body first, but then I realized that the guitar aligned with the Cadillac’s grill and I knelt to take a photo up close, without his upper body in the photo. About that time, the owner of the shop came out, and I apologized for disturbing him. He laughed and said, “Oh hell, I don’t know why anyone would want a picture of that junk, but take all you want!”

Turned out to produce one of my best images, even to this day it is one of my favorites of all time.

This is it:

^ Notice I added a watermark? Yeah.

 

So, you might be wondering… Does it bother me that someone stole my image? Yes and no.

#1. It’s my image. I took it, it is my work. Stealing is stealing.

BUT… at the same time…

#2. I posted it on the internet (on my Smugmug) without a watermark. Oops. This pretty much gives anyone access to it. If I post it out there, well, it’s a risk.

So, if I hadn’t, then we might not even be discussing it, or talking about what a cool picture it must be… which brings me to…

#3. If someone has “stolen” the image, it is because it was good enough that someone wanted it. That is flattering. It tells me that if people want to use it. They like it. They want to put it on their Facebook page to promote their business, or on their blog because it looks good.

This tells me that it is good enough to get on iStockphoto or something of the like. So, in the end, I guess I am flattered. And of course, I can always hire DMCA to do a takedown.

Really, though, I wonder if it bothers my friend… it’s MY image, of course… but after all, it’s HIS crotch that is all over the internet. 😉

{ Drucilla & Chuck }

As most of you know, I am somewhat of a regular at the local Humane Society. I show up ever so often, camera in tow, prepared to crawl into dog pens and photograph scared, dirty, and unhappy animals. It’s challenging to capture the spirit of an animal when they are often lost and heart broken. I am diligent, however, and will not leave until I catch a glimpse of this dog or cat’s soul, just so a potential adopter can see the beauty that I see.

I say all this, not to brag on myself. I need no congratulations or pat on the back. However, I would like to acknowledge someone else who is far more diligent than myself. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some very dedicated, amazing people. The director, George, his wife, Dee, some of the workers and volunteers at the shelter (like Reggie, Cindy, and Debbie, just to name a few) who have been more than helpful during my visits. One particular volunteer, however, I have become most fortunate to know.

This man is a Navy veteran, dog lover, and as a journalist, he is one heck of a good writer. His name is Chuck Warzyn, and despite ups and downs in his own life, one thing is certain: he WILL go to that shelter at least 3 days a week and walk those dogs, and he WILL go to that shelter and give them all fresh Kong balls filled with peanut butter, and he WILL ensure I am updated on what photos need to be taken/changed/moved/deleted/replaced. And he does it all so eloquently, whether it be by telephone or e-mail.

On my way out of the shelter on Saturday, Chuck mentioned that he wanted a photo of Drucilla, the resident Irish Deerhound, jumping up with her paws on someone’s shoulders, just to demonstrate her size to any potential adopters. He happily volunteered to be the “shoulders”.

This is what we got…

I just loved it.

Humane Society Furry Faces {{ DEC 7 }}

Dublin Laurens Co. Humane Society, Dublin, Georgia

www.dublinlaurenshumanesociety.org

Phone:   478-272-5341

 

Look at that sweet spotted nose!

Man’s best friend

This is my happy face!

Sweetest face ever!

Big brown eyes and 2 pointy ears

Are those treats you have?

 

 

Dirty little face and a big sweet heart

Meeting Miss Lawton

In Boneventure Cemetery, there is but one monument that stands out among the rest. Although it is not towering high, or even massive in volume, it has drawn myself as well as hundreds of others to seek it. It’s a plain statue. A portrait of stone. To say it is simple would be unjust, but it truly is. It’s just a young girl, in the likeness of the deceased, posed ever so appropriately at the side of her own grave. She looks as if she is weeping for the loss of herself. But alas, she is not weeping. She has no eyes, no true expression, just spheres of stone. If you look close enough, you may see them. You may even believe them to move. Her mouth is posed open, in just a slight way. You cannot tell if it is meant to express surprise, loss, confusion, helplessness, hopelessness. Part of you wants to tell her that she will be okay. But then you realize, she is not real. It’s an illusion and an image which has ingrained itself into the minds and continues to haunt all of those who visit… Including myself.

Her epitaph reads, “Allured to brighter worlds and led the way.” What a beautiful sentiment. Such a nice way of indicating someone has passed. I can somehow picture the statue, coming to life, with her flowy dress and clutching her flowery wreath, running through the flowers and trees, finding a brighter world. All the while, the mortals (we) follow her lead…Not knowing what is next, but following, nevertheless…

There are many tails about Corinne Elliott Lawton, the person who came before the corpse who now lies in this plot. Stories have spun through the centuries until a tale of unattainable love and suicide is concocted, and is now fed to tour groups daily. Alas, it is but a fable.

Corinne, living in the dark times she did, was stricken by an illness. According to her mother’s diary from around that time, it appeared to be a severe respiratory infection of some sort. Or perhaps even a dreadful common cold. (Yellow Fever epidemic? Pneumonia? The Flu?) Days passed, and Corinne appeared to be doing better, however the illness reared its ugly head once more and finally took Corinne down with it. Written in her mother’s diary, Corinne drew her last breath on January 24th, 1877.

Corinne’s father was of nobility, of high rank in the confederate army, hence the elaborate statue you find in Boneventure. He commissioned a famous Italian artist to create the likeness of his beloved daughter and turn her into stone. Now she sits there eternally.

He did a fine job.

Meet Corinne.