​On Monday afternoon, January 23, Walton County Animal Control received a call from a citizen on Anglin Road. A cute puppy showed up at his house and he had no idea who it belonged to. Officer Miller drove out toward Walnut Grove and picked the little girl up.  Of course, she had no collar, tag or microchip to find her owner. She settled in at the shelter around 6 PM that evening; a little startled by the bigger, louder dogs on her left and right, but safe and well fed.  

The next morning I found her curled in a ball and gently padding her tail against the floor as she looked up at me with “those eyes”.  She was as sweet and gentle as can be; sniffing my face and giving a gentle lick to my cheek.  Not wasting any time, I took her outside for some glamour furtography! She did great walking on the leash for such a young pup; not because of training, but from a desire to stay right by my side.
 
Outside, she jerked and tugged a little on the leash as she was tied for her photographs (hopefully the last time she’ll be tethered in her life!). The sun was already cresting the horizon so I tried a few shots with the bright orange glow on her coat. (The sun brought out the details in her fur, but I don’t really care for the dog shots in sunlight.)  I moved her to my typical shady spot and got a few photos.  Being on the end of a tether that she didn’t too much care for, she didn’t strike too many flattering poses. In the end, I got two decent shots in the shade. I then vaccinated and dewormed her and put her back in her kennel.
 
I did some touch-up work on her photo (brightened her eyes and edited out the leash). As soon as the photos were finished I posted her on waltonpets.net to get some exposure for adoption and rescue. I also emailed an applicant who had recently applied for a chocolate Pitbull puppy but was adopted by another person.

​Thursday, 9:08 AM – It seems it has been a little while since I’ve had the time to walk up by the shelter ponds.  It is still so warm at 55° for a January morning; billowy clouds in a blue sky passing over the sun and diffusing the light for some decent photography.

​A female Merganser sits on the pond. Several small birds flit in and about the dried vines: White-throated sparrows, a Ruby Crowned Kinglet (too fast to focus), and Cardinals.  I managed a decent shot of the White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) to update my Photography Life List.
 
The vibration reduction on my long lens is getting worse, causing violent shaking at times. This is a true bummer for me.

Tuesday, 7:41 AM - Looking out the to the meadow behind my house while eating breakfast, I spotted some deer grazing. While this is no strange occurrence, what I saw on their heads was a bit out of the ordinary. Two large racks. One was a six-point buck with a spread just a couple inches shy of his ear spread. The other was a larger 8-pointer; quite a big fellow!  I have never seen such well-endowed antlers near my home in the eight years I have lived here. These two boys are near on par with my Texas Whitetails photographs!
 
I quickly went to my camera and walked slowly through the backyard to the pasture fence. Because it was overcast and the sun had not yet risen above the horizon, I boosted the ISO 6400 to make the shot possible. The low light, and all the “noise” generated at that high of an ISO didn’t produce a trophy photograph, but well documented these two trophy bucks.... trophy bucks at least for my neighborhood.

Tuesday, 1:14 PM - A bright blue, sunny sky with a touch of warmth has returned after the last few days of cold temperatures. Our impending snow storm predicted for last Friday turned out to be only a light dusting of powder and, thankfully, no ice. By mid-afternoon, the day continued to warm up.

Two Red-shouldered Hawks were perched over a drainage ditch and scanning the ground for rodents. Buteo lineatus is a medium-sized hawk that resides here in the eastern United States. They aren’t quite as large as the Red-tailed Hawk, but are quite conspicuous, especially while the leaves are off the trees. This pair allowed me a surprisingly close approach. I was able to walk so close that a full extension of my zoom lens wasn’t even needed. But just my luck, such a beautiful opportunity for close up shots of two beautiful raptors and they were, of course, backlit by the bright sun.

Backlighting can be used for effect, such as silhouette shots, but otherwise makes it difficult to photograph properly . Either the subject will be properly exposed but the bright background will be blown out, or the background will look good but the subject too dark to discern detail. It is best to change your position to realign the sun, or to place a darker object such as a tree or hill behing the subject to mute the bright sky. Also, a bit of post-processing work can sometimes salvage the photograph, but is often apparent if the shadows are boosted too much.
​
I was worried my shots wouldn’t come out because of the backlighting. But it isn’t always about the photography. I was still able to watch these two beautiful raptors for a few minutes and observe their behavior. One took off as I pressed in a tad closer, but the other remained on its perch just above me for quite some time. The chilly air caused me to retreat before it did.
​
Walton County, Georgia. ​