Assignment #9 A Day in the Life
Documenting the Day of a Dog
Days begin when I say so! - 1/25 f4.5 ISO 400 Sheldon Pooper thinking about waking up, he has moved from under the covers which is a start. 22-November-2020_5 Lovett St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Portrait of Dognian Grey - 1/25 f4 ISO 500 Sheldon patiently waiting for that walk he was promised and admiring the Art. 22-November-2020_Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley2-November-2020_5 Lovett St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Wet Towel Roll - 1/15 f4.5 ISO 800 28-After one of us takes a shower Sheldon loves to roll around in the wet towel. I think it's to get our scent on him, or he just loves the damp feeling. Generally he'll grab the towel in his teeth and put it where he can slide his body over it. This is his pre walk ritual. November-2020_5 Lovett St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Patiently waiting. - 1/40 f6.3 ISO 400 Sheldon waits at the gate for me to put on his collar and harness for his favorite activity, going for a walk. 22-November-2020_5 Lovett St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Walk this Way - 1/50 f16 ISO 400 The city of Beverly has created one way walking paths due to the Covid-19 emergency. Even Sheldon follows the rules. 22-November-2020_Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Sea Wall Dog - 1/100 f16 ISO 400 For the first time ever Sheldon decided he needed to jump up on the sea wall at the beach and walk along it until we could reach the stairs. He looks mighty noble. 22-November-2020_Dane Street Beach, Dane St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Pee Break - 1/320 f5.6 ISO 400 One of the hundreds of stops to pee. Marking where he has been is really his favorite hobby. 22-November-2020_Dane Street Beach, Dane St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Post walk kitty bed nap - .4 sec f7 ISO 1000 Sheldon loves this bed that is really too small for him. We call it the kitty bed because it's so tiny, but he loves to curl up in it when we are all downstairs watching TV. 22-November-2020_5 Lovett St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Jumping for treats! 1/80 sec f4 ISO 640 Sheldon's friend Jack came over for some play time. They used to run around and play, now they just beg for treats from Jack's mom Faye. Sheldon being the ham needed to jump up at the last second for the better view of the treats. 22-November-2020_5 Lovett St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Safe in the crate - 1/6 sec f4 ISO 500 When we leave the house, in this case to go shopping, Sheldon goes in to the crate under a desk. He actually goes over and opens the door to let himself in. We find that he seems calm and we don't get howling complaints from the neighbors. 27-November-2020_5 Lovett St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
HIstoric Sniff - 1/320 sec f10 ISO 250 Sheldon's other friend Bender, came over so we went for a walk to Historic Beverly's Hale Farm for a good sniff and off leash run. Reverand Hale was a minister in the Salem Witch trials and was very pro trial until his wife was accused. His ancesters gave the farm to the city. The back yard has been open to the public for years and is a favorite spot for the dogs to run or in this case sniff for rabbits and squirrels. 29-November-2020_Historic Beverly Hale Farm site, Hale St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Scratching the itch - 1/640 sec f4.5 ISO 250 Back home and sometimes the urge to scratch that itch can not be suppressed. 29-November-2020_5 Lovett St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
I'm a good boy - 1/640 f4.5 ISO 250 Sheldon looks out in to the sunset after a long day. He often sits on the back porch and "contemplates" his day. 29-November-2020_5 Lovett St. Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Assignment #9 Day in the Life
REFLECTION: I wanted to shoot a set in black and white to try something different. Then who to document, well that was easy, my favorite subject, my dog Sheldon Pooper. The two components started to solidify in my mind as at one point science thought dogs could only see in black and white so this seemed like the perfect combo. I don't know if that is still the facts but it worked for me.
Using the monochromatic feature on my display helped with taking these photos. It helped me to see the textures that would replace color and make interesting pictures. It is really a different mindset looking at the world while thinking of shadows and layers of grey. Then when I was editing the photos in Lightroom it became more difficult. With color it seems easier to edit because that is my point of reference. I found that working with black and white I sometimes needed to go back to the color import to see which pictures looked good technically and then convert them to see if that still held up. Once I found out which images I wanted to use then another step became apparent, which black and white preset did I want to use? The one I ended up choosing was Selenium since it looked the best for most of the pictures. I didn't want to have multiple types in creating a set.
Documenting a day in Sheldon's life, presented different challenges than I imagine documenting a person life would be. On the one hand he was himself the whole time and never acted, but on the other hand I couldn't get his input on what a typical day was to him and had to use an outsiders' POV of what he does each day. Clearly being his pet parent I had a good idea of what he did, but not what he is thinking. In my mind his personality was captured in these images, I hope it shows to those that are not around him all the time.