Meet Luna. She hangs around Las Chivas, the coffee shop where I get my morning brew. Dana gives her huge milk bone treats which she promptly buries. You can visit her and my other dog portraits on my website.

Tulip has a best friend who lives with Connie and Karen next door. They brought him home only a few days after they moved in this summer and Teddy quickly became an important part of our lives. He’s the best little dog; he’s sweet and funny and a bit of a doofus. About two weeks ago, he got very sick and had to have a barium x-ray, an endoscopy and several biopsies and still the vets didn’t know what was wrong with him. It’s been a worrisome time for all concerned. Seems he had some sort of bacteria that can cause ulcers but with a long course of antibiotics, I’m glad to say, Ted’s doing much better. Every day he’s more and more his old happy puppy self. I took this portrait of him and his bear around Christmas time.

My friend David recently said I had a “minimalist blog.” Although I like the way that sounds … very trendy and artsy … I guess it’s time to begin posting more frequently.

I’ll begin by talking about the series of Horse images in my New Work gallery. I was driving to my hometown in the midwest last summer taking backroads as a shortcut. I was somewhere in Nebraska and kept passing fields of horses, big and little. Even though I grew up in a small town in Minnesota, I’m what they mean when they say “city girl.” The only time I’ve been around horses has been a couple of trail rides and, once, a childhood friend let me help groom her horse. The only reason I remember that occasion is because I was very late coming home and there was hell to pay. I never had much use for horses after that.

So here I am in Nebraska driving past field after field of mares and their colts and thinking “too bad I don’t photograph horses.” After about the fifth field, I’m on the phone talking to my friend, Bob, and I can’t stand it any longer. I say an abrupt goodbye and slam on the brakes. I tell Tulip to stay, grab my camera out of the backseat and run down into the ditch on the opposite side of the road and start shooting.

As if they’d been waiting for their session, these immense grey mares walk over to the fence and begin to pose for their portraits. It was incredible. I spent about 45 minutes standing in that ditch and I will never forget those incredible animals. That’s the thing about photographing for me; it’s always about entering into a relationship with whatever or whoever the camera is focused on. By the time I finish, I feel I’ve experienced the subject in some way I couldn’t have expected.

So, now I’m a horse photographer and when I leave for Tucson soon, I’ll be scanning the sides of the road for more opportunities to spend some time with these magnificent animals. I’ll let you know if I find any.