Day Eight: My Sweet Tooth

Sunset pictures are like candy to me.

And I like my candy...
...or perhaps you've already heard about the Halloween incident of 1990? Check the newspaper archives, it was a display of candy gorgery of epic proportions. In fact I still seem to get a tummyache just thinking about it, although that could have to do with the pile of empty Now & Later wrappers building up around my keyboard as I type this. I do like my candy.

And if sunset pictures are like candy in my house, then dog pictures are the juice box used to wash it down: you know you don't really need it, you've had plenty before; it may seem like a good idea, but there really is no benefit to having another one; in fact, too many can make you downright sick to your stomach.

But, darn my sweet tooth, I can't resist the occasional juice box either. So how best to combine two of my "guilty pleasure" subjects, dogs and sunsets? With a little creativity and luck. I think I captured a little of both in this shot, using my pup Farley to silhouette the setting sun by the Clinton Lake dam.

Letting the sun peek through his legs and body gave a little something extra to this shot. I also like the prominence of Farley's ears - possibly my favorite of his features.

But I will stop here: if sunsets are like candy and dogs are like sweet sugary drinks, then hearing owners carry on about their pets' facial features is surely the inevitable tummyache that follows.

Day Three: For the Dogs

Meet Farley.


Being photographed here from multiple angles, the lab/border collie/??? seemed more interested in his owner than in Emily (who had a much better angle on the shot).

This shot was taken nearby Clinton Lake, Lawrence's closest claim to "the life aquatic." The man-made lake and dam provide a nice refuge on an otherwise busy day, with places to run, bike, hike, relax, camp, take your dog offleash, and - if you are feeling desperate enough to do so - swim.

Clinton Lake is a landmark in Northeastern Kansas and in my own life, which makes it somewhat odd for me to think that as little as 10 years before I was born the lake existed only on paper, only as an idea.

These shots were taken near the spillway which, depending on the openness of the dam gates, can provide a calm place for animals to and people to wade, or more turbulent waters like these seen here (with a slight time elapse of the camera).

I'm sure there will be more pictures of the dam, spillway, and lake to come in my collection of 365+ pics this year.

I'll just have to find my dam camera first.