More Pet Photography Showing their Personality

I photographed 3 dogs recently.  One of the dogs had a cute little move when we got her attention, she lifted up her paw.  I managed to get this little move in my pictures.  I thought it was adorable.  She had very expressive eyes too.  Part of the goal in photographing pets, is to show their personality.  I visit pets in their homes (or a nearby park), so they will be comfortable and more likely to be themselves.

Craft Fair at Patuxent River Naval Air Station

For locals: We will be participating in the Arts and Crafts Festival at the Drill Hall at Pax River NAS at the St. Mary's County Camera Club booth. (near Lexington Park MD) We will be selling photo merchandise like mouse pads, and coasters, etc. Sat 12/4/2010 10 AM 5 hrs Free Admission. Shuttle bus for non base patrons is available behind the Frank Knox Building. It's a great way to get fun gifts for the holidays.

Bald Eagles at Conowingo Dam

Recently we took a weekend trip to Conowingo Dam (Fishermen's Park) near Havre de Grace Maryland to view the bald eagles. We were told 90 eagles had been sighted recently.  I learned quickly that I really needed a longer lens to capture the birds well; somewhere between 500 to 600 millimeter would have worked better. My images were not very close and not very sharp, but I’ll show you one of the better ones. Maybe I can try again next year.

When I am not pleased with the images I get, I sometimes look around at what might be better. I captured a photo of 3 fishermen by the dam in the early morning golden light and one of the vultures perching on a log. There were many vultures easily accessible and lots of stray cats as well.

More Pet Photo practice

I am learning to make high pitched silly noises to make the dog's ears perk up.  It seems to work better than squeaky toys.  It is very important in most cases to focus on your pet's eyes to get them sharp, since most people look right at the eyes of any person or animal in a photo.  We put DJ in a large bucket to add a little color and create a cute pose.

St. Mary's County Camera Club End of Year Competition

 On Oct 20th, the St. Mary’s County Camera Club had the end of year competition including all of the winning photographs from the monthly competitions.  I had entries in the Advanced Digital photos, 1 entry in advanced prints and 2 in Theme.  I was almost embarrassed to win Advanced digital 1^st place (Point No Point Lighthouse) and 2nd (Osprey Landing) and 3rd (kitten 2) and both honorable mentions, (St. Mary’s College of MD Sunset and Gladiolus) plus 2^nd place in advanced prints (Butterfly and Bee).  Several of the clubs best photographers spent a lot of time teaching and judging the club members at meetings, instead of competing.  I think it made it a lot easier for me to win.

Bluhaven Piers in St. Mary's County

Bluhaven Piers, a 50 slip marina in South County is 6 miles from the Chesapeake Bay at 48409 Smith Drive in Ridge MD.  It’s an excellent location for fishing, sailing or just meandering in the creeks.  I took this lovely photo with its’ peaceful reflections last autumn on a calm clear day. (Bluhaven photo and photo merchandise available here) Bluhaven offers covered slips, a ship’s store, Hobie kayak sales and rentals and the usual marina services like bath and shower facilities, electric power, mechanic service, internet and a boat ramp.  It is located on Jutland and Smith creeks, home to bald eagles, great blue herons, deer and osprey.  Nearby attractions include Point Lookout State Park and Historic St. Mary’s City.  Several good restaurants like Sheible’s, Spinnaker’s, Courtney’s and the Brome Howard Inn are in easy reach.  The staff I have met from Bluhaven have always been friendly and courteous.  For more information about Bluhaven, visit their website at http://www.bluhavenpiers.com or call them at 301-872-5838.

Pet Photography Practice

I try to find time to practice pet photography when I can.  I recently read a book I would recommend called "Pet Photography 101:  Tips for Taking Better Photos of your Dog or Cat" by Andrew Darlow.  The book has 101 tips for taking good pet photos.  He also has a companion pet photo tip website and a flickr site.

The first thing I concentrated on was trying to be at the same level as the pet.  For some of these photos I put my sister's Westies on a chair.  The chair was a fairly nice backdrop and I didn't have to lie on the floor to photograph them.  I moved the chair so that there wasn't a lot of extra things in the back and sides of the photos to distract your eye.

