This pheasant was a rather shy fellow, preferring to hide in his cloak of lovely feathers. I did manage to get one shot of him walking.

After visiting the birds we stopped at the wine shop and were greeted by this nice fellow.

After a few minutes of pleasantries, I realized that I was talking to a wax statue.

I’m rather disappointed in my recent attempts at photography. I don’t know why I have all but given up a hobby that makes me happy. I obviously need to get back out there and use my camera more.

The poppies continue to bloom in the yard.

Updated 5/25/07

New Resources:

Photographic Cheat Sheet Resources

FotoSharp - Laminated photography guides that will easily fit in your camera bag.

Photographic Cheat Sheet - PDF File

Photo Bert Cheat Sheets - Many useful laminated cheat sheets for photographers.

PhotoBert’s Online Photo Course

50 Tips for Better Photographs

Camera Guides Photography Tutorials - Numerous photography tutorials.

Camera Town Photography Guides

There are a few new photography articles you may be interested in:

Camera Basics: shutter-speed, aperture, and ISO - A nice introduction to some basic camera features.

Digital Photography School - This site has some really great photography articles and it’s updated on a regular basis. Some recent topics include: How to photograph people when traveling, fill flash, and photographing smaller things.

Photographing Flowers Tips - A short article with tips for floral photographers.

Making Photographs - Tips on light, lens, film, exposure, and cameras.

Macro Photography - Tips for working with close-up and macro lens. Good information on how to take close-up pictures of very small things.

I thought that I would post some links to sites with great articles and tips that I have found really useful over the years.

photography, resources, howto

I just learned last week that we would be tested on all that we learned in the eight week class. I wasn’t too worried (ha!), she went into the class already knowing many of the commands, but her staying skills leave something to be desired and when she’s in pet stores the leash isn’t very loose.

We got to PetSmart a bit earlier and we practiced walking around the store and she was doing great. When it came time for her to actually test, she did great! She even did a sit stay and a down stay for me. She only broke the stay when I turned around…that was really my fault because I’ve been encouraging her to come to me by turning around. She is much more reliable on visual cues than verbal, so she did what she thought she was supposed to do.

I tried to get some graduation pictures, but she was too tired. We went to the beach yesterday and I took her to the dog park this afternoon, so when we got home all she wanted to do was sleep.

She got up when I went to go to the kitchen, but she basically just positioned herself in front of the door.

I tried to add some distractions that usually get her excited like fuzz and my other furkid George, but she still wasn’t up for a photo shoot.

I finally gave up and let my baby sleep.

She has no fear of the water now and swims great; we kept her on a long lead because she liked to visit folks while they were enjoying their lunch. Plus her recall with so many distractions leaves something to be desired, but hey, she’s still a puppy (19 weeks).

I can’t believe how big she’s getting, when we had her weighed two weeks ago she was 37 pounds; I think she must be close to 45 now.

Lexie got to make a lot of new friends too!

She even got to learn about butt tucking from a pro.

She was one exhausted puppy when we got home!

Mom, I’m not feeling real great…Can you check me out?

You’re not really getting it, check the mouth..

Ok, you’re getting close…

Closer…

That’s the ticket!!! See my new teeth? They hurt!

Where did my tiny bundle of fur go?

LabMommyKathryn, a member of Just Labradors, made this and another totally awesome bandanna for Lexie. We’re only modeling one today as it’s about 102 still and she is a little too hot and fussy to sit for a photo shoot.

Thank you Kathryn!

She retrieved about six times and then we decided that was enough for her first time. She’s sixteen weeks today, so we didn’t want to wear her out. She slept the whole way back home, she was one tuckered lab.

We found a dog friendly beach called Kiva Beach. To be honest with you, I thought it was one of the most beautiful beaches that I’ve seen at the lake. We were really lucky that we could bring Lexie and we probably would have never found it without her. She did a little swimming with some help from Rob and a friend. She swam great, she’s a natural, but I don’t think she enjoyed it too much. I think she was a bit scared so we didn’t press the issue. She’ll swim more when she’s ready.

She really preferred stealing Dillon’s food. Don’t let this innocent looking lab fool you, she’s sitting nicely in this shot, but she had just attempted to steal Dillon’s leftover steak.

When Lexie realized that Dillon wasn’t giving up his steak and she wasn’t getting food from anyone else she decided she would check out digging in the sand. She really thought this was great! A cool spot in the sand.

When she realized she couldn’t dig to China she took a break.

Kiva Beach was gorgeous. This is the breathtaking view behind where we were sitting. We had a choice of swimming in the lake or wading in this area.

What a wonderful day we had at the beach!