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Hiking through a narrow slot canyon is always a great experience. Water flowing through these narrow channels carves interesting shapes into the canyon walls and light filtering down from the top of the canyon both emphasizes and changes the color of the rock walls and varies with the time of the day.
1/6 scale copper wire coat hangers. I made these using the form of a hanger made from a paper clip. They are not as practical as they could have been. The problem with scale is that the smaller items may not have the relevant weight. Perhaps if I taped a copper penny to each one it would hang properly!
Hiking through a narrow slot canyon is always a great experience. Water flowing through these narrow channels carves interesting shapes into the canyon walls and light filtering down from the top of the canyon both emphasizes and changes the color of the rock walls and varies with the time of the day.
Wire Tailed Swallow
at Head Balloki, Punjab
Canon EOS 50D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM
@ f/5.6 1/250 ISO 200
Woo, down to the wire this week.
I'm not usually so last minute but it's been hard to sit at the computer with all the nothingness I've had to do the last few days.
I knew early on that I'd be dog-sitting all weekend, so I figured I'd take my picture at Zoey's house.
I also knew what theme I wanted to go for...
Something I feel very strongly about:
Yard dogs.
Now, plenty of people have a house, and a yard, and a dog (or two or three.) And that's fine and dandy, don't get me wrong. But there are people who specifically have yard dogs, and that's where I have an issue.
Most of you know what I'm talking about. The scruffy, matted, muddy something-doodle obsessively running up and down the chain-link fence at the dead end street. The over-sized husky howling his sorrowful song atop his dog house during the middle of the night. The old, wobbly beagle wagging his tail as he slowly follows pedestrians along the perimeter of his yard - obviously starved for attention.
These are just some of the examples I've come across while exploring various neighborhoods here and there. I've been planning on starting a little project and photographing some of these dogs, but for now I just walk and observe. And what I see makes me sad.
I'm not someone who could ever have an "outside only dog" - it just doesn't feel right. I can understand the necessity sometimes, like with working breeds. A livestock guardian, for instance, needs to live among whatever it's protecting. I get that. But too often, I wonder why some of these everyday folks even bothered getting a dog, when they go through such great lengths to isolate it from their lives.
Most "animal people" will agree that a dog is part of the family. Zoey and Bailey, while having a fully functional, fenced yard, are family dogs. They sleep inside (on one of 6 pet beds), they eat good food, they have regular vet checkups. They make a show of barking at people coming onto their property but they were raised to love everyone (especially the neighborhood kids who hop the fence to say hello.) While they aren't taken out for walks (which is something that bugs me, but with 4 kids to look after it's understandable that the dogs will have to sacrifice something), they almost always get to go up to the lake house with their humans for a change of scenery. (They had to stay behind this time because it was a wedding occasion and 50 guests to deal with meant no dogs allowed.)
As someone who's almost always lived in an apartment, I must say most house-dwellers have got it easy when it comes to pet ownership. I have more free time here, with three dogs, than I do at home, with one dog. I get up, let the pups out, they do their business, they play, they come in, they sleep... A few hours later, we rinse and repeat. At night I go to bed with all three of them dead to the world from a full day of frolicking.
It's almost too easy. Herein lies the problem sometimes.
With the economy issues the last few years, I've seen a lot of people lose their homes. Along with that, one of the first things to go is the dog. "I'm moving into an apartment and I have to rehome my teacup chihuahua because there's no room" is often code for "I'm too lazy to walk my dog" or "there's no way my dog can adjust to apartment life because he has never lived inside before." Drives me crazy. I'd argue that ANY breed (or mix) can live comfortably indoors. A yard does nothing but give you an out from ... well, getting out.
I could go on but I'll stop the rant there. Long story short, I believe owning a pet should be harder work than many people let it be. There's tons of responsible pet owners out there who get it right, but they're equally matched by the irresponsible... and they get it so, so wrong. And, sadly, it's the pets who suffer for their luxury.
Climb out of your holes, people! And please take your dogs with you.
A moment to talk about the photo, now... It's my first upload with my new lens! Nothing fancy 'cause all the ones I really want are upwards of $600 and this is just a higher end kit lens, but it's fun having a bit of a wider angle to mess with. Zoom's gonna take some getting used to but we'll see what comes out of it.
I shot it a few different ways - higher up to see Haiku's face fully, and with his head placed at the gate opening for a clearer view. But when I went through the results, this one stuck out. The bar covering his eyes gave it the melancholy feel I was going for. Don't be fooled, though. Hike's anything but a neglected yard dog :)
His challenge for the week was being away from Zozo for the duration of the shoot (all of 5 minutes!) It'll be hard for him to go back home tomorrow. No yard, no full-time dog company... But we'll manage. Because as his owner, *I'll* sacrifice what I have to to keep him happy.
I'm also feeling a lot better about Flickr so I will definitely be back in the mix this week. Thanks to everyone who continues to read my essays :) I always enjoy hearing your thoughts!
View On Black and large.
Pirang
The Gambia
This little swallow was very difficult to photograph. it only gave me two chances to take a picture.
My second visit to The Gambia, this time to photograph the wildlife.
They were a good few days spent with Isidro and my friend Rosa Gambóias
40135 840108 Man Picc Wiring Train
Here's one of CFPS Stalwart 40135 at Manchester Piccadilly on a wiring train one Sunday morning on 8th January 1984.
At this time every Sunday morning the power at Piccadilly would go off and the diesels would come out to play on the services towards London and Birmingham.
Some of the Birmingham train were booked Steam Heat Loco's for a few years before this but the ETH fitted loco's were slowly taking over. Also the Euston train, being predominately ETH 47/4's, also had the capability to drop other classes, 40's being the most likely. We certainly were not complaining!
Re-edited 27/4/26
A lot of birds, loitering with intent on the Chemistry Tower mast.
This version should look very eerie, with severe vignetting and 'interference' over the image. But judging by my recent failures with unusually-shaded pics, it'll probably be another black blob.
Typically,, Telephone Poles and Electric Wires are considered a distraction in photography. But, as more and more cable is being run underground they are disappearing from the landsscape.
I wonder if we'll ever get to the point that we consdier them charming and quaint versus a distraction.
This is made entirely in photoshop with a brush, layers, and layer modes. You may see the net effect best at the large and original resolutions.
I took an extra turn or two around the boss for a little extra wire so I can splice in a pair of Velo Lumino's micro banana plugs.
(note to self,,, call Anton and order some more).
www.velolumino.com/installation-hardware22.html
scroll down for plugs.
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197 Hilliard Ave, Asheville, NC 28801
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This is from my mom's jewelry collection. I never noticed the eye until in moved it around for the photos.