I also looked around for helpful props that we could use and found a dog leash, a Fire Chief hat and a silly martian headband.  The dog leash looked the best.  I am especially interested in humorous pet photography, so I also tried putting a dog in the little bathroom sink.

It was helpful to have my husband there to get the dog's attention.  Even with help, it still takes patience to get good photos.

I am gathering ideas for humorous photos.  Please send me any inexpensive ideas you have!  I plan to visit Target to see if they have any cute costumes.  I also got some useful props from the dollar store.

Solomon's Offshore Boat Races

Near St. Mary's County, we were happy to ride the short distance North to Calvert County to view the Solomon's Offshore Grand Prix.  We viewed the boat's on land before the race.  Even though the dreary weather probably reduced the crowd considerably, the race was still exciting. Miss Geico was one of the winners.  There were two races.  The first race had several groups of boats separated by varied starting times and the category 5 boats were limited to 75 mph.  The second race didn't have speed restrictions and included the famous Miss Geico (can't miss that yellow color!)

St. Mary's County Fair Photo Winnings

We had a lot of fun at the St. Mary’s County Fair this weekend.  Jim and I helped out the camera club by accepting entries and returning entries on 2 different days at the Photography competition.  Jim also helped out during the judging session by putting up photos.  We both won prizes this year.  I got a big purple ribbon for Best Photo in “Life in St. Mary’s County” for my picture of “St. Mary’s College of Maryland Sunset”.  First place for “Mishka”, (a Siberian Husky on my Apr 20^th blog), 2^nd place for” a Marionette with Balloons” from last year’s Mitchell Marionettes, 2^nd prize for an “Osprey Landing”, and honorable mention for a “Great Blue Heron” and a “Waterfall with Ferns”.  Jim’s 3^rd prizes were “Two Geese Arguing” and a “Tunnel Abstract” made with a red torchlight.  I was pleased with the prize for Mishka, because I am learning pet photography.  I also had fun telling Nancy Mitchell and her husband, Jack Gebhardt, from Mitchell Marionette Productions that a photo of their mouse marionette won a prize from last year’s fair.  When Nancy saw me in the crowd, she announced that an award winning photographer was in the audience and they might want to go and view the photo.  Other highlights at the fair included trying a fried milky way bar on a stick made with funnel cake dough, the flowers on exhibit, the horse pull, watching horse jumping, the Mitchell Marionettes, watching the Queen of Tolerance win and visiting the goats , sheep and Clydesdale horses.

NYIP - Fall Photos | Fall Pictures | Fall Colors | Autumn Pictures | NYIP

NYIP - Fall Photos Fall Pictures Fall Colors Autumn Pictures NYIP

http://www.nyip.com/ezine/holidays/halloween.html

Here are some nice tips for Fall Photography and Halloween from the online school where I am taking an Adobe Photoshop course, The New York Institute of Photography.  It's a wonderful website to pickup good tips for free even if you aren't taking a course.

New York City visit

Last week, we visited the Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It is wise to plan what you carry with you in advance when visiting. Our visit began in Jersey City, New Jersey at the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal. If we hadn’t been with a tour group, I would have stopped to explore this old station with greenery growing along the tracks. The station apparently has a long history dating back to 1838.


You will go through a rather involved security check on your visit. Hand carry your camera, since backpacks and cases aren’t allowed. The best shots of The Statue of Liberty were either from the ferry with a long lens or from the shore beneath the statue. It was also interesting to look up at the statue from the Pedestal and there is a nice skyline view of New York City from the ferry.

There was a giant face and foot inside the Pedestal museum for fun photos. We didn’t go up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty. Only a limited number of visitors can take the stairs to the crown and it must be reserved in advance (up to a year). I read that it can also get quite hot in the crown area in summertime.

Food was available at both locations and I found the café staff at Ellis Island to be very friendly. We only spent a few hours at each location, but it would be easy to spend most of a whole day at each historical spot. There were lots of photographs and stories at Ellis Island and the museum about the Statue of Liberty showed a fascinating history.

