Life.Memories.Captured!

Daisy the Doxie is 2 Today!

OK - so you may or may not have seen or heard of Daisy - but if you know me, or have ever read my blog or visited my Facebook or Website, then you definitely know who Daisy is.....

She's the BEST LITTLE WEINER DOG IN THE WORLD!!!

And today is her birthday!

Her 2nd Birthday!

So I thought I'd share a few (LOL) of my favorite pictures of her. 

Daisy at 6 weeks old - the day we brought her home.... AWWWWWW

Day 1 - Meeting the family! Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen??? (The puppy people, the puppy!) But yeah, hubby's pretty cute too, LOL!

Sleepy Baby...

Learning to swim!

Hide & Seek :)

She loves the water!

WHY do I have to wear this momma - I can swim!

It's a rabbit, a fish, wait... a Dog!

I got it, I got it!!!

Her favorite place...

Her FIRST birthday portrait.

At the Vet - looking a little scared!

Another favorite thing to do is eat the "fuzz" off the tennis ball...

At our new house. She loves being anywhere we are... ESPECIALLY if there's a blanket!

How could you resist those eyes??? I can't!

We keep her warm in the winter...

She loves to ride the trails with us...

Bubble Princess in the bathtub!

 

If you aren't sick of looking at her yet, then be sure to check out Daisy's ALBUM on the left :)

We plan to celebrate this evening with her and let her do all her favorite things...

Things Like:

Going for a Walk,

Eating (I made a delicious Pot Roast and she may just get some!),

Playing tug of war with her rope,

Snuggling in blankets, and

Sleeping next to me in the bed!

 

Get a Dachshund - you won't regret it! She is truly a joy every single day!!!  Check out this website too:  Dachshund Rescue of Houston

Cheers!

Gina Hickman

There's a Weiner in my Bed! and Pet Photo Tips

Daisy is simply the best weiner dog in the World! Have I mentioned that lately??? Hopefully you won't get tired of hearing about her because she really is such a joy and makes myself, and my DH, laugh every single day!  If you know anything about dachshunds, you know that they are cold natured and love to snuggle up in blankets and specifically, in your bed between two warm bodies!  I'm not saying she sleeps with us every night, but it's pretty frequent, LOL! Even when we get up in the morning, after she goes outside for a quick potty break, she wants back up in the warm bed...even after I make the bed!  Well yesterday Mr. H left very early (5:30am on a Saturday???) with son Keaton for a quick overnight boys 4-wheeling trip to a new place they haven't been yet called Mud Buddy's.  I went ahead and got up too and made us some delicious coffee with my beloved Keurig single cup, and went about my day.  I started looking for Daisy some time later and pretty much knew she had to be in my bed!  So I went in there, camera in hand, to see if I could "catch her".  Below are some of my attempts as I walked into the room (facing the windows) and you will see that they are just not lit very well (images 1, 2, 3).  So I moved her to the other side of the bed, directly in front of the windows, and shot from a couple different angles (images 4-8).  Now doesn't that make a huge difference?  My camera is on manual, on the very same settings for both groups of images.  No flash at all, just window light (Camera set on Manual, ISO 800, F2.8, 1/60, 50mm lens).  I just love image 4 - she looks so sweet! I know if she was human she would look at image 6 and say "Mom - this is so unflattering, I have 3 chins!!!"  I guess even dogs have a bad side!  Image 7 is her "OK I'm so done taking pictures face"!  

My pet photo tips of the day:
1) move around and try different angles - if you look at your image and it's not what you were looking for, change your angle.  Get down at their level, move around!
2) look at how the light is falling on your subject and particularly if you can see the "catchlights" in the eyes then you know the lighting is great! (Catchlights are the little squares of light you see in Daisy's eyes - you can see them very clearly in image 4.  These are from the light coming through the windows and falling on her perfectly.)

I'm submitting this as my Mosaic Monday post at the Little Red House blog - check out all the weekly cool mosaic posts from readers everywhere!

Cheers!
Gina Hickman
Gina Hickman Photography
www.ginahickmanphotography.com
409-256-9116
Galveston Photography, Pet Photographer, High School Senior Photography, Boudoir Photographer, Location Photos, League City, Dickinson, Clear Lake, Webster, Santa Fe, Texas City, Kemah, Seabrook, Alvin, Pearland, Friendswood

Happy Halloweenie!!!!

Ok....I couldn't resist!!! The "Halloweenie" idea came to me this morning when I was thinking about what to enter in the MCP Actions (www.mcpactions.com) Halloween photo contest.  "Actions" make photo editing and retouching in Photoshop easier and are definitely a timesaver for Photographers - I don't know how I survived before I discovered Actions but I'm glad I did!!!  I remembered this cute Halloween fleece "sweater" that I had bought for Daisy at Ross recently, and decided I could probably get a decent picture of her and incorporate MCP Actions into it somehow....didn't it turn out cute???

Here are a few more from her impromptu photo session this morning....she's such a patient little model :)

Cheers!
Gina Hickman
Gina Hickman Photography
www.ginahickmanphotography.com
409-256-9116
Galveston Photography, Pet Photographer, Dachshund Photography, League City, Dickinson, Santa Fe, Webster, Clear Lake, Texas City, Pearland, Alvin, Friendswood, Texas City, La Marque, Kemah, Seabrook,

Dachshund Photo Contest on Facebook - Galveston Pet Photography

Head on over to my Facebook Fan Page and check out the Dachshund Photo Contest!
The 9 entries in the contest are:
Harley, Bailey, Toby, Travis, Baily, Bach, Ralphie, Lily and Lexi
They are simply all adorable!!!!
Vote for your favorite Weiner Dog during the month of September by leaving a comment on his/her photo in the "Dachshund Photo Contest" album - the Dachshund with the most comments at the end of September (1 per person please) will win a photo shoot with Gina Hickman Photography for their prize-winning pooch and will get to pick their favorite image for a 16x20 Wall Portrait!!!!
You all may know that I have a Dachshund "Daisy" who is the best weiner dog in the world - and also the inspiration for this contest :)  Once you have a one weiner dog you are very likely to get another one!  We may be looking for a playmate for Daisy real soon.....Here is Daisy on her 1st Birthday (May 4, 2010)

Cheers!

Gina Hickman

409-256-9116

Gina Hickman Photography

www.ginahickmanphotography.com

www.oohlala-boudoir.com

Galveston Photographer, Galveston High School Senior Photography

Galveston Boudoir Photographer, Santa Fe, Dickinson, Texas City, 

League City, Clear Lake, Alvin, Friendswood, Pearland, Houston, Kemah, Seabrook