Birthday Boy

A few nights ago I decided to give this little guy a birthday celebration.  I can’t believe he’s 12.  If I’m completely honest, I don't know the exact date of his birth...I didn't realize at the time how important he would become to me, that he would really become my best friend.  But I do remember the day he was born! It was my senior year of high school when our family dog had puppies, and Little Bit was the runt. Much smaller than his brother and sister, he easily fit into the palm of my hand for a good while. I gave him lots of attention and less than a year after his birth had to go off to college. That was long enough I guess to form a strong bond, as every time I went back home to visit he was very happy and stuck to me like glue. Four years later after seeing him only over summer breaks and brief visits during the school year, I finally brought him to live with us and he's been by my side ever since! He's helped me get through some really tough times, and I’m very thankful for him!  If you've met him you know how sweet he is :)

Here’s the birthday boy with a few treats I bought him from a local dog bakery– Pumpkin Pie bites, and bacon cheese bites.  To my surprise, Mr. Picky loved them both!

I can’t say the same about the hat. He wasn’t much of a fan at first.  It took a while to get it positioned right, but I think he looked very handsome when we got it right. 

I finally convinced him it wasn’t so bad by putting mine on with him.

With the pictures were out of the way, he was ready for the cake. 

Yummy!

It does look kind of tasty. If I didn’t know it was specifically for dogs, I might like to try a piece.

And after the birthday celebration, he got a much needed haircut.  I think the new look makes him look like a younger man. 

Here’s hoping we have many more years together. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Meerkat Mob

Aside from the Giraffe exhibit, this is where I spent most of my time at the Brevard Zoo.  I went on my way into the zoo for a while, and again on the way out.  Here is my photoshoot with the Meerkats! 

Meerkats are matriarchal, and the alpha female has control over the group.  Below is Kiki, the head of the mob in this exhibit.  I knew I had to get a portrait of the head, and she was a pleasure to work with.  She does look fierce doesn’t she?

Here you can see her playing a slightly more gentle role… I thought it was sweet but at first as you can see no one really wanted to look at the camera for me. 

That’s better.. sort of.  I love how she has her arm wrapped around the baby.  It definitely shows her softer motherly side.

I caught these (brothers?) guys just hanging out back to back… but again you see my dilemma with not getting them to look at me.  The little one on the left just didn’t’ want to have his photo taken at all.  They remind me of a certain little white furball who lives with me. 

After waiting around a while longer, and a little coaxing from his buddy, I got both of them at least looking in the same direction.  I would have liked to have a better angle, but for these guys I’ll take it!

Aren’t they cute!

Okay, finally I was attempting to organize a family photo (or partial family, there were many more meerkats not in this shot.)  But as you can see, I had my work cut out for me. 

A very long time, and many shots later, this is the best we could do.  Christmas card worthy? 

The Meerkats may look cute and cuddly, but don’t be fooled.  As soon as food is out they are vicious!  We got to see the zoo keeper put food out and they went pretty crazy.  I wouldn’t dare get in their way. 

I very much enjoyed my time watching these guys, and I hope you like the pictures!  If you’d like to read a little about the exhibit or see some additional photos, the zoo has an article about them here:  http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2014/04/meerkat-brevard-zoo.html

Thanks for looking!

Experiments with Silhouettes

These photos were all taken a while back, inspired by the tookapic silhouette theme. (You can see my tookapic page here https://tookapic.com/jenniferfaye) I thought I would post them now to provide a little contrast to the recent wildlife. 

This tower isn’t necessarily interesting to look at, but I really liked the sky for this shot. 

The following two shots are experiments with forced perspective.  For a first attempt at this, I was pretty happy with how they turned out.

I really enjoy photographing birds, so I had to include a few in my silhouettes.

Below is the only one I managed to snap with sunset colors.  I saw this sky on my way home from work and pulled over just in time to catch it before the sun went completely down. 

And possibly my favorite below.  Unlike all the others, however, this wasn’t taken as a silhouette.  I was playing around with settings and the puppy and I came out underexposed.  I used this type of edit to try and save it and actually really like the way it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thor

Not long after we entered the Brevard Zoo we ran across this guy.  Thor, a Blue Hyacinth Macaw.  He was whistling and making kissing sounds at first, so I decided to go over and say hello.

Then he pretended to be shy.

That didn’t last long though, pretty soon he was chattering away.  “I’m Thor” Over and over again. 

I’m pretty sure this is a smile, that’s what I’m calling it at least.  He had so much personality!

I could have spent more time with him, as he was very entertaining.  There were so many other things to see though, so we had to finally say goodbye. 

Meet Horatio

I have had the amazing experience over the past few days of seeing and being very close to some amazing animals.  I was going to just make one post summing up everything, but then realized I had way too many photos for that.  So slowly but surely I’m planning to go through all of the photos and feature one or two animals per post.  I’ll start with Horatio, a Great Horned Owl.  He has lived at the zoo from a very young age.  Unfortunately he suffered an injury making it impossible for him to survive in the wild.  He seems to be doing fine in the zoo though!  

I love his eyes!

And now for some profile shots. 

And finally below you can get a better full body idea of what he looks like. 

 

Thanks for taking a look!  I would love any feedback or comments.  As always, feel free to share any images but please link back to my blog. 

It’s Been a While

I know it’s been way too long since my last post!  I’ve had a lot going on but am finally sitting down to update.

Shortly after my last post I went up to visit North Carolina for about a week.  It had been a while since I last visited so it was wonderful to see my friends and family.  I didn’t spend too much time behind the camera there because there was so many people to catch up with, but I do have a few that I want to share. 

This is a photo of my Little Bit’s sister.  Her name is June and she’s a sweetheart. 

This bell is hanging from my parents’ front porch.  I just thought it looked cool. 

And finally, these two cuties are my niece and nephew.  They are absolutely adorable and just really good kids.  I’m so proud of my sister for how well she is raising these two. 

Since the visit home I have been working a lot on exploring more artistic opportunities.  I’ve had my first two paid photo shoots!  Most recently headshots for a friend’s daughter who is getting her local start as a child actress.  And a few weeks ago an engagement shoot.  Here are a few of my favorites from the engagement.

These two are getting an married this summer and I am so excited to be photographing their wedding!!

Finally I’ve been working on a lot of crocheting, as well as working on an Etsy shop and Facebook Page for my Photography and Crochet.  Find me here:  My Etsy shop - Jenn Creates, and Facebook Page

I’ll be posting pictures from the Lunar Eclipse soon! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Sorry it’s been so long