CARRYING A CAMERA

Every year I go to the International Dog Show armed with a dog and my camera. If I don't have a dog I can at least take the camera, and I take many many photos -- literally hundreds -- of which maybe 10 or 15 are really nice.
This year
I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!!

I was so unstable already having been out of the loopy world of dog shows for awhile, that I just forgot it. Got all my dog stuff, forgot the camera.

Anyway I try never to be without my camera if I am going anywhere that seems vaguely interesting.

Lately I have not taken quite so many photos because after all these years they're becoming a bit redundant.

Here are some reasons to carry a camera, or to master the camera in your phone. (mine sucks.) (Besides, you run the battery down.)

Lesson 1.

Typical Lion. Typical lion photo. This was taken at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago a few years ago when I went with two friends. While we were there we met with another friend who was a zookeeper. She was, in fact, with the big cats.

She gave a back-of-the-house tour of the big cats.

What she said was, "They'd kill me in a heartbeat."

 

About two days later, somehow she ended up in the outdoor cage with the lions, and indeed, they tried to kill her.

She recovered but no longer works with the big cats. The cats were declared innocent of wrongdoing.

 

Lesson 2.

Just when you think they will never, ever get along, you walk into a room and see this. Kailey, my daughter's amazing Keeshond, being momentarily comforting to baby Zelda, who craved close contact.  Kailey, being a spayed bitch with her own agenda, had no illusions about puppies, and tolerating them was about as far as it went.

 

Lesson 3.

The big bad Belgian, on the other hand, became her bodyguard when she was little and her patient companion when she was an adult. MOST of the time. Now and then she pushed him too far and he would bounce her upside down but then was unable to let go, knowing she would never quit. I cannot count the number of times I had to rescue him.

Lesson 4.

This is really why you carry a camera. To take advantage of a momentary situation.

This is Conley, beneath a huge tapesty of Mitchell that was hanging on a wall in the rental house when ours flooded.

 

 

Lesson 4.5

Conley has always been good for strange, quickie shots.

 

Lesson 5

Cats.

Cats are always good for photos. Always. No matter what a cat is doing, whether it is sleeping or trying to kill something, it is a good photo op, I promise.

This would be a better photo if I cropped the curtain out.

 

 

Lesson 6.

Travel

I went out west. Driving along we encountered these cattle along the road in an open range area.

 

And then more, and more. And at this point, stopped in the road, my friend turned to me and said "All we need now are a couple of cowboys on horseback."

 

And BINGO! There they were. This was Dad. His son and daughter were riding also, and Granddad had the trailer with fresh horses and another stock dog. (This one is behind the horse.) They were moving cattle from summer to winter pasture. Five hundred cows going 40 miles.

This was the dog on foot.There was another in the trailer dying to get out and get going.

These are some reasons I always almost always most of the time have my camera with me. I love my camera. Oh, one more:

This is the dog who taught me that I would never be without a Belgian Sheepdog again. This is Quiller.