Mountain Sightseeing in Maryland and West Virginia

Last week we visited some lovely sights in western Maryland and the mountains of West Virginia. We took a circle trip to Blackwater Falls State Park WV, Swallow Falls and Herrington Manor State Parks MD, the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad from Cumberland, Paw Paw Tunnel and visited some friends near Cacapon State Park WV. The weather was gorgeous, the waterfalls were so/so in dry weather and the friends were delightful.

I took many of my travel ideas from a book by Joseph Rossbach and Ian Plant called 50 Amazing Things You Must See and Do in the Greater D.C. Area. Although the book is targeted to active adults who like to hike and kayak, there were many places accessible to folks with a little less energy. Joe has presented several photography lectures at the St. Mary's County Camera Club and given us excellent advice on when and where to photograph nearby locations.

St. Mary's County saved ospreys

I recently took a boat ride in the creek to view all of the osprey nests. Many osprey live along the creeks and waterways in St. Mary's County. When the osprey started disappearing years ago, the residents put up platforms for the osprey to build nests on. The osprey usually appear in mid March and leave by mid September. They primarily eat fish, hence their other name, the fish hawk. I captured this osprey when he/she was landing and liked how dynamic the photo looked. Photographing birds takes a lot of patience and lots of photos. This photograph won second place in the August Advanced Digital Photo Competition at the St. Mary's County Camera Club.

St. Mary's Camera Club July Competition

As I get ready for the Camera Club competition this evening, I realized that I hadn’t sent some of my St. Mary’s County Camera Club competition winners from last month to my blog. Enjoy some lovely photos from Hawaii taken in May, a pink Hibiscus (Advanced Digital 1st place) and a beach on Molokai (Advanced Digital 2nd place).

We really enjoyed taking flowers with a new micro lens that can take sharp close up details. The beach was so lovely that I am currently using it as a background on my computer at work. It is such a relaxing photo. Molokai is very laid back and there aren’t a lot of tourists there. There is very little night life. We enjoyed talking with the local folks and visiting the quiet beaches.

Point No Point Lighthouse

Over the weekend we took a lovely cool boat ride out into the Chesapeake Bay. We went past Point No Point Lighthouse and saw a school of fish nearby. It is about 2 miles from shore and 6 miles North of Point Lookout. I believe it is currently owned by the Federal government, but was almost sold in private auction in 2008. It is a popular landmark for fishermen and needs a lot of renovation.

This photograph later won first place in the advanced digital monthly competition. The judge liked the reflection and placement of the lighthouse.

St. Mary's County Camera Club Photography Display

The St. Mary’s County Camera Club will have a photography exhibit at the Lexington Park Library on display from August 15-September 30th. Several of my photographs and Jim's photos will be on display and available for sale along with photos by my friends. Please stop by.

The 37th Governor's Cup Race Sails In

The 37th annual Governor’s Cup race took place on August 7th ending at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. The finish line was marked by the replica of the Maryland Dove, the ship that arrived at St. Mary’s City in 1634. Along the shore of Historic St. Mary’s City and St. Mary’s College of Maryland, visitors and sailors can enjoy music, food, the campus store and a great view of the race. The race started in Annapolis at 6PM the previous night. I’ve known the arrival times to vary greatly, sometimes 2AM, sometimes 5PM, depending on the prevailing winds and weather. To read more about the race and the winners, visit the official Governor’s Cup race site.

The River Concert Series Finish

The last River Concert of the 2010 series ended on Friday July 30th. Jim and I enjoyed it very much. Who doesn’t like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony? Kate Baldwin, a singer who performed in Broadway’s “Finian’s Rainbow” was wonderfully expressive and fun to watch. We really feel blessed to get to see such wonderful talent in St. Mary’s County and I appreciate all of the work that must go on behind the scenes to plan, promote and put on the River Concerts each year. Thank you St. Mary’s College of Maryland and all the people involved. Click to see my review of “the Grand Finale” River Concert on The Bay Net. I have lots more of the Beauty of the World to photograph and share, so stay tuned.

