Yellow! Yellow!

It's the third week of my "Rainbow Project" and my color spotlight for the week is the cheerful YELLOW! To me, yellow is such an iconic color because of its connection to a lot of "icons" in many ways. Music icon The Beatles popularized the "Yellow Submarine" in 1966. Yellow taxi cabs dominate the streets of New York City. In my beloved Philippines, the color yellow is a symbol of modern democracy. And, who could forget the "yellow brick road" which led Dorothy to meet The Wizard of Oz?

I really had fun this week looking for yellow subjects to photograph. The photos below were taken during one of our morning walks with our Beagle: the iconic school bus, caution road signs - pedestrian crossing and stoplight, and the fire lane.

A Bark in the Park

Last Sunday, my husband and I with our little adorable beagle attended the 14th Annual Bark in the Park at the Chesapeake City Park.  I felt like I was in dog heaven seeing so many dogs in all sizes, breeds and even color. It was a day of exciting events that literally went to the dogs.There was the tail wagging contest, costume contest, agility area and other fun activities for humans and their pets. Comet, our beagle, joined the ice cream contest for dogs. He didn't win, but he sure had a treat! The main event was the dog walk where animal lovers and their canine friends walked to raise funds for the homeless animals. It was inspiring to see so many people donate their time and money to help animals in need of homes. Hats off to the Chesapeake Humane Society for staging a great event for a really worthy cause!

Costumed corgis

Big dogs in costume

Our beagle as Na-PAW-leon

A pretty whippet

For more photos of Bark in the Park, check out the Facebook page of Chesapeake Humane Society.

Orange Crush

Orange is a color you either love or hate. I was never a fan of the color orange until I've experienced fall season for the first time. Seeing leaves turn to yellow then to orange just brings an incredible experience for my eyes to behold. Fall totally shows the glory of the color orange.

I thought it would be easier for me this week to capture orange since autumn leaves and pumpkin patches are almost everywhere. But I was wrong. I had a bit of a challenge trying to find the perfect "orange subject" to capture. There aren't many pumpkin patches in our area and most of the trees here are pine trees with leaves remaining green all season. So, I decided to just look around our house and finaly found three things that I think give justice to the color: an orange bobblehead "digi" mascot from my previous employer, a basketball stressball, and an orange pencil.

The Rainbow Project

I have decided to do a "Rainbow Project." Every week, my photographs will center on one color from the rainbow starting with the color RED. I got this idea from the photography books that I've been reading and they all have one common advice - start shooting! And I agree. I think the best way to really learn photography is to get your camera and just start shooting. Sometimes I complain that I don't really have anything to shoot unless I'm in the dog park. But as I've read from the book Better Photo Basics by Jim Miotke, you can find inspiration even in most uninspiring places. I found this to be true. Yesterday when I've started my rainbow project, I had a hard time looking for red things. Then my husband started pointing out the obvious - red cars parked outside our apartment, red lights, red stickers. So I started shooting anything that has a color red on it and started paying more attention to the color. Red is such a strong color. No wonder it is associated with power, love, war and courage. It is so intense. Here are my favorites so far - my red purse, the red doors in our complex, my husband's red bible, and our dog's red bed.

Bring in the Bullies!

The English bulldogs are one of the most popular canine breeds. They have also been widely featured in movies, TV commercials and novels. The most famous English bulldog that I could think of is Gladstone, the pet of the dynamic duo Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

English Bulldogs have always fascinated me. Behind the wrinkled, "I'm the boss" expression and a tough appearance, English bulldogs are actually sweethearts. They can be funny, clumsy and playful. Meet Sampson and Eve for instance - two adorable English bull dogs who are a father and daughter tandem. Whenever they arrive at the Chesapeake City Dog Park, they surely light up the place. Eve will come running happily towards you with her purple ball in tow and will insist that you grab her ball and play. Sampson will just calmly sit by your side, but is always on the lookout for any four-legged friend who would want to get the ball away from his daughter. It's always fun to watch them. In their recent visit to the dog park, I was fortunate to take photos of them as Eve continuously presses her purple ball on me and urging me to play "tug-of-war" with her.