National Dog Day
Yesterday [August 26th] was National Dog Day. Of course, I didn’t take any photos of my dogs yesterday; I usually take quite a lot of photos of them and post them to Facebook, but I haven’t lately and what I have taken have been on my phone. But today I grabbed my camera and took a few photos of Bentley. Unlike Lily who likes to go outside and sit in the sun long enough for me to get good photos of her, Bentley usually decides that if I am talking to him with camera in hand, he thinks he should get up and come up to me. Sometimes I can get him back into position, but most times not. So, Bentley is my challenge dog.
Here are two photos of him, one taken in 2011 and one taken today; one after a haircut and taken outdoors, and one where he needs a haircut and taken indoors.
No matter how he looks, though, I love taking photos of him because of his expressions: quizzical, serious, comically goofy and everything between. I just wish I had a camera with me all the time to capture those.
Pets make great photographic subjects, when they hold still. Starting when they’re young, get them used to seeing a camera in front of your face, and don’t get discouraged when that cute “pose” is lost – there will be another along in the near future. Understand, however, not every puppy/dog or kitten/cat likes to have their photo taken, especially with flash. I had one dog that hated having her photo taken and let me know it. It took years before she decided to ham it up for the camera, but it took a lot of patience and encouragement on my part to get her to decide that a camera wasn’t so bad after all. With pets of all kinds, be patient and be quick, and don’t expect them to hold still.
Don’t wait until a “National” day to celebrate your pet. They celebrated you every day.
Posted in Pets by Jason with no comments yet.