52 on Friday – Reflections

Happy Independence Day – let’s hear it for the Red, White and Blue!!  Before you go out to celebrate our great Nation’s birthday, please check out our 52 on Friday Beautiful Beasties Network blog ring… the place where professional pet photographers around the world gather together for support, friendships, and yes, challenges.  The challenge this week was: Reflections!

This theme conjures up all sorts of amazing possibilities.  My brain raced around all of our town’s wonderful reflective options – water, windows, metallic walls, lacquer, mirrors, etc., etc.  But then reality set in, and I realized that I needed to search for the best option that my dog will agree with :/   Immediately I ruled out the cool metallic wall, as it is way to close to a busy road, not safe.  Idea scrapped.  Water, Harvey likes water.  Camera in hand, off we go to swim.  Sadly, the water in the Severn River and Chesapeake is a bit on the nasty side.  Murky reflections are NOT what I had in mind, and worse, a bath was now in order from this failed attempt!  Whoa is me!  What else can I do with water?  I filled a large galvanized steel tub up with sparkling clear water, having visions of a beautiful reflection of Harvey’s handsome face in the water just before he takes a drink of it.  Harvey thinks not!  He won’t even look at the water and acts offended that I would ask him to do such a thing.  Thinking… thinking…I’ve got it.  Chicken broth!  I’ll pour a little chicken broth into the water.  Well, my brilliant plan worked perfectly, except now it looks like Harvey is gazing longingly at a tub full of pee.  🙁        Scrap water.

Fun with mirrors is next, do you notice a sarcastic tone? Haha!  Have I mentioned that I have a very opinionated dog?  While I feel very strongly about having a well trained, socially acceptable canine family member, I feel equally as strong about letting Harvey have the space to develop his personality, and yes, have an opinion.  But there are days when he is just downright ridiculous!  Guess which day we were having?  Yep, that’s right, Mum had this vision of a perfectly posed portrait using the reflective properties of a mirror and Harvey, well he flat out refused to sit or lay down in the grass.   His fury bottom was not touching grass and that was all there was to it.  UGH!  Lately he has decided that grass is evil and it has been a challenge to get him to walk on it, so I guess I should feel lucky that my weirdo dog (which I say most affectionately) even agreed to go for a walk in the grass with me 🙂

In the end, we did a lot of fun, reflective experiments, and have some great photos to show for our work, but ultimately, I decided to share only one with you.  I am so in love with this image!

Well, what do you think?  Hope you like it as much as I do and that you had fun reading about our trials and tribulations 🙂  Please continue on with our blog ring by visiting Greater Cincinnati photographer, Carol Locey Photography and see what amazing reflections she and her furry friend came up with.  Then continue through the ring until you come back back to Bonnie Grower Pet Photography. Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time, have joy in your heart, a smile on your face, and a dog by your side!
Bonnie