{5/52} Secrets, vegetables, dogs & muscles

{4/52} Whip my hair

I am in desperate need of a haircut! I also gave myself a headache with all the hair whipping I did to get this photo.

And even though this shot is out of focus, I quite like it. That's the thing about photography, sometimes the accidents and outtakes turn out to be keepers.

{3/52} Shades of grey

Three weeks into this project I'm surprised at how easy it's been so far. Easier than taking photos of Spencer at least. I can have an idea in mind and execute it without having to contend with an uncooperative model! I don't even feel weird in front of the camera. As long as no one's watching that is, there's no way I could take self portraits out in public places!

{2/52} Homegrown goodness

My vegie patch was lavished with attention during the two weeks I had off work over Christmas/New Year. This week though I was back at work and the vegies got neglected a bit. When I checked them today I found six huge zucchinis ready to be harvested - yum! The tomato jungle on the right of the photo has heaps of tomatoes, but none of them have ripened yet. I'm hoping we get a nice stretch of hot sunny weather to ripen them.

{1/52} New photography project!

As you may have noticed, I kinda fell off the 52 Weeks wagon in the last few weeks of last year. Oh well. I'm over it cos I have a brand new project - 52 Weeks of Self Portraits! Crazy? Yeah, probably. My brother's reaction to the project: "Why would you want 52 photos of yourself?!". Thanks little bro. Spencer is pretty happy about this new project though, cos it means less camera time for him. Although I am planning to have him as a co-star in a few of my selfies.

48/52

47/52

Spencer loves lying with his paws crossed. It's one of his signature poses. See how nice and neat his feets are? I have to trim the hair with scissors, otherwise he gets what my brother calls "afro paws". Tufts of hair sticking up on top of his paws and between the pads. Spencer knows that excessively hairy feet is never a good look so he grudgingly puts up with regular paw trims.

46/52

Even the back of Spencer's head is adorable. Look at his ear fluff! And I so love the soft late afternoon light.

45/52

Playing catch up again. This is bad, I really must put more effort into taking photos and posting them up on time. Starting next week...

44/52

The silly brown dog jumps over the purple rod.

Hilarious out-take:

43/52

In my excitement about finishing work early and having a four day weekend in front of me, I almost forgot to take this weeks photo. I remembered just in time though, and took this shot before it started raining. I'm loving the sky in this photo. And Spencer's regal look.

Every day when I get home from work (grooming salon) I say to Spence, "You're the best looking dog I've seen all day!".

42/52

I have an action shot for your viewing pleasure this week. Make the most of it, cos they're pretty rare! I decided to try panning and managed to get one keeper. Poor Spence was made to stay while I threw his ball, got into position, checked camera settings, and then finally released him. We did it over and over for this one shot. I think it was worth it, Spencer's not so sure.

40/52 & 41/52

Posting my photos from the last two weeks finally. The first one is pretty terrible. Boring, noisy, blah. I do like Spencer's happy smiley face though.

Week 41. I think I probably spent more time making this daisy chain than I did taking the photo.

39/52

I almost fell off the wagon during these last two weeks, but just managed to hang on. I'm so close to the finish that I don't want to give up now! After work on Friday the light was gone and I had to take this photo inside under crappy artificial lights. I decided to embrace the necessary slow shutter speed and deliberately move the camera during the exposure. I have to say, I quite like the end result. It looks like Spence is just sitting there in a fog while the world passes him by. Kinda like how I feel sometimes! 

38/52

This post is way late and I feel terrible cos this shot was taken on Spencer's 10th birthday. He didn't even have a special birthday photoshoot, just a few quick snapshots so I wouldn't fail my 52 Weeks project. Sorry pup! He did get a lamb neck for dinner that day though, so he wasn't completely neglected.

37/52

Spring has sprung! The flowers are blooming and the weather is warming up. When the weather is nice Spence and I spend hours on the weekends lying in the front yard reading and enjoying the sunshine. Okay, I read, he sniffs around and snoozes.

36/52

"Even the tiniest Poodle or Chihuahua is still a wolf at heart." - Dorothy Hinshaw Patent; Dogs: The Wolf Within.

This photo was such a fluke. I couldn't believe it when I saw that Spencer's shadow looked exactly like a howling wolf!

35/52

I love my boy. He's such a goofball. As you can see by his silly happy derrr face below.

                                                    

I'm not sure what he was doing here, but he sure looks blissed out. Maybe he was thinking happy thoughts to keep his mind off the camera being in his face again.

34/52

I didn't have the best day yesterday, but my walk with Spence at the end of the day made up for it. It was late afternoon and the light filtering through the pine trees at the park was fantastic. This photo is definitely a new favourite.

And another shot that will be included in Spencer's book.

I love using back lighting to photograph Spence. It shows off his nice lean body shape better than front lighting and makes his feathers glow.

33/52

I know, I know. This post is late. I wish I could say the wait was worth it, but um, it would be a lie. 'Tis just a snapshot from Saturday before last when I saw Spence lying in the tiny sunpatch by the front door.