A Dog and His Ball

Zachary: "Do you mind?"

Dog Blog Post #1053

I was supposed to show something about me, so:

I am owned by a Lacrosse Ball obsessed Golden Retriever.

It is Zachary's favorite Plaything or Toy.

Bonus item: writing not my specialty! :)

Photography Assignment

100 Pictures - "#20. Something about You"

113 Pictures in 2013 - "58. Plaything or Toy"

Natural Light

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Portrait of a Dog

Zachary: "Want to see what I can do?"

Zachary: "First, you turn to the side."

Zachary: "Then you stick your tongue out... likth thith..."

Zachary: "Then twist!"

Dog Blog Post #1054

Above:
Zachary showing off his fine Profile.


Below:
Catching Cookies is a favorite game for Zachary, as much for the Action (the thrill of the catch) as for the Cookies themselves.

Photography Assignment

113 Pictures in 2013 - "#30 A Face in Profile"

100 Pictures (2013) - "#26. Action!"


Good Job, Zachary... have a cookie!

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Fun With Filters

Rippled Glass

Symmetry

Pixelation

Spiral?

Dog Blog Post #1053

Yes, I had a wee bit of fun creating abstracts and symmetry. The spiral was created using Big Huge Labs FX, the rest on my iPhone.

Photography Assignment

113 Pictures in 2013 - "#109 Abstract"


113 Pictures in 2013 - "#67 Symmetry"

The Original

Zachary: "Aw-Shucks"

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Hidden

Now keep your eyes on the ball...

Zachary: "OK"

Zachary: "Watching... watching... watching..."

Zachary: "Hey, where'd you go?"

Zachary: "Not funny."

Zachary: "Whew, there you are."

Dog Blog Post #1050

Oh no! It's a catastrophe!

The Lacrosse Ball is Hidden under the fabric.

What's a dog to do?

Why, dive in right after to save it, of course.

Photography Assignment

100 Pictures (2013) - #33. Hidden

113 Pictures in 2013 - "#21. Hidden or Concealed"

Zachary: "Let's not do that again, OK Mom?"

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© 2013 BZ Dogs - All Rights Reserved

Bitey-Face

Dog Blog Post #940

Photography Assignment

Daily Dog Challenge "449. A Day In The Life"

… of the boys always includes at least one, and often many, games of Bitey-Face.

Above is my favorite of 20 shots, with plenty of...

100 Pictures (2013) "#62. Body Parts"

… crammed into a small space.

There's Henry's left rear leg (center top) bent at a…

Our Daily Challenge - Jan 22, 2013 - "Right Angle"

… with his eye neatly framed by the bend.

We also have Zachary's mouth and his front left paw, also bent at right angles.


Editor's Note: After yesterday's Monday Morning post...

... I figured I needed to show some action!

The Best of the Rest

Zachary: "La la la!!!!!"

Henry: "May the force be with you."

"Grrrrr!!!!!"

Actually, they are completely silent when they play, other than their paws thumping against the wall now and then.

Above, the Fearsome Face is Henry, as is the head on the right, below.

Any takers on guessing which dog is which, above?

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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

Golden Slumbers

Dog Blog Post #925

Photography Assignment

The boys were feeling pretty…

Daily Dog Challenge "434. Mellow"

… today.

Henry is in front, with...

Our Daily Challenge - Jan 7, 2013 - "Just A Touch"

… of Zachary showing behind.

Remembering that old adage, I decided to let…

100 Pictures in 2013 - "#76. Sleeping"

… dogs lie.

Besides, watching their "Golden Slumbers"*** makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

*** 113 Pictures in 2013 - "9. Represent a Beatles song in your image"

I can't say I'm much of a Beatles fanatic, and while I've certainly heard many of their songs over the years, there are few the jump out in mind (and even more tellingly, none have yet made their way onto my iPod.)

So I printed out a list (a very LONG list) of their songs and picked Golden Slumbers for obvious reasons, but I didn't realize that I was quite familiar with the tune, just didn't know the title, until I popped over to iTunes to have a listen.

According to Wikipedia, the song is, "is based on the poem 'Cradle Song', a lullaby by the dramatist Thomas Dekker. The poem appears in Dekker's 1603 comedy Patient Grissel."

Golden Slumbers by the Beatles

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles awake you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

More Sleepy Dogs

Because one can never get enough pictures of sleepy/sleeping dogs - even posing ones...

"Do we HAVE to get up?"

The End

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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

New Year's Day

Oh, come on guys.

It's a beautiful day outside. You can't spend the whole day sprawled out in front of the TV watching football and eating cookies...

