Today my co-workers and I planted 65 Sugar Maple trees at a local ballpark/walking trail to commemorate our company’s 65th anniversary.  It was a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun at the same time.  We dug, we bailed water, we moved dirt, we put shields around the trees to protect them, we inserted stakes, and tied them with twine so that our little trees will one day grow tall and provide shade at the field.  What a satisfying feeling to know that we did this ourselves and the kids who play ball there and all of the people who use the walking trail will enjoy the benefits!  The Little League was practicing on the field this afternoon so we gathered the kids to help plant a few trees.   One of the kids was dropped off by his mom and riding in the back seat of the car was this beautiful Golden Retriever.  You know I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to photograph a cute dog!  🙂 

This is one of my favorite spots at the park for photographing pets, but the light can be a bit challenging.  On this day, the sun was filtering down through the trees and creating bright spots and dark shadows.  I tried a flash for a few shots, but preferred the images taken without flash.  In the end, I ended up using exposure compensation to over-expose most images to keep the dogs from being too dark.  This image of Colby was taken at ISO400, f/3.5, 1/320th of a second, and exposure compensation of +2/3 of a stop using my Tamron 28-75mm lens.  We even photographed a few dogs here that belonged to folks just walking through the park.   They wandered over to see what we were doing, so of course I invited them to join in the fun.  Coming soon…photos of a Pointer, Corgi, and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel!

I’ve never met a dog who loved to wear clothes as much as Nick!   Nick is a Goldendoodle and a very friendly and high energy pup!   When he first arrived at the park for his class photo shoot on Saturday, he was excited and could barely sit still.  His mom Trudy said that he calms down once he’s wearing clothes, so she proceeded to dress him in his favorite red sweater.  Of course, a headband with devil horns was the perfect accessory!   Trudy was right, Nick turned into a super model once he was wearing his favorite outfits!  After the red sweater, Nick changed into a lovely gray Eagles jersey and pumpkin headband and posed for the main blog image.  Finally it was time for some Halloween fun when we dressed him in a witch hat and cape.  [Yes, he DID borrow this outfit from Tara and I think he should have sized up!]  🙂   Nick is a real ham and a great dog to photograph…so many expressions!  A special thanks to Glenn and Trudy for bringing him to the park on Saturday.  My class LOVED him!

Today I photographed this adorable beagle, named rerun [he doesn’t capitalize his name!].  We visited a beautiful park and walked all around the lake enjoying a warm Fall afternoon.  As we neared the end of the trail, we met a couple sitting on a park bench.  He was 92 years old and had lost 95% of his eyesight.  She wasn’t much younger, but was much more spry and eager to meet rerun.  We chatted for over 1/2 hour and ‘Joan’ was so happy to have the chance to pet the dog, give him carrots, and shower him with attention.  It had been years since this couple had a dog…at least since their children were young.  Now that he has lost his sight, they can no longer have a dog.  It was so heartwarming to see how much joy rerun brought to them today at the park.  It was also sad to think that their lives will never again include a dog in their home.  Still, they have much love to give to the animals that they meet in their everyday excursions and rerun absolutely returned their love today with many kisses and a wagging tail!

I spent the morning at Lehigh Parkway in Allentown with the students from my LCCC Pet Photography class.  What a great group – we had a blast!  Thank you so much to Lori, Trish, and Amy for bringing their adorable dogs for everyone to photograph!  Above is Colby…a beautiful Golden Retriever who calmly took in all of the antics of the other dogs and sat patiently for his turn to be photographed!  He’s a real charmer.  Below is Winston, a sweet Cockapoo wearing a blue sweater, and Torre, a white Cockapoo who is also a therapy dog.  Winston’s talent is jumping like a kangarooo and Torre will sit and pose all day long if you let her….what a princess!   I will have more photos to share but wanted to post a few favorites today!