Day 1-The Dixie Stampede
by TCGuru

Comment by WalesP:
Great story. Show'em to mess with a southern gal. Nice softening of the sun/shadows with the reflector.

Day 1-The Dixie Stampede
by TCGuru

Comment by Lydia:
This is wonderful! Even more so with the fun story to go with it! :)

I like the SP. It looks like "Don't mess with a Southern Lady." *grin*

Dese Lights Edited
by TCGuru

Comment by jpochard:
I love the lighting and the colors and impeccable processing. Something about the pose looks uncomfortable to me, though.

Dese angel Edited
by TCGuru

Comment by jpochard:
A lot of work, but well worth it. I'll bet she was really pleased with this version of her portrait.

Rebecka In Universe Edited
by TCGuru

Comment by jpochard:
What a fun shot! I wish there was a little more light on the face, but how can one not like an angel with an attitude?

Remembering Albert
by TCGuru

Comment by pjangel:
I don't know if you've seen this before, but I love this poem. I had to put down one of my cocker spaniels in Dec. '06 the day after my birthday, it was awful, I still see her little eyes looking at me.

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Model Hopes and Model Dreams
by TCGuru

Comment by surfdabbler:
My first thought when seeing this shot during voting was the blue cast to the image. When you are shooting in shade, if the auto white balance is not doing a good job, you can manually set to shade or cloudy white balance and this will correct for the blue cast. You can also fix it in photoshop with the colour balance tool. This also has a very high colour saturation with the red and green complimentary colours, and the bright happy look is a little in contrast with his cool model expression. With a shot like this, the focus is his eyes, so be careful about bright blocks of colour which will distract from his eyes. For the composition and crop, I would consider maybe giving the photo a bit of an angle, so he is leaning back into the frame, with his head more upright. I'd crop off the bottom of the frame, so you don't see the checkered pants, desaturate and darken the background, and lighten his eyes a little in PS.

Model Hopes and Model Dreams
by TCGuru

Comment by jeger:
Love the bokeh, great use of complimentary colours, and the composition is good too. His eyes really stand out too. I think the focus could be a tad sharper.

Model Hopes and Model Dreams
by TCGuru

Comment by colorcarnival:
Your kids are so beautiful. Love those eyes! Does he really want to be a model or is he cooperating so it gets done faster? lol Glad to see the score kind of beat your expectations :D

Model Hopes and Model Dreams
by TCGuru

Comment by deturner91961:
This feller is cute as a bug. No wonder he is RELATED TO ME!!!!!!!! Wow that is a nice picture and yes he would make a great JC Penny Catalogue Model.