Daisy & Gatsby: An Overdue Blog Appearance!

Poor Daisy & Gatsby have been sorely neglected on the blog!  The last time I posted any photos of them was in September 2014, shortly after the one year anniversary of when we adopted them.  I stopped blogging just before their second birthday so there are only a handful of posts including photos of them.  Many of those are ones that I added to posts of the dogs' birthdays, since the cats love to get in on the present opening fun, too!

Just like our dogs, our cats have very different personalities.  Daisy is a bit wild and rambunctious, and she loves to play with her toys.  She will run around the house carrying them, or spend hours tossing and batting them around.  She's a bit of a daredevil and can often be found climbing high up where she doesn't belong. Gatsby is much calmer and can usually be found watching the world out the window.  Gatsby is more likely to wander off by herself to take a nap, but she's more likely to jump in my lap when she is in the same room with us.  Daisy loves to be around the rest of us, but she's less likely to sit on our laps.  However, she's the one who is more skittish around strangers, so it often takes her a while to make an appearance when new people are at our house.  Daisy actually does better with photos, so I ended up with a lot more images of her that show off her spunky personality.  Gatsby doesn't like the sound of the camera shutter so she tends to look irritated or scared in many of the images, so I have to work pretty hard to get good photos of her.  

Without further ado, here are some portraits of our sweet kitty fur babies:

Meet our crazy little Daisy...

And our sweet Gatsby...

Oh hello there...

Just hanging on the stairs...

I think I was interrupting nap hour...

When we first moved into our house one of Daisy's favorite places to be was IN the fireplace, so we had to search out fireplace door to keep her out.  We were lucky to find some that fit considering our house was built in the 90's.  So now she has to settle for laying in front of it...

That little tongue!...

Daisy & Gatsby are biological sisters that we rescued as small kittens.  They were born in a shelter on May 6, 2013 and just recently turned 4 years old, which seems impossible!  I love how they both have the lighter area on the one side of their noses, even though their coloring is completely different overall...

What a goofball...

Gatsby sits with her front paws crossed all. the. time.  It cracks me up...

She also likes to sit with her paws folded up under her.  Kevin says she looks like a chicken sitting on her eggs when she's like this...

For some reason hanging out by the towering basket of dog toys was a popular place while I was taking their photos...

Gatsby is amazing at catching flies or other bugs straight out of the air.  She seems to be great at spotting things far off and quick to get them.  Something's definitely got her attention here...

Silliness...

What do you see?...

Since is has been so long since I posted any photos of them, I went a bit overboard!  So, if you made it all the way through, thanks for stopping by!

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes. 
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© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Messing Around with Macro

Several years ago I rented a macro lens just for kicks and had a lot of fun experimenting with it.  However at the time I saw no reason to own one, not to mention that I didn't love the one I rented, so I wasn't tempted to rush out and purchase it.  Fast forward a few years and I found myself dipping my toes into the waters of wedding photography and I was in need of a macro lens to do ring shots.

Several wedding photographers I know swear by the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM.  They said that it was amazing for ring shots, but it also doubled as a good portrait lens, so I decided to trust their judgement and purchase it.  I did a little practicing with it on our wedding rings, and then used it for the few weddings that I photographed.  However, I quickly decided that wedding photography wasn't my thing, and I just never fell in love with it as a portrait lens.  So, I've intermittently considered selling it.  Now that I've decided to begin exploring some other areas of photography, I'm happy that I held on to it because I can see myself getting into taking macro shots.

I decided to make a date with the lens last week to try my hand at taking some night shots of scorpions. Ever since I learned that I could use a blacklight to see scorpions at night, I've wanted to take some photos of them - but of course I never took the time to actually do it. Until now that is - I went out a few nights last week to see if I could find any scorpions to photograph. Sadly, we do have a lot of scorpions where we live, so it wasn't too hard to find some hanging out in our yard.

I'm not sure there's much to say about these images, so I'll let them speak for themselves...

I have to admit that while I'm not necessary afraid of scorpions, they do kind of creep me out!  I was ok taking the photos since my concentration was on holding the blacklight and working my camera settings.  However it was giving me chills when I was editing these images, especially these last two of the scorpion crawling around...

I apologize to anyone who is creeped out by these.  I promise there won't be very many images like this on the blog!  However, I do think there will be more macro shots making an appearance soon.  We recently had new landscaping put in our front yard and I've been tossing around the idea of taking some macro shots of the flowers that are blooming, so stay tuned for those.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
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© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

I'm Back ~ Sort Of

There are a ton of reasons why I decided to close my photography business and perhaps one day I'll write about all of them.  For now, let me just say that I still believe it was the right decision and I have no regrets.  So, in response to everyone who has recently asked - No, I will not be re-opening my business or returning to shooting client sessions, but I do appreciate the inquiries.

