29/365 Heavy poppies

Surprisingly, I find poppies to be a difficult flower to photograph. The main reason is that they tend to weigh heavily on their slim stems, meaning they end up falling forward and facing the ground.

So yoga-enhanced flexibility comes in handy when it comes to photographing poppies!

I love how unique the color is. Whereas I see purple and pink flowers everywhere, there are a lot fewer rich oranges.

I think this photo is another improvement on a previously captured subject. One thing hasn't changed in two years -- I still think of my beloved dog, Poppy, when I see these flowers!

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 320 in shade at about 7:15 p.m.

180/365 Meet Roman

Meet Roman.

A regal name for a sweet dog who has been lovingly deemed the "anti-terrier" by his owners/parents/pack leaders.

Roman is the four-legged child of my aunt and uncle in Michigan, and I met Roman for the first time last weekend when they donated their treadmill to my young-start-up cause.

A Cairn Terrier, Roman was quiet, well behaved, and admirably stayed out of everyone's way as we were moving heavy objects from location to location. He preferred to observe the action from a few feet away.

I had my camera with me, so you know there's no way I could resist photographing him. When it came to capturing him in the sunshine, his dark fur, nose, and eyes presented a completely opposite situation than when I photograph Buster in the same light. You see why, yes?

Camera: Canon 40D, 1/250s, f/5.6 at ISO 100 in direct sunlight at about 1:00 p.m.