I Am Nothing if Not Tenacious

Somebody (possibly my father, although I can't remember for certain) told me that getting a Ph.D. was less about smarts and more about tenacity.  Not that being smart didn't hurt, but if you weren't tenacious, you wouldn't ever get the degree.  If nothing else, I think we can safely say I'm tenacious.

January 1, 2014 I decided to start a '365 Project' - a photo a day for a year.  I mean, how hard could it be? I already took photos most days, what was a few more days?  Yeah.  Well.  I'll "process" the whole experience in the near future (processing experiences is a big part of the Parks, Recreation and Tourism mindset), but for now, here is the last day of my 365 days of photos.  I was tired and cold (it was 3F when I took the girls out) and I wasn't really up for creating fine art today.  But I always have fun with frisbee photos.

Apparently Fi has been taking contortion lessons from her sister.

Fi also likes to dance, apparently!

With the cold temps, our snow has remained deep and dry - which gives Abby plenty of opportunities to pounce on frisbees.

Did I mention that Fi likes to dance?

And the cold didn't take the bounce out of Abby's leggies.

There were zoomies (until all of our feet got cold)...

We only paused for a few poses - it was cold out there!

And I thought I'd celebrate the 365th day with a few candles (yes, I lucked out that I had the right numbers!).

Yes, I'm very proud of the fact that I made it through all 365 days.   As an aside, I didn't start posting daily here until February, so I'll post the January 2014 photos tomorrow, so everything is in one place.

Day 365/365.  Woohoo!!!

A Brief, and Brisk Frisbee Session

Today was 'brisk' as my mother would say.  And by brisk, I mean really nippy.  I think it got up to 11F today.  I think...

Anyhoo, because of the brisk temperatures, I only did a brief frisbee session with the girls before we all got cold toes and wanted to come inside.  But I think we all had fun before we all turned into Frosty Paws!  Heehee!

With the very cold temps, our snow has stayed light and fluffy, just as advertised on the old Utah license plates (before we became 'Life Elevated'.... I liked 'Greatest Snow on Earth' MUCH better!). Which meant there was much snow flying during Abby's antics.

I think she's in there somewhere...

Fi was perfectly happy to engage in simple frisbee activities (until her toes got cold...).

Abby, however, seemed to think the best way to stay warm was to perform acrobatics.

This one makes my back hurt just looking at it!

Day 364/365.  Almost. There...

We Got 'A Bit' of Snow

Where 'a bit' equals 15 inches or so... Of course, most of it fell during and after my morning commute, so once I made it to work, Gary had to deal with the driveway...  But the girls had fun!

For those of you who know the house, you'll see the snow is now almost up to the hot tub cover.  And the girls were too interested in bitey-face at first to actually let me into the backyard...

But once we got out back, the girls had a grand time playing in the snow.

Abby, trying out for a role as an extra in the remake of Dr. Zhivago.  Heehee!

This is why Abby has such strong hind legs - to get herself out of deep snow drifts!

I think we are going to have to put a flag on Fi's tail so we don't lose her...

There's a frisbee down there.

There's a dog and a frisbee down there!

But never fear - Fi emerged victorious!

Of course there were zoomies...

And the Amazing Flying Fiona!

And I got a few fun shots.  Because I can.

Hi Mom.  Watcha doing?  Do you have snacks?

Yeah, Mom.  Watcha doing?  I know you have snacks!

Day 363/365.  Almost there!!!

More Playing Around in the Studio

We had fairly consistent snow for most of the day, so I decided to take the opportunity to spend a little more time playing around in the studio.   Other than thoughts about how I might re-arrange the room to give me a little more room to back up from the girls (and have the girls a little more in front of the backdrop), I have continued to explore the whole off-camera flash thing.  I was using two large soft-boxes and had issues with one firing - an issue that I think has been solved (we shall see tomorrow).  Anyhoo, many treats were handed out and a good time was had by all.

This is actually not one of my favorites, as I'm trying to go for a look where it doesn't look like I used a flash - this has too many shadows for that.  But it was the only decent shot I got of both girls today.

Ah.... A nice soft look!

How can you say no to that face?

Lying down on the job.

So pretty!

This is where it would be nice for me to have more room to move back and get farther away from my model!

Someone needs a haircut - she's losing her eyes!

I really like this image - the light, the look on Fi's face, everything!

Modeling is hard!  (To paraphrase the talking Barbie that was pulled from shelves that spit out empowering phrases like 'math class is tough'.)

Day 362/365.

A Few Studio Shots and Some Frisbee Action

I spent a bunch of time this evening playing around with color calibration (again).  Truthfully, I'm not impressed with the results from the SpyderPro tool - so far, everything looks too warm after the calibration.  However, it may be a case of me just being used to what I'm seeing vs. what I should be seeing.  So, I have ordered some prints where I tweaked the white balance based on the manual calibration of the monitor, and the same images where the white balance was tweaked based on the Spyder calibration. We shall see.  Anyway, that sucked up a bunch of time, so I haven't gone through all the photos I took today.

I did try what I thought would work with my studio shots (low flash power and increasing the exposure on the camera), and I didn't notice huge differences from yesterday's shots (I still had to adjust the exposure in Lightroom), so I have to go back to the drawing board.  Or possibly up the flash power a teeny bit, since I'm trying to make it look like I didn't use a flash....

This isn't perfect, but I really like it anyway.

Reluctant model.

When all else fails, I go to frisbee shots.

Not a great shot, but I love how the snow is lit up by the sun.

 

Yeah, there just aren't words for this...

These never get old.  Never.

And I got a few outdoor portraits because I'm trying to work on creating fine art.

I'd get a 20x30 print of this.  In fact, once I get the whole calibration thing figured out, maybe I will....

Maybe not fine art, but I like the perspective.

And don't you just want to kiss that snooter?

Day 361/365.