Monday, May 31, 2010

Active at the park


Active at the park, originally uploaded by phaird.

Another great weekend at the park. Still not as busy as I'd expect but some of the regulars are starting to find their way back to the park. On a busy Sunday, there can be as much as 70 dogs. All getting along and doing what dogs do. Some will play in the water and others will chase in the grass.

I was talking to Jake's owners who were one of the people who was turned away on the day the Soccer fields were being used. They didn't know if the park was back open. There was talk that a lot of dog owners complained and the very next week it was back to being for dogs. I'm glad the Town of Acton fixed the problem. This park has been used by dogs for a very long time. I've heard people say they've brought their dogs here for over 15 years. Some have been coming even longer. It's a great community of dogs and people. That's why I come to this park every chance I get. I've been coming for about 3 years now and been photographing the whole time.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Dog blog for improving your photography

I didn't make it to the park this weekend. Too bad because it was beautiful out. Toby got lots of outdoors this weekend though so that counts for something.

In looking around the web, I've been finding fun animal links. One is the Blog on getting good pet photos on the North Shore Animal Rescue League in NY. They are just outside NYC and a very large no-kill shelter. I like that they are using their site to do more then just making people upset about how many dogs and cats that need homes. Check it out and you can see some good tricks to get good photos of your four legged family.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Another beautiful weekend


_MG_1802, originally uploaded by phaird.

There seems to be a shift of park visitors on Sundays. I'm not sure if because of the season change or the Sunday confusion with the soccer group but there seems to be a lot of new faces and I've been missing some of the regulars. It is still as busy as ever but lots of people that I'm use to seeing haven't been showing up. I know as the school year ends, and with nicer weather, other dog options open up or weekend get eaten up by other engagements. I know my weekends have been filling up with lots of jobs around the house and events.

One event is that I'll be doing is my first photo shoot at a dog event called Whiskers Walk. I'll be setting up a booth to take pictures of peoples dogs and giving them a 5x7 print for a small fee. It should be a big event and I'm really excited about it. I've been spending a lot of time preparing for it. I hope to do a sample setup this next weekend.

I want to do a similar process at our park but without the print out. I'll put all the pictures up online for people to purchase any size they want. The shooting itself will be free.

I've been talking with my friends at Pawsh who are also working with another dog event in Boston that I might be involved. I hope this will be a busy summer.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Fall weather in spring


Tug on stick, originally uploaded by phaird.

It was a cold, windy day at the park today. Very quiet but not unexpected for Mothers Day. Just a few people with their dogs today. It was better for Toby who has been much better in the past few weeks. Toby played well with others and ran all over the place instead of running back to the car and fighting with each other. It was really nice.

For mothers day, my whole family came to the park today. While my oldest, Geoffrey was playing by the water, these two dogs wanted to play tug. It started with the Boxer/Australian Cattle dog mix who really wanted the stick. The Black Lab also wanted a piece of it but he just wanted to hold on while the other ran with it. They were both excited for playing and getting the stick away from me.

It was nice having Geoffrey at the park with Toby. He's now two and a half and can really start to appreciate the park. This is the second time I've brought him this spring and I hope to bring him more though out the summer. My wife often gets to enjoy a lazy Sunday at home but was nice enough to come out for Mothers day. We ended up at Babico's for brunch. All in all, we had a nice family day together, starting with the park.