River Concerts at St. Mary's College of Maryland

Only one River Concert left this season, and it should be a really good one. Wyle, where I work part-time, is sponsoring Kate Baldwin at the next concert, Friday July 30th 7pm at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She will be singing Broadway show tunes. Ms. Baldwin has been starring in “Finian’s Rainbow” on Broadway and is nominated for a Tony award for her performance. She should be excellent and have wide appeal. The Chesapeake Orchestra is also playing “Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5”. Who isn’t familiar with that?
My review of last Friday’s River Concert starring José Cueto is now online at The Bay Net. José is a very talented violinist and we always enjoy listening to him.

Fifth River Concert Brought out Some Smiles

Once again, Jim and I attended the River Concert on July 16th at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. A 16 year old violinist, Brian Hong was featured. I arrived quite early and the heat and humidity were particularly oppressive. Minutes before the concert began, a brief storm passed by, cooling off the temperatures considerably. At first I thought about keeping my gear dry, but I couldn’t resist taking out my camera to take these photos of the crowd, showing how delighted folks were to feel the cooling rain. Sometimes the spectators are as interesting as the show. To read my review of the concert, visit the Bay Net.

River Concert Wows the Crowd with Singing

At last week’s River Concert at St. Mary’s College of Maryland on July 9th, we got an excellent view of the singing. Jim and I sat in the second row to watch. Sometimes I even crawl in front of the first row to get a better angle of the soloist’s hands or instrument. (As long as I am not blocking some else’s view!) Pictures of music stands and people’s heads don’t really add to the photo! As the evening sky gets darker, I have to remember to keep resetting the ISO rating higher (speed) which adds a grainy look to the pictures. I enjoy trying to catch orchestra members laughing at a small joke or eyeing the soloist with appreciation. I often like to get photos of the crowd as well, especially children enthralled with the music and people having fun. At this particular concert, I enjoyed seeing Olivia and Larry Vote perform, since they were involved with my church choir a few years ago. It was a wonderful concert, leaving me humming the tunes for the rest of the evening.
To read my review of the concert on The Bay Net, go to http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/18710

Large Crowd Gathered for River Concert Wasn’t Disappointed.

The third River Concert of the 2010 season, titled “Summon the Heroes”, began with a huge crowd of enthusiastic music lovers on the green at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. “It’s nice to have a small crowd to play for” exclaimed Jeffrey Silberschlag, music director, tongue in cheek. At the concert on Friday evening July 2nd, 2010, the festival vendors were doing a brisk business selling dinners and crafts to the happy crowd. After the extreme heat in the early part of the week, Friday’s Spring-like weather attracted visitors in large numbers.

In deference to the coming holiday, the evening began with a rousing rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” by the Chesapeake Orchestra, followed by John Williams “Summon the Heroes”, a piece written for the 100th Anniversary of the modern Olympic games, according to the conductor. This majestic piece included lots of trumpets, drums, cymbals and soaring strings.

Morton Gould’s “American Salute” followed, a fairly popular work based on the tune of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again”. This was appropriate for an evening with so many patriotic works.

One of the highlights of the evening was a performance by Ian Chaava (pictured), euphophonist and runner-up in the River Concert Young Artist Concerto Competition. Introduced to the Euphonium in his sophomore year in high school, he has progressed at a rapid rate with the instrument. He played Jean Baptiste Arban’s “Carnival of Venice”, a piece most of us would recognize as a complex fingered variation of “My Hat, It Has Three Corners”. The young man gave an excellent performance and was well received with a standing ovation, prompting a huge smile from Mr. Chaava. Well Done!

Perry Goldstein’s nostalgic piece, “The Abundant Air” was a contemporary jazzy work played by the Marine Saxophone Quartet from “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band. The Quartet consisted of Steven Temme on soprano sax, Gregory Ridlington on Alto sax, David Jenkins on tenor sax and Otis Goodlett, IV, baritone Saxophonist accompanied by a talented Bass soloist from the Chesapeake Orchestra. The work was sometimes disjointed with lots of stops and starts and some 50’s jazz creating a music story. The Quartet followed with a jazzy rendition of “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay”.

