For this week’s challenge, the them was Simplify. This could be via backgrounds, what was included in the image and what could be taken away without changing the story of the image.

Cue my ball hog Axle with a batch of pure white snow (we finally got out of our below zero cold snap here in MN!). The snow acted like a simple white background. Additionally I made all of the images black and white to further simplify the look of the images, so the focus was Axle and his snow antics.  He LOVES his Luna & Sol balls by Planet Dog as much as he loves the snow.

Next up visit Jessica Wasik with Bark & Gold Photography, serving Pittsburgh pets and their people, to see how she simplified her images!

This week’s theme for the 52 Week Project is slow down. This is particularly challenging with dogs (esp when zoomies kick in!). My approach was to turn my “hobby” camera (a little Sony mirrorless camera + a vintage 28mm f2.5 manual focus only lens) in the direction of Bender. The Sony definitely is my slow down camera. It doesn’t have a viewfinder, so all focusing is done via screen. This manual focusing particularly tricky esp if the day is bright and sunny.

Bender tolerated me pointing a camera in his face (he typically looks like a bored old man, he did not disappoint today) while I dialed in focus on him. A bit tougher to do when there’s a crunchy treat in hand! Nose shot… then we got a crisp eye!

Ummmm how close do you need to be mom?

You will give me the treat…… What you want more than me looking at you? Ears? Nope don’t have any…

This is the longest I’ve had to wait for a cookie…..

(Bender did get the cookie after a little drool and perked up ears!)

Next up visit Elaine Tweedy with I Got The Shot Photography, Northeast PA Pet Photographer and see how she slowed down for this week’s theme!

This week’s theme for the 52 week project was patience. What better way to incorporate patience than with a dog who’s attention is hard to capture while freelensing?

Luckily for me, Bender’s attention was captured by the people coming and going at the elementary school, so I didn’t need to have a lot of patience waiting for the look from him. The freelensing, that’s a whole other patience! The lenses aren’t attached to the camera body, which means they can be used like a tilt and shift style lens. The toughest part is manually focusing and manipulating the focal plane to keep a moving subject in focus.

First off I used a couple of the 28mm freelenses (I have 4 of them!), though the look wasn’t quite wasn’t what I wanted to achieve.

*Those spiffy white blobs on some of the images are natural light leaks. They happen when the barrel of the freelens (which isn’t attached to the body of the camera) is angled enough to allow light to leak in to the sensor. The dark edges are actually the barrel of the lens coming into the frame. 

Since the backyard is a little cluttered (nice van and some lovely things at the neighbors) I wanted a tighter shot with more of the freelens tilt shift look. So enter in the collection of 50mm freelenses (I’ve got 7 of them!). The results were more what I had been looking for.

And a normal shot of the handsome Mr. Bender.

Next up visit Kim with BARKography based in Charlotte NC while on location in Cannon Beach, Oregon to see how she incorporated patience into her images.