I'm quite certain that I still wouldn't be shooting if Amanda hadn't asked me to take maternity photos for her a few weeks ago.  However, I've been having a lot of fun getting back behind the camera the past week and I'm so glad she did!  I think the extended break did me a lot of good and is allowing me to view my photography with a new perspective and I'm excited to say that I've decided to start shooting again.

Of course, I have no idea what I will be shooting.  Portraits have always been my thing, so if I'm not taking portraits I'm not exactly sure what I will be photographing.  But that's ok.  In fact it's great!  For the first time since I picked up a DSLR camera, I have absolutely no plans regarding my photography.

I do have a few thoughts percolating in my brain, but nothing I'm willing to commit to quite yet.  I think there is a possibility that I might resurrect my self-portrait project. I'm probably going to start taking more photos of my fur babies. I think I might do some google searches to see if I can find any fun photo prompts to get me thinking outside of the box and experimenting with some new things.  I'm also considering digging out a very long list I have tucked away that contains new photography techniques and photo project ideas, so maybe I'll revisit that blog feature, as well.  I might even do a few portraits here and there, too, but no promises. Then again, maybe I'll pick my camera up for a few months and then take another two year break. My only goal is to have some fun with it, which is something I'd lost sight of when I was always so busy with client photo sessions.

I will be posting the photos I shoot on my blog, as I really do enjoy blogging and I've missed it. I've also created an Instagram for my photography where I'll be sharing some of my images along with links to blog posts. (If you're interested in following, it can be found by searching for @michelewhitacrephotography on IG.)  I'm still not sure what I'm going to do regarding my photography FB page.  I'm not a Facebook fan and I tend to keep my personal profile deactivated most of the time, which I can't do if I want to still have my photography page.  So, the jury is still out on that one.  For now, I'm just going to enjoy getting back to taking some photos.

Stay tuned for some upcoming photos of my sweet kitties, Daisy & Gatsby, and for some fun blacklight scorpion images I'm working on editing.  As always, thanks for stopping by!

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
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  © 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

My Sweet Pups

I don't know that I'm back to shooting and blogging, and I don't know that I'm not.  What I do know is this: I had a ton of fun getting behind the camera last week to shoot Amanda's maternity photos and it has been for-freaking-ever since I photographed my sweet fur babies.  So I decided it was time to take some photos of them and add them to the blog.

The last time I took any photos of Zoe & Lexi was on Lexi's birthday in December 2014, and the last time I took any portraits of them was in November 2014.  It just breaks my heart to realize that I missed capturing two years of their lives and two years of their birthdays.  While I don't regret taking a break from my photography, I know I am going to regret not capturing those times in photos.

I have to admit that taking these photos didn't go as smooth as I would have liked!  The dogs were out of practice, just like I was, and it was a challenge to get them to stay in place.  Lexi did pretty well (which I'm sure is a huge shock to anyone who knows her!) but Zoe was a total goober and wouldn't stay sitting down for more than 5 seconds.  As soon as I'd back away and start lining up a shot, she'd pop up and come running towards me...

You can see her getting ready to do it again here...

And then Lexi decided to join her, and the next thing I knew I was trying to keep dog noses off of my lens as they ran up to me expecting treats...

This image of Zoe cracked me up with her little tongue poking out!...

I was basically grabbing any photos I could while they were staying put, so here they are with Zoe's flipped ear and all...

Like I said, Lexi was posing like a champ, so I ended up with a lot more photos of her.  Good thing she's so darn cute!...

Zoe was born on September 11, 2007 and Lexi was born on December 2, 2007 so both of my sweet babies are going to turn 10 years old at the end of the year.  I'm not sure how to even begin to wrap my mind around that.  In my head they are both just a few years old, so I'm still shocked every time I register the grey in Lexi's ears and Zoe's face.  (Of course, I do the same thing every time I take a good hard look at myself in the mirror because in my head I'm still 25!)  Thankfully, both of them are still in excellent health and doing quite well...

For some reason, Zoe was doing a little better posing alone, so I did manage to get a handful of decent shots of just her...

I just adore those sweet faces....

Does anyone know if dogs can have ADHD?  Because seriously, I swear Lexi has it.  She can't keep her attention on anything for more than a minute or two and even at 9 1/2 years old she still will race around the yard in circles like she's still a puppy.  Here she is focused on some noise that caught her attention...

And again...

And again!...

Oh, and again!...

Such happy girls...

AWE!!!...

Lexi loves her yard, I think she'd be content to spend all day in it if her people and Zoe would stay out there with her...

Another of sweet Zoe...

I managed to catch a silly photo of Lexi sticking her tongue out too...

I just love this photo of sweet little Lexi Lou...

Mmmm.  Did somebody say treats?...

BFFs...

I know she's thinking, "Would you just give me the treat already!"...

Definitely a favorite of Zoe...

Enough photos already!...

If you made it this far, thanks for stopping by and checking out the photos of my pups!  Stay tuned for some photos of my sweet cats soon.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
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© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC