Posted in animals, Christmas, Dog, Photography, tagged Astro, iPhone 11, Katie, Pippin, Spanaway Washington, Three Dog Night on November 28, 2021| 14 Comments »
Several nights this week I have been experiencing a three dog night. No, I have not been having flashbacks to the 1960’s rock band, but have been sharing my bed with the three dogs of my son Josh and his wife Lexy—Astro, Pippin, and Katie.
I have also included some other shots of the three dogs. They are full of energy and personality and love to follow us around and curl up with us when we are seated on the couch.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Birds, Nature, wildlife, Winter, tagged bantam rooster, Canon 50D, Chin, cow, farm, German Shepherd, Katie, Montpelier VA, Tamron 150-600mm on December 30, 2019| 12 Comments »
I grew up in the suburbs and have little experience with farm life. So as far as I am concerned the rooster and cows (and dogs) that I saw this past weekend can be considered “wildlife.”
My son is in the Army and is stationed in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While he was deployed to Iraq during most of this year, his German Shepherd, Katie, has been with family members on the East coast. Josh picked up Katie this past weekend and before he began the long drive to Colorado, we had a family get-together at his Granny’s farm in Montpelier, Virginia on Friday evening. I spent the evening with Josh and Granny to avoid having to drive back to Northern Virginia late in the evening.
Early Saturday morning, about 6:00, I think, I was awoken by the loud crowing of King, the bantam rooster. He crowed a dozen or more times and then was silent for about ten minutes before resuming. After spending some quiet moments observing the cows grazing in the hay pasture, I was treated to a real country breakfast, with fresh eggs from Granny’s hens, bacon, and biscuits and gravy.
It was a beautiful day, so I headed outdoors and played with the dogs for a while. The two of them, Katie and Chin, Granny’s dog, made for an interesting contrast in size as they ran around the yard, sometimes chasing a ball, but often content to just explore.
All too quickly the time came to bid farewell and I left behind the relative calm of the farm life and prepared to face a slow drive back home on what I knew would be a crowded interstate highway.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Dog, Photography, Portraits, tagged Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, German Shepherd, Katie, PR, Prime Rib, rabbit on March 5, 2017| 7 Comments »
Whenever I walk the two year old German Shepherd who belongs to my son and daughter-in-law, one of the highlights for Katie is stopping by my house so that she can visit with Prime Rib (PR), my adopted rabbit.
The two of them seem to enjoy staring at each other and sniffing. Katie has never displayed any hostility towards PR and PR is not intimidated by her presence and often just ignores her.
It was an interesting challenge trying to get this shot using available light. Katie kept moving and PR often stayed in a position in which his eyes were not visible. Beautiful morning light was coming in from the right through the sliding glass doors, but it was not exactly where I would have liked it. I ended up using my Canon 24-105mm lens, a lens that I don’t use that often. I particularly like the way that I was able capture Katie’s intense focus and utter fascination with the little rabbit.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Photography, tagged Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, German Shepherd, Katie, PR, Prime Rib, rabbit on April 10, 2016| 5 Comments »
This weekend I have been hosting the odd couple. Katie, a young female German Shepherd, has been visiting me and Prime Rib (aka PR), my little gray male rabbit. It is an understatement to say that Katie is utterly fascinated by PR—she just can’t take her eyes off of him.
Sometimes she will put her nose right up against the cage and sometimes she will watch him from a short distance away, but she is always watching him. She particularly seems to like to follow him as he moves about in the cage.
PR pretty much ignores Katie and doesn’t seem to be bothered at all by her presence, even when she is only inches away from him. I have tried to keep an eye on the two of them to see if Katie displays any aggression or if PR shows an signs of fear or anxiety, but so far things seem to be working out ok—I think I am the only one showing signs of being a little anxious.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Photography, Portraits, tagged Alexandria, Canon 24-105mm lens, Canon 50D, German Shepherd, Katie, Runnymeade on February 27, 2016| 10 Comments »
It is really nice when I am petsitting to have new subjects to photograph. Katie, a beautiful young German Shepherd, stayed with me last night and I took this shot as she was sitting on my couch, keeping a close eye on P.R., my rabbit.
Katie seemed utterly fascinated by the rabbit and intently watched him as he moved about his cage. P.R. (which is short for “Prime Rib”was more or less oblivious to Katie, even when they were only inches apart. I suspect that P.R. does not view dogs as predators, probably because she grew up with with a dog in the household.
The challenges of photographing a pet indoors are different from photographing wildlife outdoors, but so many of the basic principles carry over. This image looks a bit like a studio shot, because I was able to direct the light of a desk lamp so that it fell on one side of Katie’s face (and amazingly she sat still for a moment).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 