Happy Birthday Skye! (plus some photography stuff)

Happy Birthday Skye!

In honor of your birthday, the dogs thought they would show off their Halloween costumes. Koira's giraffe costume always makes me laugh, while Pallo dressed as a squirrel results in pouty faces from him (and suppressed giggles from me). Boomer was a sport, and didn't even seem to notice having his dragon costume on!

While we were outside with the camera, I decided to try my hand at this week's photography challenge, as hosted by Twenty-Six-To-Life. This week's challenge is composition, encouraging us to simplify, use the rule of thirds, fill the frame, and try a new perspective (full photography course details are on her blog).

I decided to focus on using the rule of thirds and filling the frame for these two pictures.

Boomer's nose is at the upper left third, while his body fills the lower right third. I thought this was a good fill-the-frame and use of thirds. And, it is simplified about as well as I can do around my house, with just the plain blue-painted cinder block behind him.

Again, on this one, Boomer's nose is on one of the main "thirds" point, this time the lower left, while the stem of the pumpkin is along the right third line, starting and ending on those points. If the pumpkin were to be viewed as the horizon, it is in the lower third as well, rather than in the center of the picture.

Now, I know people who are regulars here are thinking, wait, whats with this fuzzy dog being called Boomer? Don't worry, I didn't get another dog. He is a foster dog that I picked up on Monday, covered in fleas, having chewed himself down to bare skin in many places, old, gimpy on one leg, and with horrible old-dog stench. He received a flea bath (dog shampoo with neem oil added) and is now wearing a cone (to stop the chewing and licking) and booties on his back feet (to stop the scratching), as well as getting benadryl twice a day to help with the itching. He also has toe nails so long they are causing his toes to disjoint, and I am sure it hurts to walk on them. I trimmed them a good amount, but am afraid to do too much all at once (though he was a total doll and just laid there while I clipped his nails).

Boomer is a total sweetheart. He is happy to just lay next to me in my chair, on my lap, or at my feet. He gets along with Pallo and Koira, and even though his original owners said he wasn't good with cats, he doesn't seem to have even noticed Martha yet (even when she walks straight past him). He will be being evaluated today by the head of the rescue, and hopefully a longer-term foster home can be found for him while he recovers from his skin issues.