Lily

In December we adopted a ten-year-old canine from a local animal rescue.

She is incredibly skittish, and I've been trying to get a portrait of her for a couple of weeks now. I finally got something today. After liberally dosing "Benny Bullys," and more encouragement and positive reinforcement than I've ever given anyone in my life, I got this:

That's a beautiful image, great lighting.

That's so sad, that she's so afraid of everything. I'm quite sure time and your kindness will get her over this. I hope you'll keep us updated. And good on you for adopting an 'oldie'.

Good for you in all regards, Shelley. It takes a very special person to do what you are doing. You have my admiration.
Best wishes!

Thanks, gentlemen.

I have to admit, I initially rejected Lily based on her age. We have a seven-year-old son, and I was concerned about him losing our next dog quickly. We'd just had our previous dog put down a few months earlier, and it was hard on him.

But, within 24hours I had decided that even if we only had a short time with Lily she was worth it. There are no guarantees in life (a younger dog may not live longer), and she is such a good, sweet, gentle, and loving girl. A short time with a great dog is much better than no time with a great dog.

This is my first time seriously attempting to photograph a dog. Photographing a big, black, dog is proving to be very challenging.

I would like to get the hang of working with her, in the hopes of doing volunteer photography for the rescue we adopted her from. Specifically, I'd like to photograph adult black dogs. While the adult dogs are adopted at a much slower rate than the puppies, the adult black dogs are adopted even more slowly.

My goal today is to get her entire muzzle in focus, and to brighten up the key light just a little, and prevent her from getting spooked while I'm doing it.

Update: Here is today's photo . . .

So she came out of hiding quickly enough. I like the second shot much more.