Moshe

Moshe is a Beagle/Chihuahua mix and belongs to my friend and upstairs neighbor. Someone we met at Clearwater Beach dubbed him a Cheagle. We're still trying to figure out which dog was the mother.

At 14 lbs., he has more Beagle traits than Chihuahua. He has a tiny bit of white on his rear paws and when he "hunts" for lizards and cats, he runs from side to side the way a Beagle does. He also has his nose to the ground when he's looking/scenting for anything.

We got Moshe at a shelter in Bradenton, FL. Jim, my friend, picked him over the other dogs because he was the only quiet one. He didn't want to bring a "barker" into our apartment building. It was 4 days before we heard this little dog bark.

The shelter told us that he had been abused by a larger dog in the home and that was why he was left at the shelter. However, a few days with him told us the real story. This poor little dog would cower if anyone tried to touch or pet him. He seemed to trust women at first, and it took a while to get him to let any men near him. So, we assumed that he was abused by the man of the house where he was previously owned.

It's been a few months, and Moshe has made a quick turn-around. He "allows" anyone who lives in our building to pet him and some can even play with him without him cowering or hiding behind Jim or I. He's still a bit leery of strangers, but with a little bit of coaching, he'll come out and give the new stranger a sniff.

He's got some quirky habits that make him more endearing to me and some of the residents in our building. One of them is so funny. I'll pet him and love him up, which he loves, but after a minute he feels the need to reassure Jimmy that he still loves his "Daddy". He'll go up to him and rub on Jimmy as if to say, "I like her petting me, but I still love you more, Daddy." He is just too cute.

Bella

This is another shot from my archives taken last May.

Bella was my friend's dog. She was a service dog for emotional support and therapy and did a fine job of it in her short life. She was only 4 yrs old when she developed a blood disease that depleted her red blood count. We were very sad to see her go. She died within 4 days after getting the disease.

I wanted to begin a project photographing pets. Since I live in an apartment building with 147 units where pets 25 lbs and under are allowed, it would be ideal for me to get a lot of practice and experience shooting the pets in my building.

My first subject was Bella, since she was so well-behaved and I knew her well, I thought it would be a great place to start. Little did I know that she would be dead within the next 4 days. I'm so glad I photographed her when I did. My friend didn't have any other pictures of her and he loved this dog so much. I never finished the project after she died. She was the only one I photographed for my project. I'm also glad that the photos turned out as well as they did. She was easy to handle and a good dog until the end. All the people in the building knew and loved her and she is missed by all of us, but especially by my friend.

Fountain in Downtown St Petersburg

I spotted this fountain in downtown St Petersburg on my way home from our Saturday Photowalk Meetup while walking to my car. I'm not sure what the name of it is, or what it represents so I'll have to take another ride to it to find more information about it.

This parking garage was kind of scary since it is in South St Petersburg, which is not in a very desirable neighborhood, and it was late at night and my car was the only car on this level. I was pretty nervous since I was all alone.

I drove to the opening where I spotted this fountain, took out my camera and snapped a couple photos of it quickly and got right back into my running car.

To give you an idea how tall this wall of water is, that figure at the bottom of the fountain is a woman standing there with her hands on her hips. You can also see the parking garage behind it along with several levels.

If I had more time, or wasn't so scared, I'd have made this photograph properly using my tripod and a slower shutter speed. I must go back during the day when there's more people and cars around.

Settings used to make this shot: First of all, I didn't use my tripod, I braced my elbows on a ledge to steady the camera. This was shot at F5.6 for 1/2 second, using ISO 400. My exposure compensation was set to +1/3 eV with partial metering. I used my 18-55mm lens set at 49mm. Had I used a tripod, I would've set the shutter speed to 1 or 2 seconds to blur the water more. However, I was all alone at 10:00 at night in an empty parking garage on St Pete's south side. I stepped out of my car quickly to make this shot and got back in to my running car where I'd be safe.