Walkabouts Hereabouts!

My pal Helen phoned and asked if I would like to see a day in the life of a dog walker. Sounded good to me! How hard can it be? Out in the fresh air in the company of a few hairy hounds and getting a bit of exercise, yep, she could count me in on that!

Well, it is out in the fresh air, for sure, and there is plenty of exercise and the dogs were decidedly hairy (though some were much hairier than others!!), but how hard could it be?



VERY!!

I have a huge amount of respect for Helen anyway, she's a great laugh and fantastic with the dogs, but I didn't realise quite how much there was to it!

For one thing, you need eyes in the back and sides of your head... not all dogs are as well trained or as streetwise as we'd like, and Helen has to be in control of them all... at the same time!

She knows all their faults and foibles, she knows their fears and fancies, and she knows when they are feeling a bit fragile too! Let's not even talk about how many piles of poo she has to pick up on an average day!!!

I couldn't manage a full day with Helen, but I did meet up after lunch on Monday for a couple of walks with her. First up was Finley, Roxy and Noosh.

Living in different parts of town, Helen has to decide who to pick up first, which dog travels best in the car and which pooch to leave 'til last.

Finley travels so well in the car, I didn't even realise he was already in until a wee wet nose appeared in casual enquiry as we arrived at Noosh's home! With Noosh settled happily beside Finley, we carried on across town to pick up Roxy. It was only a short journey from there to Cantley Fields, where the dogs could run, sniff, explore and do what dogs do!



After a few circuits of the field, it was back to the car to drop the dogs home again. But it's not quite so simple as that! The dogs need to be cleaned up (owners object to muddy paw prints on their cream carpets!), and Helen makes sure they have fresh water and a dry, safe place to rest until their owners get back home.

As owners also object to muddy boot prints on their cream carpets, Helen has to either take her boots off or, if they're not too bad, put on a pair of plastic overshoes. Not an especially onerous task, but it really does add to the time it all takes.

Having left the doggies safely at their respective homes, it was back in the car for the next round. This time we picked up Lou and Devon, and headed for a spot halfway between their homes.

Even though Lou lives round the corner from Noosh, we needed to pick up Devon first, as Lou can't travel long distances in the back. So, it was across to the outskirts of Reading and then back to Wokingham for Lou.

We walked round the Coombes, where Lou and Devon are safe and free to explore off lead.



The dogs get on very well together and love the varied smells and delights of the woods here! It's doggy heaven!!

Monday was a lovely day; it was a pleasure to be out and I had a great time, but I can easily see how the novelty could wear off quite quickly when it is tipping with rain, the wind is howling and the temperature is freezing! No matter what the weather, dogs need walking.

Helen does a fantastic job, providing far more than just walkies. Her charges are cared for, looked after, and they are all under control, all the time. They return home exhausted but happy, clean and safe. What more can any pooch wish for?

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk

A Model Bride!

I'd not actually met Emma before, but had been told by her aunt that she was absolutely gorgeous and she'd love to do some modelling! Perfect!! I duly travelled up to Lincolnshire, with a wedding dress in my bag, and went to meet Emma.



"Absolutely gorgeous" doesn't really do her justice, Emma is so incredibly beautiful.

With milky skin, smooth, glossy chestnut hair and the biggest, deepest blue eyes, Emma is beautiful. She has soft, gorgeous curves and was perfect for our bridal shoot.

She's also very brave! Never having modelled before, she still happily agreed to put on the dress and give it a go... not only that, if the weather had been better she was equally willing to have gone outside and had the shoot in public!! Now that really is brave!

The weather was, unfortunately, typically British! Beautiful on the Saturday, when Emma was at work all day, and appalling on the Sunday, when she was off all day! Typical.

Oh well, we're nothing if not flexible, so all hopes and plans of shooting outdoors were abandoned, her house was rearranged and lights and softboxes set up to go indoors.

Then the sun came out. Obviously!

Although it did look quite pleasant out, the ground was still filthy and I decided that we'd forget plan A (the outdoor shoot) completely, and carry on with plan B instead.



There's always another time and we can go outdoors again then maybe. If the weather decides to play anyway!!

Having settled on an indoor shoot, we went ahead and got some shots while Emma's mum very kindly kept us supplied with sandwiches and cups of tea! I could get used to this!!

It was a wonderful girly day with Emma, her mum, her aunt and me...



the lads had been kicked out with instructions to take the dog for a really good long walk, and, strangely, when they saw the wedding dress come out they didn't take much persuading to leave! I don't know much about laws of physics or anything, but there appears to be a direct correlation between weddings and panic in men! Or is that just me? Hmm.

Rebecca, x

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Viking Mist Trees!

Waking up just before dawn a few days ago (or was it last week? I'm getting on a bit now you know, the memory's not what it was!)...

So, er, waking up one morning early in October (oh crikey, I suppose it could have still been September then?)...

