Weekend Snowstorm Beauty. A Maine Photographer

I interrupt my scheduled blog post about only dogs, to bring you some pictures of this weekends snowstorm.  Most folks, if they are not already complaining, will soon be...about the clean up...so before all the negative talk begins I wanted to share my view of today's snow.  Personally, I think it's beautiful!

PUGS. A Maine Photographer

My next 5 blog posts will go to the dogs!
I've been stock piling my dog photo shoots, so that I can entertain us all during these cold weeks of February!

Those of us with a dog in the family know just how special they are...but I also know only a small percentage of dog owners have their pets professionally photographed.  I understand that for most folks, a profession dog portrait falls into the "nice to have" category as opposed to the "need to have" category. 

That is why I partnered up the The Dog Wash Etc a few years ago.  Every month we give away one free pet photo session for one lucky dog!  Wash your dog at the Dog Wash Etc and enter the monthly drawing to win a free pet photo session. 

Today's post makes me absolutely giddy!  Meet Tucker (8 years old) Gus (6 years old) and Delylah (5 years old princess).  Amanda was our December portrait winner.  I thank Amanda for our January play date at Ferry Beach in Scarborough, just one day after a fresh blanket of snow. I have lived in Maine my whole life, but seeing snow on the beach was brand new to me.  I love walking the beach at any time of year, but I had never been to walk after a snow storm before.  One more comment to add...it was kinda like where's Waldo when they wondered into the dunes!  To all of my pug lovin friends...this post is for you!

Photography 101 Class 5. A Maine Photographer

This is my last post of the series of the Photography class I was teaching at the Westbrook Community Center.  We took a vote to fit 6 classes into 5 evenings, so that I wasn't the entertainment for Valentines Day dinner.  I'm guessing if I hadn't changed the schedule I may have been alone in class tonight, so I agreed that it was a good idea.

During our last class we didn't take any photos.  We learned about the +/- button on your camera, the exposure compensation one.  Here's a link.  http://www.westbrookcommunitycenter.org/info/
The link video explains that if you take a photo of a black curtain, the camera will overexpose it, because the camera "thinks" your photo is always 18% gray.  If you take a photo of a white curtain, the camera will underexpose it, again, because it "thinks" your photo is 18% gray.  We all know your camera doesn't "think" so that's where your thinking comes into play.  You know what you are photographing and what the photo should look like...so you need to use the exposure compensation to correct what the camera "thinks" it sees.

We also reviewed how to read the light meter in your camera when on the manual mode.  Here's a tutorial.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_613183&feature=iv&src_vid=gEfXs7G8eK4&v=Y9LHTekcozk
A bit slow to watch, but the facts are easy to understand.

I am planning a photo walk for us soon and I hope to have photos to share.  Until then, let me just leave you with a little visual.  Here is a "mistake" I took.  I was doing a dog photo shoot in the snow.  This was the first shot I took.  I took a quick look at my LCD screen and realized my settings were off and I was very overexposed.  I quickly changed my settings and continued taking photos with the correct settings.  When I sat down to edit, it didn't take me long to realize that the "mistake" I took was a pretty special photo...to this day one of my favorites.  See for yourself...and don't be afraid to get creative with your settings...you just might LOVE the results!!

My Sister's Birthday 3rd Annual.A Maine Photographer

Here it is, year three already, where I celebrate my sister's birthday for her...without her.  I miss her, and honestly I wish I had made more of an effort to celebrate her birthday with her, instead of celebrating each year without her.  So, to all of you out there who should and could make more of an effort, take it from me...if you can...then just do it...because when you can't...it sucks.

Today is my sister's 56th birthday.
I haven't bought her present yet.  I haven't found the perfect gift for myself yet...but I intend to do that in the next day or two.
This year, I celebrated with my Mom by going to Weston MA to visit Chris, my sister's husband, who is in his second year of the seminary.  We all attended mass, then had a wonderful breakfast.  We visited.  Carmen was with us.  It was a wonderful day.

I brought Chris 2 dozen whoopie pies to share with his brothers. 

 

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    Chloe, our living reminder of Aunt Carmen! 

2013 Blizzard Nemo Westbrook Maine Photographer

Thought I would share some photos from around my neighborhood while walking Chloe this morning.  The snow is blowing around like crazy, but many of the streets are still not plowed...so we did get quite the workout just walking the dog.  Does it look cold?