Drab. Lackluster. Naked. Blah. Dismal. These are the words that describe that time of year when the trees have shed all of their beautiful leaves, the temperatures have dropped, yet there isn’t a snowflake in sight. It’s not a very “inspiring” time of year! This dreary weather makes outdoor photography a bit more challenging than other months. Let’s see what I come up with for this week’s 52 Week Pet Photography Project of “Explore Possibilities” from David Duchemin’s book the Virtual Toolbox.
This chapter is all about the “What if’s”. It’s about all the possibilities we can get from one specific scene. This week my subject is my ever-cooperating (I hope) Kota! We aren’t venturing out far – that’s too stressful for her to show up at a scenic covered bridge where we may see another DOG in sight! I’m making things easy for her. Our scene is 2 trees in the woods right behind the fence in our backyard. Yup, nothing exciting or colorful! Let’s see the possibilities I come up with!
Duchemin asks us to take a scene and to photograph it 12 different ways. To “work it” as much as possible. My thoughts on the scene I have chosen: What if I put Kota between the 2 trees? (sounds simple… not so much today!) What if I lay on the ground in the muddy, wet leaves? What if I shoot up into the naked tree branches? How about a “nose” shot? Maybe a “tail”? The following shots are from a single spot between two trees. The images are from many perspectives: zooming in, high angle, low angle and profile to name a few! I am sharing a few of my favorites – hope you enjoy!
At one point I asked my husband to loop Kota around as I switched from my 24-70 mm lens to my 135 mm lens. I’d hate to have Kota wait 2o seconds! I’m not super speedy with a muddy ground and trying to juggle things! As they were coming back to our spot, I snapped this …. When i uploaded the pics this made me smile! Kota popping her head through the trees!!! 🙂 Oh, and I used the 16×9 crop! (if you have no idea what this means, see week 46’s post on “aspect ratio”)
I learned a lot from this week’s assignment! I probably would not have gone out and taken photos on that dreary day. With a little creativity, I was able to come up with photos i am happy with! Just a simple spot between 2 “not-so-exciting” trees in the woods 🙂
Thank you for stopping by and please check out our next amazing pet photographer’s take on this weeks topic, Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area. Enjoy your weekend!
These are great! I get “the look” quite frequently too. I love that last unexpected shot. Kota seems to be smiling as if to say, “Yay, we’re done!”
My other favorite is the nose shot! My Hunter has the exact same snow nose. (Aside from their ears, I still can’t get over how much they look alike!) Does Kota’s nose tend to get a little brighter pink during the winter months? Hunter’s does, although it’s been fairly warm without much snow here yet so his hasn’t hit its pinkish peak yet.
Thanks, Jessica! I LOVE nose shots – my new thing! Yes, the pink “snow nose” every winter – i love it!!!
I love these and your blog post about them. Nice job Darlene!
Thanks so much, Kim! 🙂
Kota’s ears are the windows to his thoughts. Very expressive. Great job taking the scene apart and experimenting with different aspects! 🙂
Thanks so much, Elaine! Those ears can tell a story 🙂 Enjoyed this assignment!