Right, waking up early one autumnal morning of recent days (yes!), I peered out of the window to see that it was really misty but that it looked like the sun might be able penetrate through the murk to cast some nice eerie light around nearby Viking Field.



Now used by the dog walkers of Wokingham, and of course by early bird photographers, (who still haven't (well, I haven't) managed to capture any early bird photos of any particularly interesting early birds over there!), Viking Field is exactly what it says it is on the display board.

It's a field and the Vikings were there once upon a time!

An archeological dig at the site a few years ago revealed a few signs of ancient habitation; Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and, of course, Viking.

There have been countless other folks using the field over the centuries I'm sure, but we're inundated with Roman place names and references round here, and 'Modern Field' doesn't have quite the same ring to it does it? ('Iron Field' is little better, and 'Bronze Age Field', though quite attractive still doesn't have the same excitement and mystery as 'Viking Field'). There is a long barrow separating Viking Field from the playing field behind it, but it's origins are, I believe, pre-Viking.

Anyway, it's a very old field and has that mysterious quality of a very old field, and so seemed the perfect place to go on a misty, autumnal morning. The sun did try quite hard to burn through, but only really managed to lend an atmospheric air to the ancient field. It was almost liquid in some magical kind of way. The air glowed and the misty vapour sparkled with colour as it enveloped me and engulfed the trees.



It was a joy to be there that morning and, despite the obviously new planting, there was something ancient and eternal about it too.

The field was bequeathed to the town by a Mrs Henagulph in 1997; I hope her vision remains and this field maintains it's air of mystery for centuries more to come. Please, please, please don't ever let it be developed!!!!

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk

Portrait of a Puppy.

If you could think of the maddest combination of bonkers dogs to breed, a Siberian Husky crossed with a Border Collie would have to come fairly high up the list!

Both highly intelligent breeds and both very much in need of lots of time, attention and exercise. Meld the two together and pour into a 13 week old puppy... uh oh!! This was always going to be a lot of fun!!!



It was!!!! Carlo is bonkers, but in such a delightful, good-natured kind of way.

He's clearly exceptionally intelligent, not really surprising given his genes, but he's learned already how to channel it and his boisterous spirit to get best results... usually something ending in 'treat' or 'chew' or even just a good tickle behind the ears!

His parentage certainly helps, but so does his home life. He spends his days round at Dick and Pat's, in the company of his 'Uncle' Seamus... not really an 'Uncle', but a Border Collie nonetheless... but then neither is he one of those 'Uncles' who you grow up thinking are family and then discover are someone entirely different altogether! Not, I hasten to add, that we had one of those but I know some people who did... their secrets are still safe with me though!!!

The atmosphere in Dick and Pat's house is the epitome of tranquil. Peace and calm pervade every corner of their home and their characters. Dogs will always pick up vibes from the house they are in, and if Carlo is spending his formative months with Dick and Pat and his older, wiser, ever-watchful Uncle Seamus,



it's no wonder he's already so extremely placid and good-natured... if cavorting through the vegetable garden in a fluffy, bounding way could ever be described as placid?

I think it's very important when trying to get a portrait of a pet that you get to know about it, spend time with it and do what you can to capture the essence of it... what makes Carlo, well, Carlo? A mix of good breeding, a nice nature, and just a hint of mischief!



Puppy perfection!

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Film Fanatic?

Well, I have the results of my first foray into film and, probably much as expected, I have mixed feelings!

I enjoyed the experience of using the film camera, and will undoubtedly be going out with it again and doing more, but I was (as expected, really) rather underwhelmed by the prints.



The negatives have all the detail I wanted, but the person who processed them took out every bit of detail in the sky and left it a bland, burned out white. Humph! Now, I did expect that, especially because I took this first film into a high street developers and I know full well that they aren't going to try very hard at all to get a great looking print... they do have the word 'Snaps' in their name after all and pride themselves on that. But, I thought it was only a first film and I knew that it'd be less than good and I have absolutely no idea how to go about developing the film myself... which is where the mixed feelings come in again - I WANNA KNOW HOW TO DO IT!!!!!!!!



My goodness, I'm so excited at the prospect of getting back in control again, as I do in the digital world.

I may process my digital images in a totally different way to how you might do it, but that's the point. We are each in control when we sit by our computers and work our images the way we like them to be. If that way pleases other people too, well that is obviously so very much better, but at the end of it all, your image needs to please you. By handing my film over to a chap in a shop, I handed over any control I had over the way the images turned out.

I know that there are people out there and labs out there who will work with you to get the results you want... but let's face it, this was a first time foray into film and I wasn't about to go spending wads of cash on something that was only ever going to be viewed as a rather shaky platform from whence to begin.



The images without sky were ok, I suppose, and, bearing in mind these are from scans, I'm quite happy that I can take some kind of a photo without the aid of an LCD and histogram! It's all a start and I fully intend to continue - albeit as a hobby, for fun only; the control of digital processing still reigns supreme as far as I'm concerned!!!!

Rebecca, x