After the intermission, the concert saved the best for last with Brian Ganz, piano soloist and local artist-in-residence at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, who played George Gershwin’s “Piano Concerto in F”. St. Mary’s County is so lucky to have such an accomplished and enthusiastic pianist who vibrates with the joy of the music from head to toe. Even though he was the soloist, he also seemed to coax the best out of the Chesapeake orchestra, obviously enjoying the music between solo sections, a definite team effort with the conductor. This rhythmic jazzy work was just superb. Jeffrey Silbershlag also announced that Mr. Ganz just signed an agreement with the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD to play Chopin’s works for 10-15 seasons, starting on January 21st.

The River Concert ended with a Sousa’s “Liberty Bell March” and Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”, followed by spectacular fireworks over St. Mary’s River.

Next week’s River Concert, “A Grand Night for Singing” will feature guest conductor Larry Vote, soprano Michelle B. Johnson, mezzo-soprano, Olivia Vote and baritone, Brian Major with overtures from “Carmen”, “Porgy and Bess”, “The Barber of Seville” and more.

FYI-the Fireworks photo won 3rd place in the night photography competition at St. Mary's County Camera Club in August 2010.

2010 River Concerts

We attended the second River Concert of the 2010 season, called “Trills and Thrills”, on Friday June 25th at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, featuring the Chesapeake Orchestra. From front row seats we could hear the music well and see all of the musicians close-up. Tourists and local music lovers should be sure to take advantage of the summer concerts. You could easily spend a lot of money to hear musicians of this quality. The surroundings on the large grassy green are pleasant and divided into sections from the “Serious Listening” up front, to the ”Serious Socializing” in back. There are even food and craft vendors. Each concert has a different theme, and either presents a well known singer or instrumentalist and/or some excellent local talent. And you can’t beat the price: free! But you’ll probably want to give a small donation. Just be sure to bring a chair or blanket. To learn more about this particular concert and see my review visit the Bay Net here.

St. Mary's College of MD River Concert Reviews 2010

Like last year, I decided to do reviews of the River Concerts at St. Mary's College of Maryland on The Bay Net, our local online newspaper. The concerts are wonderful and we usually sit up front to see and hear all the action. I'll probably be writing the articles every week for the next 7 weeks.  Please read my article at http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/18402

Buzz's Marina in Ridge, MD

I am adding a photo of Buzz’s Marina to my collection of St. Mary’s County photographs, taken on a lovely autumn day last fall. Owned by Mike and Christy, their Marina is located on St. Jerome’s Creek, just off route 5 in Ridge, MD. They offer quite a few services to local customers including boat storage, boat slips, a boat ramp, gas, a camp store and camper storage. We have visited a number of times and can state that they are very friendly, can help you with boating and fishing information and are convenient for visitors to Point Lookout and Southern St. Mary’s County. For more information, visit their website at http://www.buzzsmarina.com/ . Merchandise and photos of Buzz's Marina can be purchased from Calm Reflections at http://calmreflections.dotphoto.com/

Hawaii blog 2 Jellyfish Dance

The Maui Ocean Center had some interesting exhibits including lots of sharks fed by a diver, a 750,000 gallon acrylic tunnel to walk through, sea turtles and a tank full of black lit jellyfish. (featured below) We enjoyed our visit very much.

Hawaii blog 1 Maui

I haven’t shared much for a few weeks, with good reason. Jim and I went to Hawaii with 8 days notice to 4 islands to fill in places we hadn’t seen. We had some wonderful adventures and saw some lovely beaches, colorful flowers, friendly folks, rare birds and awe inspiring cliffs. I have lots of photos to share. We visited several of the beaches in West Maui. I just love palm studded beaches! It is hard to find a beach with the palm trees where you want them.

Pet photography

On our trip to Great Falls I met a beautiful Siberian Husky named Mishka, the Russian equivalent of Teddy Bear. I asked her owner if I could take some photos. The dogs fur was sooo soft. I’m learning that it takes a lot of patience to photograph pets, but I usually come up with something worthwhile. I also need a lot of help from the owner to help keep the pet interested or still enough to photograph.

