The SMAWL Animal Fair in St. Mary's County

I attended the 8th annual  SMAWL Animal Fair on May 12^th with my husband to see all the cute critters.  There were many visitors with every breed of dog imaginable. I saw a cocker spaniel that looked just like my 2nd dog (awww) a beautiful white samoyed, a beagle and russian wolfhounds just to mention a few.  Dog service groups abounded including Greyt Expectations Greyhounds, All Shepherd Rescue, Doberman Assistance, Northern Chesapeake Sheltie Rescue, SMAWL Cats, Golden Retriever Rescue, Snowflake Society (horses), the Tri County Animal Shelter, and even the Hedgehog Welfare Society.  Fair visitors could buy doggie clothes from Custom Dog Jackets, adopt a pet or buy candles.  Also in attendance were many of the local veterinarians like VCA St. Mary’s Animal Hospital, All Kinds Veterinary Hospital, and the Well Pet Clinic. Kennels galore were in evidence too like Chesapeake Pet Resort & Day Spa, Farmstead Kennels an Indian Bridge Kennels & Suites.

 We had a lovely conversation with a woman from Pets on Wheels.  They bring therapy pets to nursing homes, assisted living facilities and Veteran’s homes to help improve their health and cheer the local residents.  We watched Dakota’s Legacy Horse demo with several horses walking backwards and a young cart horse driver.  We chatted with the pet photographer, Gary Garcia from ImageZ Galore Photography, Inc., watched a dog fitted with doggles (dog goggles) and met a piglet.  Fun activities included a musical dog sit, an animal pet parade and woof it down pie contest and a silent auction. It was altogether a fun time for pets and their people.

Flowers from the local Garden Center in St. Mary's County

I enjoyed photographing more flowers at The Greenery in Hollywood MD and Meadow Farms in Leonardtown when I was looking for an anniversary gift for my husband.  They both have quite a variety of lovely flowers this time of year to enhance your garden.  There were many flowers to pick from both perennials and annuals.  I especially liked the white gardenias bushes (that smell heavenly) and the red zinnias at the Greenery.  I think the last flower may be a red dahlia, but I'm not sure.  If you know,  please comment.

Photographing Spring flowers

I've spent some time recently photographing spring flowers using a micro (macro) 60 mm Nikon lens and 2 small flashes on a ring around the lens (a special Nikon flash system).  The azaleas, dogwoods and tulips were in bloom.  A tip for photographing flowers is that uneven numbers of blooms look particularly nice.  I often like dark or blurred backgrounds and the flower's center and foreground should be in focus.  Azaleas were difficult because they tend to bloom in pairs not triplets.  Red flowers tend to get overexposed with a digital camera, so I underexpose them a little in RAW format and check them on my camera viewing screen often.  I particularly like backlit flowers and flower shots taken from unusual angles, like underneath.  To learn a little more about flower photography, check out this article by the New York Institute of Photography.

More Winning Photos at SMCCC

We had a fairly difficult new photo judge last week for April’s St. Mary’s County Camera Club competition.  At the last minute, he tossed out one of my favorite dog photos, but kept my Eastern Screech Owl for Advanced Digital First prize and my photo of an Old Boat at St. Mary’s College of Maryland for third prize.  I liked the reflection of the autumn trees in the boat photo and the big eyes of the owl, the way its’ ears waved in the wind in front of the bokeh(BOH KAY or BOH KA) background (out of focus blur that sometimes looks like circles).  The 8 or 9 inch owl kept closing his eyes from the wind making it challenging to photograph.

Next month’s competition theme is St. Mary’s County.  Maybe I should have kept the photo for next month, but I have some others I can use.

Calm Reflections Photography's photostream

Calm Reflections Photography's photostream on Flickr.

I just started a new Flickr Photostream with some of mybest photos. Please have a look and write a comment or two.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75311362@N08/

I had great fun visiting all of my favorite travel spots and marking them as favorites. Most of them are absolutely gorgeous. A free vacation! You can see them under Favorites too.

Crazy Weather and Confused Flowers

Last I checked, we don't live near Jackson Hole Wyoming, where temperatures change 30-40 degrees daily. But in Maryland the other week, we had snow on Monday and warm sunshine by Thursday. Crazy! These photos were taken 4 days apart on March 5th (snow) and 8th (sun). My winter iris tends to bloom in early and late winter. I had lots of winter iris this year with mild temperatures. By late February, the daffodils were blooming at the same time as the winter iris, very early for daffys.

Texture Fun

I had fun last weekend playing with textures.  I chose a photo I like of an old sink.  First, I borrowed a free copy of a texture called Softened Faux by "Skeletal Mess" from Flickr, placed it over the sink photo with a little blending, then HDR'd the single photo.  I thought it was kinda neat.

Then to use the photo for a Camera Club competition on textures, I chose to do something similar with only my own photos.  I took a photo of a crumpled sheet of paper and superimposed it over the sink. 

Very interesting for a first attempt.  The texture didn't win, but I will probably use the photo again.

Original photo

Photo with crumpled paper texture

                                   Photo with Softened Faux and HDR