Happy Halloween
It’s been far too long since I’ve blogged. I have no excuse other than life has just been very busy.
Quick post today as Master Finn and I want to wish everyone a Happy Halloween! May the Force be with You!
Saying Good-bye to Brady
It seems that my absences are becoming more frequent and for that I apologize. I just returned from a trip to Israel with a short stop in Zürich and Milan. It’s taken me some time to adjust being home but this has nothing to do with jet lag.
Three days before leaving on my trip we lost Brady, our beautiful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. We brought Brady home when he was just 8 weeks old and we celebrated his 12th birthday 5 days before he passed away.
Brady, as most Cavaliers, was a love sponge, yes, a love sponge. What does that mean you ask? Well he would absorb all the love that we showered on him and then just pour it back all over us ten fold. There’s wasn’t a lap in this family that he didn’t enjoy lying on. He was a snuggle bug but fiercely protective of his family.
His loss has been devastating to our family. His absence in the house in palpable. I miss walking through the front door and being greeted by a wagging tail and big slobbery kisses. I miss being stared at with those big brown eyes whenever I’m eating something. I miss him nudging my leg telling me its time to play. I miss our walks in the park. I miss giving him tummy rubs and having him at my heels going up the stairs when it was time for bed. I miss our snuggling before bed and giving him that last scratch behind his ears (that was his favourite) before going to sleep.
Brady was more than a “dog”. He was our baby and an integral member of our family.
You’ll live in our hearts forever Brady. We love you and miss you.
Beware of the Dog
Every so often I get this boost of creativity and feel inspired to do something different, even a little outrageous with one of my images. This was the case with this image that I captured when we arrived at San Quirico D’Orcia in Tuscany
RAW file
This is the image straight out of the camera. I haven’t done a thing to it. What I love about this scene is the layer upon layer of the buildings and how the converge. As I stared at it on my computer screen I wondered what it would look like if the buildings were slanted and those stone walls started to squeeze together. I used the “pinch” artistic filter in Photoshop, at about 55%, to bring the stone walls in and the back buildings forward forcing the centre door to inch closer. That looked pretty cool but I still wanted to make it a bit more ominous looking. I had a black and white image of a dark and cloudy sky and used that as a texture overlay using the blending mode “multiply” at 100% opacity. I then used a layer mask to bring back some of the detail in the walls and selectively lighten certain areas.
As you can see from the original image Fido was nowhere to be seen. He is from that village. I captured him only moments earlier standing on one of those high walls. I used the Quick Selection tool to select only him from the image he was in, created a new layer from the selection and then dropped him into this image. And there you have it…Beware of the Dog!
I don’t do these often but its fun experimenting. I would love to know what you think.
Click on the image to enlarge (it really does look better) or to Purchase a Print.
Hey…Looking At Me?
I spent the last few days in Houston, Texas attending the Paw Print Divas Pet Photography workshop. It was an amazing experience with excellent instructors. I also got to spend 3 days totally immersed in photography and dogs…not a bad way to spend my time I would say. I wanted to give you a sneak peek today but please bear with me as I’m trying to work through 2 16g memory cards full of images. I’ll be posting a full run down on the workshop on my PhoDOGraphy by Edith site later this week.
I’ll also be posting images to my Facebook page and Instagram so hop on over and follow me if you want total cuteness in your feeds 🙂
Oh…this is Jiff!
Patience is a Virtue
Remember “Uggie” from my Life in the City post. Well here he is again but this time he brought a friend. They were both very patient while waiting for their human to come out.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Click on the image to enlarge (it really does look better) or to Purchase a Print.
My…How Cavalier Of You!
I thought I would take a little break from my Boston images (they’ll be back) and share some images of Brady. Before I do that though you may have noticed that I’ve added another item to the menu of this site…”Product Reviews.” Yesterday I published a review of the Gitzo Traveler Tripod & Markins Ballhead. Let me know what you think. I’ll be adding more reviews as I try out new gear.
Speaking of new gear I’m a bit giddy because last week I purchased the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM Lens and of course who better to try it out on then Brady. Here are a few initial shots using the new lens. Once I’ve had a chance to really put it to the test I will be posting a full review.
Edith Levy Photography 