Great Blue Heron at Great Falls

I saw several Great Blue Herons at Great Falls National Park this weekend. I’m determined to get some good photos of them. They hang around our yard from time to time making noisy comments to the world. Grooonk! They are such graceful birds, with such a nasty voice. To see the bird with a fish, visit my facebook page. Just look for Calm Reflections Photography.

Buy Local video on YouTube

I attended the Small Independent Business Round Table on April 12th a met a few more local business people. A few local business people shared ways they became creative to attract new business, such as selling lower priced affordable items, going out of their way to buy what people want with good customer service and creating a new service (boat tours to see lighthouses).

I was surprised to learn that Maryland has the highest median household income in the country, even though places like New York and Los Angeles are far richer. St. Mary's County has the second highest growth rate in the State (after Calvert County) and the youngest population. We may be spending less here, but a lot of other places are worse.

We were encouraged to put a Buy Local sticker on our car. (See my previous blog.) Here is a link to the new Buy Local video.

Southern Maryland Give Camp Volunteers

I took some photos about Southern Maryland Give Camp as a favor to my friend, Theresa. Then I wrote an article for The Bay Net to spread the word since it seemed like a worthwhile cause. They had 102 technical volunteers donate their weekend to make new websites and fix existing sites for 19 non-profit organizations. Do you have any idea how much money it saved those nonprofits? (roughly $393,000 according to Jim Pendarvis organizer of the weekend event) And the volunteers had a blast. To view Give Camp pictures and read my article visit my website special page.

New York Institute of Photography Competition results

I’ve been taking a Photoshop course at the New York Institute of Photography. They posted the results of a contest for their 100 year anniversary this month and the photos are marvelous! Unfortunately, I didn’t know about the contest, so I didn’t enter. Maybe next time. Have a look on YouTube if you are interested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48LfXC17_bc

St. Mary's County Camera Club Third Prize

At the St. Mary’s County Camera Club competition last week my Barn Wall photo received 3rd prize in the Advanced Digital completion. The same photo won 1st prize in the Black and White Abstract category at the St. Mary’s County Fair last September. I even was asked if the Fair could borrow my photograph temporarily to demonstrate photography technique. I liked the wall because of its fascinating textures. I rarely do black and white these days, but the original was very monochrome in color, just right to accentuate the old look of the ancient curling rough wood. The photo was taken in the late afternoon, which increased the shadows and added depth to the wood shingles.

Buy Local in St. Mary's County

Today I attended a St. Mary’s County Small Independent Business Round table at Lenny’s Restaurant for the first time. It was fun to meet some of the other local business owners. We learned about a new local business concept called Buy Local. Because of the recession, the county is having a campaign to encourage local residents to buy local products to help strengthen the local community. After all, isn’t it nice to know you are helping your neighbors when you buy something? It seems more personal too. When I was in college, I loved visiting the local family grocery store because he knew my name!

The next Round Table meeting is scheduled for April 12 at 8:30AM at Lenny's Restaurant and will be about networking and marketing.

Photographing a Chihuahua

I had fun on Wednesday taking photos of a chihuahua named Lacey. She was adorable and sweet. I brought some Mexican hats and a blanket to play with and some cute Christmas costumes. We tried to get her attention by using a squeaky toy and clicker. It was fun doing a pet session. Does anyone know any good websites about pet photography? I’m interested in learning more.

The Ospreys will be in St. Mary's County soon!

We’ve had so much snow this year in St. Mary’s County. It is nice to remember that spring will eventually come. We have an osprey nest in the water just off our property. Usually the female osprey shows up between March 10 and 15th, followed by her male companion. They live in the County until mid September, before flying south to Central and South America for the winter. The female weighs almost twice as much as the male. They are such a joy to see, even if they “yell” at us when we get too close. If you want to learn more about osprey, I recommend two books, "The Fish Hawk: Osprey" (Northword Wildlife Series) by Stephen Carpenteri and a children's book "Ospreys" by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent both currently available from Amazon and elsewhere. Please share with me any good locations in St. Mary’s County to see osprey. I’d love to photograph more of them!