~ Photography by Pat Beaudoin, Sioux Lookout Photographer
… sunflower seeds help as well. Isn’t this Chipmunk just a cutie, look at how tiny his “hands” are! He’s one of four new little ones that we’re enjoying in our yard this year.
For some reason he also reminds me of a wise little gnome – I hate Gnomes!
My daughter’s family dog, Mylo. I think the simplicity of B&W expresses his gentle nature better than the colour version does.
I have been focusing on portraits this month and photographing little else. Nothing worthy of posting as yet; it is difficult to find models to practice with which makes for a slow learning process. My grandchildren have lost their patience with me but Mylo doesn’t mind.
February 27th and so warm it became the earliest date that our Mica has been able to be outside on the deck after a long winter inside the house. She doesn’t like to get her little “feets” wet so I grabbed a piece of cardboard for her to sit on, although she wandered off of it here and there. She ended the outdoor session after only 15 minutes but it was great to see her out in the fresh air at long last!
Only after seeing the pictures did I notice that her hackles are raised a bit, which likely means she was not totally comfortable out there – or I was getting on her last nerve with the camera!
p.s.: an interesting article here on piloerection, even at O-C and all that fur, it just might have been uncomfortably cold for Mica.
I was working with the last of the day’s light here and would normally neutralize the blue shadows by changing the white balance. However, I liked the icey-blue tones of some of these and decided to leave them alone for a change. These fit this month’s Photowalk theme “Alone” as well.
My prize for this day was happening on the Owl… he’s been on my list forever! He was high above the rest of the forest trees and looking so comfortable on his perch. I still have not learned to always bring my 400mm lens when venturing into the wilder areas, shot this with the 200mm. I plan a return with the bigger lens and more daylight to get the details of this wonderful large bird; chances are good that this is his usual hunting location. I’m pretty certain he’s the Great Grey Owl of North America, described here. I love these moments of sheer delight…
More things I found in the snow, a continuation of my post here.
I saved the best for last…. meet ” Sioux “ (prn. Sue) who is simply a delight!
Horse’n around… Someone’s watching me…
I tried out a cloudy white balance for the cabin shots in an attempt to counter a very grey, overcast day.
A big thank you to Val and Elso for allowing me the freedom to wander their property, one of my favourite places to be!
This story begins back on October 7, 2004 when we two chickens ( well, one cocky rooster and an old hen) went missing from Drayton Road. We were assumed to be abducted and the mystery began. A search for us ensued over several months to no avail and we’re here to tell you that those first few months on our own were tough go’in. The truth is, we were never abducted… we were totally ABANDONED by our former owners (who out of common decency will remain nameless of course). Yep, just thrown in the back of a truck and taken to an obscure spot further down Drayton Road and dumped by the side of a road. Imagine our shock! But we should have known something was up given that it was done in such a sneaky rush… the “Nameless Ones” acting all nervous like someone was going to arrive home and catch them or something. They couldn’t get out of there fast enough!
Well, it turned out that a family lived on either side of that road. We tried to hide at first, but it is pretty tough to do while dragging a ceramic body around. The people mostly ignored us, probably totally po’d at having junk dropped off in their yard. The snow kept us warm over the winter and by Spring everyone had mellowed; before long we had grown on them and were accepted into their family. We now had a spot by the side of the road to call our own!
Oct 7th, 2004 2:37 p.m./pre-truck Oct 22nd, 2004 Feb 8th, 2005
Turns out the ”Nameless Ones” did us a huge favour – we LOVE it here with Uncle Roger and Auntie Anne!!! We hang with our best ”bud”, Licorice and now a new horse, Raven. It’s so fun to have regular meals, swim, frolic in the field with Licorice’s mega bouncy-ball and Uncle Roger even takes us for rides with Licorice! Uncle Roger’s pretty good with the poopy-scooping thing too. The puzzling posters about us that came unexpectly, anytime-anywhere, have stopped arriving for the last couple of years. Thank goodness, it near drove poor Uncle Roger crazy!
So, we are neither abducted nor abandoned - we are instead, very happy run-aways.
The mystery has ended… we confess!
HAPPY NEW YEAR
ROGER & ANNE !
You have to meet Charlie… he belongs to our friends, Pat & Bill, who graciously let me wander around their lakeshore property for a couple of afternoons taking pictures. Charlie kept me company and didn’t I just fall in love with this animal! All personality and charm he is.
He loves swimming – underwater! I’ve never seen a dog do this before and he scared me a couple of times because he stays under for so long. He dog-paddles around the surface of the water for a bit like he’s looking for something inparticular and then he suddenly dips below the surface and combs the bottom for a lengthy time. Just as suddenly he bursts to the surface when he finally runs out of air, shakes himself off and gets ready to repeat the process. Amazing to watch.
Look at how sweetly he posed for my top image… that’s because he had plopped his ball right by the leg of my tripod for the millionth time and when I happened to turn around, he was waiting patiently for me to throw it for him again. A beautiful little soul – I love this dog!
(Wish he hadn’t left his toy on the dock though – I don’t have the editing skills necessary to clone that one out.)
