That's Canon glass "L"ove.  I rented the 70-200 2.8L IS for Heather's wedding this weekend, because while I have been saving to buy it, I'm not quite there yet.  Of course when the box arrived today I had to hurry up and try out the lens.   Usually stuff that I shoot doesn't make it to the blog this fast, but I was making sure that all my CF cards were ready to go and getting last weekends wedding off the cards and onto the computer, so today's stuff made it here also.   Who is my always willing and ready subject?  Lucy, of course.  So if you've had too much of my puppy lately, you'll want to skip this post! These are just some test shots to get a feel for the lens, but Lucy's such a good looking girl, she'd make any picture look good :) While you will almost never see pictures from me on my blog or website without some kind of sharpening or slight saturation or white balance adjustments, I wanted to show how amazing I think this lens is.  These pics are all straight out of the camera.  No sharpening, no saturation adjustments, no Photoshop or Lightroom at all...Yummy...

**EDIT**so I started to wonder today what the Photoshop'd versions of these photo's would look like next to the original unedited versions.  So since it's my blog and I can edit if I want to :)  I'm editing this post to include versions that have some basic editing done to them, sharpening, saturation, and contrast tweaks.  The originals will be first followed by the edits.

Here she is again with that crazy maniac look on her face!  I love it!  I looked up the tree and I didn't see anything at all, she's a nut!

CRAZY!

Our little Lucy has a boyfriend.  His name is Cisco, he's the collie on the right.  He's only a few months older than she is and lucky for us they play together almost everyday.  (You've heard the saying a tired dog makes for a happy owner? That's why we're lucky!)  They LOVE each other and play like crazy.  Right now as I type Lucy is looking out the window longingly wondering when Cisco is going to get here for their nightly date.  She does this every night starting at about 8:30, she's not ashamed to resort to whining sometimes.  Mac is the collie in the middle, he is Cisco's older brother.  Very often he finds their childish shennanigans...well childish.  He stands and barks at them, pleading with them to stop, expressing his annoyance.  (At least that's what we as humans have decided he's saying)  Sometimes when they are wrestling like they are the stars of the WWF, Mac and I will have a photo shoot.

This is what is looks like when you walk out our back door.  You had better have a treat with you, because they are waiting and they expect treats!

Looks a little annoyed doesn't he?

Mac loves to check himself out in the reflection of my lens!  I have so many pics like this!

This face makes me happy :)

It sounds kinda cheesy but one of the most important goals in my life is for me to be a good person.  That is not always easy, especially when you work with the public like I do!  Sometimes it takes quite a bit of extra effort to be patient and understanding, and I will be the first to admit that I do not always succeed.  It is something that I believe takes a life long conscience effort.  It is so easy to be irritated by people and to judge.  But, when I do succeed and don't judge and I stay positive, the bonus is that I feel better too.  I know that I might sound like a total dork, but, well, this is me. This poem was on Beckers Blog yesterday, I liked it, so I snagged it and put it here.  It is a poem by Kent Keith that Mother Teresa loved.  It helps me to remember my goal.  It's a good one. The poem and the goal.

Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.

If you are successful you will win some false friends and true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, some could destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.

If you were anything like us when we were kids, you thought going to A&W and having hot dogs and root beer from a yellow plastic tray that hung on your window was the greatest thing ever!  The only thing that we found cooler than the fact that we were eating in the car was that in order to get them to bring us our food we had to press a button and talk to someone we couldn't even see.  (Ok, ok, we really, really loved the tiny little glass A&W root beer mugs we got to drink out of and even take home!  I think there is still one floating around my family somewhere and I swear one of these day's I'm gonna snatch it!) Awhile back Tim, Lucy, and I got in the car and picked up Ryan to go do one of my favorite things ever, walk around Detroit and take pictures.  For some reason though, we just weren't feeling it that day.  We ended up driving around aimlessly.  All the way down Fort we drove, out of Detroit and into down river when all of a sudden I did quick u-turn.  I almost passed this abandoned A&W type restaurant with all of the speaker boxes still standing in sad rows, all leaning, with all their guts hanging out.  Sometimes it doesn't matter if you spend hours not finding anything if in the end you get just one great shot, it always seems worth it.  Now, I'm not too sure that they were as excited as I was, but I love falling down, old, broken, and used things.  They have a history and character that makes for great photographs.