... can you???

"It's a guy thing, Mom."

You'll get Cookie Bellies...

(sigh)

I give up.

Dog Blog Post #919

Photography Assignment

Our Daily Challenge - Jan 1, 2013 - "One Day"

… in the life of your typical suburban…

113 Pictures in 2013 - "#3. Canine"

… with the boys saying

Daily Dog Challenge "428. Hello 2013!"

… on…

100 Pictures (2013) - "#99. New Year's Day"…

… in that most typical of American Male way - by watching way too much football and eating way too many snacks.

The Monthly Scavenger Hunt January 2013 - "9. Photo taken on January 1st 2013"

Prop Tip

While I might show a bowl full of cookies in pictures, most of the time I fake it by using a smaller container to fill up as much space as possible.

Add a dusting of cookies on top, and you're good to go.

Why bother?

Because filling these bowls with cookies takes a LOT of cookies, and sometimes I simply don't have enough in the cupboard to do the job.

This method also reduces my loses in the event of drooling.

Editor's Note: Oops, looks like I jumped the gun posting the boy's New Year's Resolutions yesterday, so here they are again for the New Year's Resolution Blog Hop. If you click on them you'll see a full-sized (more readable) image.

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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

On Vacation???

Dog Blog Post #770

Photography Assignment

• Our Daily Challenge - Aug 4, 2012 - "Journey"
• 100 Pictures - "36. Vacation"
• Daily Dog Challenge"278. With A Flourish"

Good grief, what are those two up to now?!?!

The Plan

The weather took a turn for the cooler, I had a bit of time to myself, and so off to Party City I sprinted to see if I could score some cheap props.

It did not disappoint.

The Problems

1. Can you say, "Wrinkles"! Geez, the bag even touted what a great backdrop the Palm Tree Scene Setter would be "as a background for taking pictures at your summer party". Really? And it's shiny. Shiny! Wrinkled and shiny!

2a. Hats - my love and the bane of my existence. I actually purchased two, identical, straw hats (well, as identical as two buck straw hats can get) but they stuck out so far that one kept taking out the other, and trying to get the boys to sit further apart wasn't happening.

2b. Hats - my love and the bane of my existence. I'm not sure whose head these hats were supposed to fit, but the crowns were too small for my boy's heads and most hats are too big.

3. Unlike the too-small hats, the leis were way too long for a dog (see photo #2 above).

The Solutions

1. Hey, it was just $4.99, stores in no space at all, and can be held in place with clips and tape, making it a bargain, wrinkles and all. I've since googled Scene Setters, and it appears that if I store it wrapped color-side out around a cardboard tube it might look less wrinkly next time. Tipping the board it's clipped to forward also helped with shine, as the flash didn't reflect straight back at the lens except from the wrinkled spots.

2a/b. How many hats do you see in the picture? One. Problem solved!

I left a hat on Zachary's head as it was the better fit of the two dogs, and gave Henry my sunglasses. If his smile looks extra big, it's probably because he's NOT the dog wearing the silly straw hat.

Zachary's smiling because he's a goofy dog who loves props - including silly straw hats.

3. A small binder clip neatly "resized" the leis behind the dogs' necks, completely out of sight (see photo #1 up top.)

Editor's Note: Wait a minute... those are margarita glasses. ZACHARY!

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© 2012 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Dog Blog Post #746: Today we had...

Daily Dog Challenge 254. "Tourist in Your Own City - If your dog had a guest from out of town, what would he or she like to show them? You can show us a tourist representation if you can't get to a destination on your own. "

100 Pictures - "36. Vacation"

Nothing says tourist and vacation to me like a set of Mickey Mouse ears.

And yes, folks, even dogs look ridiculous in them.

"I'm going to...!"

... go nowhere.

Sorry, Henry. Way too hot outside to think about going further than the next room.

Scavenge Challenge July 2012 - "9. Anything with four legs can be used to fill this assignment."

Wouldn't you know - I managed to chop the Mickey Mouse ears off the best posed shot in the batch. Good thing the prompt was for legs and not hats!

While I love my camera remote, this is the price I sometimes pay for using it.

Obviously, I'm standing just off camera to the left, holding the treats that Henry is staring at so lovingly. There wasn't much margin for error on this one, as the dog is nearly the length of the room, especially when you factor in the two umbrella stands - stages left and right

Better composition...

... but not as good a picture - at least not in my opinion.

"... I wish I may I wish I might...."

No, Henry's not pigeon-toed! I went from standing on the left to standing by the camera, and it seems only one foot made the transition. :)

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© 2011 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved