Sometimes A Perfect Moment

Years ago when I was first getting into digital photography, I wanted to start a pet photography business.

In fact, that is why I finally broke down and bought a used DSLR camera in the first place. I knew I would need endless practice to capture dogs running across fields and the ability to take 20 shots of a wriggling puppy to get at least two good ones.

And, I did do that for a while. I worked at a dog boarding kennel too, so that helped.

Working with animals, and I suppose it goes for people too, you have to be ready with your camera, you never know when you’re going to get that one picture that has the ability to grab you and hold on.

This is one of those pictures for me.

It was an overcast day in May, my birthday in fact, and my husband and I took our two dogs to a quiet beach on an out-of-the way bay on Lake Superior to have a bonfire and eat smokies by the water.

Not long after we arrived a man showed up with a dog and her six puppies. I was in heaven. It was the perfect birthday gift from the universe.

I spent the next hour or so traipsing about the beach playing with the puppies and taking their pictures.

I just love how this picture turned out. It was a tiny moment, there and gone again. But, it is the details. Those piercing blue eyes and sturdy, stubby puppy legs, the expression of defiance on that face, the other two puppies already looking toward their next adventure after exploring the puddle where a water drop dissipates. It tells a story.

I believe good photographs should tell a story. Not always a literal one like this, perhaps, but one that speaks to the observer, that lets your imagination explore, makes you think, transports you.

And, when you are the one taking the picture, images like this have a way of anchoring you in time and place. These puppies will be all grown up now, but for me, through this image and others I got that day, they will forever be tumbling and rollicking together along shore of that beach.