I love photography. I love to see what I and other people can capture through the lens of a camera. Some things that can seem so mundane on any given day, can be captured in a spectacular image that makes a person say WOW!

I have been volunteering once a week at the Erie County SPCA as a photographer and I get to shoot images of animals going up for adoption and post them to the SPCA’s website. I also get to shoot images at special functions for the SPCA. I love what I do at the SPCA.

I used to think that maybe one day I would work in my own photo studio, shooting weddings, births and other special events. That all changed when I had a not so pleasant experience shooting a wedding and I thought oh my Christmas I am hating this beyond all belief. From the cry baby wedding party (brides maids who didn’t smile, groomsmen who complained about the sun and how many more pictures and blah, blah, blah), and guests who bum rushed the photographer’s set up so they can get pictures and push me out of the way. Hell no do I want to be a wedding photographer.

One day while looking for a particular local event (The Big Chew) in which local eateries donate a percentage of the days take to the SPCA, I saw on the SPCA’s website a listing for the need for volunteer photographers. I contacted the volunteer services and voila … I am now part of an organization I love, doing something good for animals that I love with a hobby that I love.

There is no money involved. I will never be paid for my time or my work and you know what, I realized that the money I could be making as a serious photographer would not satisfy my soul as the work I donate to help find homes for the animals at the SPCA.

My love of animals, combined with my love of photography has given my camera a real purpose now and not just some impulsive purchase LOL. 

This image is of today’s camera charmer … Quigley. I am already looking forward to next weeks charmer.

As the years have past, I have realized that happiness has nothing to do with what you have in life, but rather who you have in life. It is the who(s) in you life that can make brighten you life or keep a big black cloud of glum hanging around. I chose bright days filled with smile and happiness. I mean really, who wants to be surrounded all day, every day with miserable people, all being miserable at the same time. Not this woman!

I love sharing time with good friends and family who fill the day with laughter and smiles. 

Yesterday being Superbowl Sunday, I went to the home of some friends and had a magnificent time. Those are the kinds of days that one remembers with smiles. The kind of days I strive to have regularly. 

I love shooting images of old buildings. I love the character those buildings have as compared to many rubber stamped buildings of today. This image is of the Richardson Olmsted building in Buffalo NY … affectionately referred to as the Old Psych Building. Yep, this was the old psychiatric hospital. The building is currently undergoing major renovations. It has a certain kind of creepy appeal to it. The interior is amazing and the ongoing work will be well worth it when it is all done.

This might be a model to build off of

http://news.yahoo.com/ny-inmates-help-build-ice-palace-adirondacks-091754498.html

I am a novice photographer with a passion for animals. I recently decided to combine these two loves and I currently volunteer at the Erie County SPCA photographing adoptable animals and posting those images to their website. I have fallen in love with what I do. I feel such a great reward when I see that one of the animals I shot images of has been adopted … I actually feel like my love of photography has found a real purpose. 

The Erie County SPCA receives no federal, state or county funding so donations and volunteers are what keeps it up and running. I am not rich and what I can donate, I do. What I do have in abundance is a passion for animals and a love of photography that I happily donate in time to shoot, edit and post images. My reward is not monetary, but rather in something money cannot pay for … the incredible feeling I get when an animal has been taken to a good loving home. 

Many of the animals are rescue animals. Animals that are rescued from humans who are unable to see them as anything other than a source of income as they over breed, or even worse, engage in blood sports. I have no respect for those people and in my mind those people are lower than the spit and dirt I pick up on the bottom of my shoe. Animals who have done nothing wrong to deserve such horrible treatment. These are the animals my heart goes out to. We do have owner surrenders because of allergies, relocating or elder care/death as well.

If I can change the life of one animal and one family then I feel like I have used my love with good reason. I just may have found my second calling in life.

Iris

I decided that the time has come for me to get back to doing what I loved to do long before Facebook and Twitter came along with their “status updates” … write my thoughts, ideas and nonsensical ramblings somewhere that was meant for writing and not hour by hour, minute by minute status updates with hashtag symbols everywhere.

I am sure my friends and family are thinking, oh boy here she goes again. Heck, I might just end up writing to just me, myself and I here, and that’s OK. Sure beats having to see this # after every other word.

I also need to get back to the things I love so much. Things like writing, my photography, reading and ridding myself of that so called social network where people have become nasty towards one another and they post all their hate and drama on the regular. Frankly, to tell the truth I had already started weeding out that crap by removing people who fill the internet social sites with it. yes it has earned me the reputation of being a so called snob among some family members and I am OK with that, for years I have been working on positive influences in my life that to get sucked in to all that negativity makes me so mad at myself. 

I do have to admit, I expect few if any of my friends and family to follow my posts here at Xanga, they would more likely prefer the minute by minute status updates on Facebook and Twitter. So I will drop a link to my posts on FB and let it be. If they set up shop here that would be nice, if not, that’s OK too.

I miss writing in the worst kind of way. I miss gathering my thoughts together and putting them together in a way that reflects who I am and how I am, and not just in some random status update. I miss Yahoo360 and Multiply where we wrote ans shared so much more with friends and random people who followed. So with that said it is back to basics for me. Back to the time long before Facebook and Twitter. 

Have a great day!