I looked into buying a full-frame DSLR camera. Holy mother of dog! They are expensive! Even the prices on refurbished ones had me reaching for a paper bag to breathe into. I had no idea. This is what I really want, a Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

Last week I was asked to take photos of dogs for an organization called Stray from the Heart. They place dogs in foster care and try to find them “forever homes”. Most folks don’t have good, clear photos of the dogs they’re fostering and don’t know how to take them. But good photos go a long way to make a good first impression on potential adoptive owners, so they’re pretty important, and since I take pretty good photos of my own dogs they reached out to me for help, and I was thrilled that they did.

My first session was Sunday in a dimly lit apartment. I did the best I could and managed to get some good shots, but I got frustrated at the noise in the photos and the lack of rapid-focusing I needed. The experience hammered home the point that I’ve maxed out what I can do and learn on my Rebel Xti, and I’m ready to take on something beefier. The research begins.

In other pet photography news, Sarah from Things are Better with a Parrot exchanged some of her printed note cards for a photography session with pet photographer Li of Fat Orange Cat Studio. I spent an hour today pouring over Li’s website. She’s just started her business a year ago, and my favorite parts of her site were reading the “learning” parts of her blog. It’s so inspiring!

If you would like to advertise on my page, now is the the time to set it up for May 1st!  See here for more information, and email me (theambershow at gmail dot com) for details.  We’ll have your ad up first thing Friday morning.

I hope you get to do all of your very favorite things this weekend.

Still sick.  Tonight, after a hot shower and a dose of meds I’m going to try to get out of the house for a while.  I need new laundry baskets, some no-kill mouse traps and a 2009 day planner.  Pretty exciting stuff, let me tell you.  I’ve spent some time today “Poloadroiding” some vacation photos.

As far as first weeks go, this one is pretty much the worst ever.

I went to Jen’s mom and dad’s house last night for a Christmas Eve dinner. I want to be her parents when I grow up. Her dad cracks these absolutely horrible corny jokes that make everyone groan and laugh, and her mother rolls her eyes and sighs, “Oh, Bill.”, but you can tell that she’s amused, too.

They’re the kind of house that has special dishes just for Christmas, and we got to drink out of crystal goblets. Everything was all cozy and Christmasy.

This morning we stayed in bed and let the dogs pile in, too. We skipped the gifts this year, but we went out to dinner in Manhattan and saw the tree at Rockefeller Center and the Macy’s window displays. Tomorrow we leave for vacation until the 31st.

For the first time in my life I hung out with JUST my husband on Christmas, and it was so nice. My family kind of disjointed and no one seemed to be doing anything, but it turned out to be alright. We had fun together.

I hope your Christmas was good, too.

How do you get your imagination to a point that you do things like this as a matter of course?

via

This cute program takes a digital image and converts it into a faux Polaroid. It’s kind of cheating, but the results are really pretty.  It makes a genuine Polaroid camera noise and then takes a few minutes for the picture to appear.  While it’s “developing”, you can shake it!

I used the program to convert a cell phone photo my friend Carissa snapped and sent to me.  The bracket is from Anthropologie, and the a lamp shade and cord are both from Ikea.  She strung the cord through the bracket and made herself a charming, inexpensive, zero-footprint light, perfect for a her tiny apartment bedroom.  So cute!

I want to know what’s on your wish list for Christmas or Hanukkah (whatever you celebrate in which gifts are exchanged).

Every year I do a gift list of things I would want to post on my blog, but this year, I’d like you to tell me what YOU would like. (Include links if you have them). It can be literally anything… a $5 kitchen gadget you’d love in your stocking or a world-class month-long vacation to some place exotic and fabulous. It can be intangible, like world peace, or far-fetched, like a nice-smelling, sharply dressed, sexy-haired, twinkly-eyed, well-employed (and well-endowed!) husband who loves to cook. Electronics. Kittens. Anything. Just let me know.

Comment, or email if it’s a secret. I’m putting my list together now, and would love to make it a group effort.

*****
photo by flickr user nurseynicole, who rocks my world.