Fall in SW Ohio

The temps have started dropping a little, the calendar does indeed say October 15th, AND the leaves have been changing colors for a little while here in SW Ohio.  I stopped on my way home from playing school taxi for my niece and then visiting Mom to try to capture some of the views of the beautiful colors.

This was another new adventure for me - in all of the years I've had a camera, I've never intentionally tried to capture the beauty of fall foliage, especially the variety of colors.  Last year I was more involved in leaf removal than thinking about pictures of leaves; the maples have yet to start letting loose of them in the front yard this year.  The fun I have to look forward to!

At least the pics I took today were not at home and I don't have to deal with these leaves falling and needing to be corralled into piles in the street!  I'm pretty happy with the shots I got, but will be trying at a few other spots to see how they compare . . .

The picture above is kind of freaky . . . as I scroll up or down the picture, it's as if I'm walking up or down the road!

Remember that train I took a pic of?  The top of this bridge is where it was running!  I waited and waited for traffic to clear both ways (which was ridiculous since it was 4:45 or so and that's about the time this road starts to get busy!) so I could get the whole bridge framing the trees.  I got down to one car in the pic, and ended up cropping it out.

I really enjoyed taking these photos today.  I'm looking forward to getting back out the next few days to see what other fall colors/shades I can find in SW Ohio!

I do have my eye on a tree up the street from my house.  In the fall, the leaves on the tree turn yellow, and there's what looks to be an ivy plant growing around the tree trunk; the leaves of the ivy and the tree form a wonderful contrast and it reminds me of an impressionist painting.  It hadn't gotten to that point yet as of Sunday, but I'm thinking it's not far off.  Definitely on my list of shots to capture!

K9 Kaper

Today I got to experience one more of my "never thought I'd have the opportunity to do this" photography experiences.  Most of you will most likely be even more convinced that I am more than a little loopy.

I'm working on a "project" called National Tell a Police Officer "Thank You!" Day, which will be held on September 15th.  It's a grassroots project begun on Facebook by an attorney out of Chicago (Andrew Hale) who defends police officers against unwarranted lawsuits.  I'm working with members of our community to show the men, women, and dogs who protect us that we appreciate all they do for us.

Yes, we are recognizing our K9 teams, including the 4 legged members.  I could go on for quite a while about how amazing the dogs are, then probably even longer about the bond between human and canine officers, and definitely a good while about how much work and training it takes to have a good K9 team.

This brings me to my new experience that still has me jumping up and down internally.  I was able to spend some time this morning with one of our K9 teams.  Typically, they train on Wednesday mornings, but all of the other teams were tied up in court.  I didn't care, except that it meant I wouldn't get to spend as much time with as many dogs.  But, I did get to focus on one dog doing some search work.

Meet Sammy.  He's a 10 year old Belgian Malinois who LOVES his work!  He's searching for Officer Harlow's glove.

He's "alerting" us (OK, Officer Harlow) that he's found the glove.

Sorry, Officer Harlow, for chopping off the top of your head, but I love that I was able to catch Sammy's enthusiasm, as well as the treat being dropped from the glove.

When was the last time you were this happy at work??

The first thing I noticed on this picture is the muscles on this guy!  Yes, he looks a little on the skinny side, but I understand from my expert in the field (my wonderful cousin who trains K9s for the Ohio State Highway Patrol) that some Malinois are like that - a bit high strung and just don't put the weight on.  Then I noticed that only one paw is touching the ground.  Just one of those odd things I don't think I've captured before (and have been trying SO hard to do for many years (-;  ).

 Had to get one of Sammy and his shadow . . . I wonder if I'd been at a different angle if I could have gotten his tongue in the shadow?

I love this shot.  What a handsome dog with a proud and regal bearing.  I'm hoping that in 3 weeks I can have another opportunity to watch the whole group train, and then get more variety of type of shots, as well as the dogs involved.

And in just over a week, I'm looking forward to giving the dogs their baskets that PetSmart provided to thank them for their service to our community.

I am loving these new and unexpected photo opportunities!  I think part of the reason I love them is that I'm at least meeting some of my minimum standards for them.  There are a couple that have far exceeded any expectations I might have had, which is humbling.  There is so much of photography that is planned and set up, but there is much more than is left to chance.  A nanosecond difference in when the shutter clicks can make all of the difference in the world.  Timing, lighting, and composition matter, and sometimes, under the circumstances, you might have control over one of them.  That's part of the challenge I find in photography; learning from some of the "what if" occurrences and extrapolating into other situations.

It's kind of interesting to me that I do best with the very casual, unposed candid shots - the pictures I have the least control over.  I really hate posing people for pictures because most of the time they look like they're not having a good time; give me a goofy shot of a group of people laughing hysterically any day.  I do like my challenges and the payoff when I see I got the shot I wanted, or it was better than I imagined.