Dogs and other things

Sometimes the dog park "fights" are the best. In most cases it isn't really a fight at all, simply the level of play that certain groups are looking for. It can be fast and furious, and it's so hard to get the right shot! I love the ones where you can see teeth bared or eyeballs turned...This was a day of doggy hind ends, I think. I ended up with about half of the negatives prominently including butts. They crack me up. And of course, in this one we have a lone dog peering at me, while the others are too busy to notice anything.

Here's a rolled eyeball shot. Not as crisp as I'd like but it's got some energy to it.

The all important sniff test.

Little dogs don't know they're little, do they? This one (Peanut, I think) is determined to have this huge tree limb all to herself.

In other news, I have been enjoying the slower season for me. Photo needs have dropped off, and I am planning my next adventure to Central America (Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala). I can't help but think about how it might have been a mixed blessing that I couldn't afford to fly back to India this winter...I chose Central America because it was a fraction the price of India, and was sad that I had to make the decision. BUT, following the news from the last few days, it seems that India is not quite the place to be travelling to right now. Mumbai was the location for the horrible hostage situation and killings, with over 100 dead and a few hundred more injured. Americans and Brits were being targeted in this attack. A few months ago, there was a significant bomb attack in Delhi, in the exact neighborhood that my hotel was- Karol Bagh. There have been other attacks in cities that I visited- I believe Jaipur made the news recently with a similar bombing attack. The cumulative experiences are enough to make me feel better about going to Central America. But will go back to India someday...

Dogs dogs dogs

Some dog park holga negs...managed to scan some color ones in, but they have NOT been cleaned up yet. There are lots of winter projects on my list, cleaning scans is one of them. I am glad that I have more time now to go to the dog park...the weddings have slowed down for the season. I am frustrated, though, because I seem to be judging focus badly or something. There's just never that perfect thing in focus lately!

Wedding: Princeton MA

Last weekend was the first one all season that I didn't have a wedding of my own booked...and what do I do? Go to a wedding with another photographer (my friend Tammy) to shoot with the Holga cameras! I wish I'd had more film on me that day, but it was so last minute I didn't have time to place an order. I have made initial scans from some color negs (BW to follow) and have NOT had time yet to clean the dust off of them. SO, forgive the dust, one day soon they will be perfect! The wedding was for Kelly and Craig Stimson, they live on the Stimson family farm (in Princeton MA). It has been in their family and continuously farmed for over 250 years. They currently have a few cows, chickens, and fields for haying. It was a gorgeous sunny fall day, and everything went very well. I appreciate that Kelly and Craig let me tag along on such short notice...I am always looking for weddings to shoot this way, and this one was special. I grew up in Princeton, and had actually been to the farm several times for other photo projects. It's a beautiful place!

UMass Walk to Cure Cancer

Today I photographed for the UMass Walk to Cure Cancer...and was very grateful that it merely misted instead of poured! I had both cameras, the turbo pack , and pockets full of extra equipment. If it had gotten too wet I'd be in trouble. They had me stay for 3 hours, in which time I got to watch the set up, registration, stage entertainment, and walk kickoff. I saw several people from Worcester State that were walking (a 5 mile loop), but was impressed overall with the spectacular turnout. The walk happens rain or shine...with great gusto! I got to witness a bizarre little bit of girlishness that I had forgotten about. The cheerleading groups that came were there when the main act came out on stage (Michael Damian and his band)...and the girls went NUTS. Michael Damian is an actor from "The Young and the Restless" (soap opera), sings, and has also been in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". I have some vague memories about having crushes on soap stars at that age, and it was weird to see it all play out that way! Entertaining, but weird! They LOVED him! So funny.

stART on the Street

The stART festival yesterday went REALLY well! We were all there at 6:30 am to get things ready (the festival didn't open until 11). I set up the timer camera on the roof of Biagios (takes a photo every 5 minutes...all day long!) and then headed up to the check in area (Doherty High School) with Sarah. She organized it differently this year, and we had two lanes of traffic coming thru at a time, instead of one. Much better!!! Also, the cars were given hang tags as their "pass" to get onto Park Avenue, which made it really obvious which cars were allowed in (we shut Park Ave down between Pleasant and Highland Street). Once check in was thru, I walked around with the camera to get some shots to use for festival promotion. Here are a few...

Old photos of me as a kid

I have always liked to bake and spend time in the kitchen. I get quite a kick out of this photo of me peering over my mothers shoulder as she made something one day. In this photo I am 9 months old. (The other day, mom brought over a packet with a bunch of things...some old photos that my grandmother had, and since she is now gone and my mom has all of those things, she is re-distributing them.)

Apparently we were making cranberry sauce (according to the note on the back of the photo). I was 17 months old.
My infatuation with tools and building or fixing things got off to an early start...here I am helping to make our new swingset at age 2.
And in this photo, I am 10. Interesting to me to see how my body type was so similar then. I mean, I know it's my body, but I was just a kid! We all get older, and change over time, but there are basic things that will always be...the same.
Aren't my parent's cute?! I was 5 months old.
Another kitchen shot! I was almost 11.

Dog Park Holgas: COLOR