FORT WORTH ZOO: American Pink Flamingo

I thought this shot of an American Pink Flamingo ruled. I took it when I went to the Fort Worth Zoo, one of the world's best, with a fellow photographer from work and I ended up taking 214 shots in the hour and one half we were there. Had a great time taking shots of lions, a white tiger, elephants, birds, giraffes, antelope, rhinos, gorillas, etc.

I never seen a shot of a pink flamingo like this, have you? A straight on shot. Look at the intensity in those eyes (click on the photo to see the large size).

As far as photography goes I don't think of all the so-called rules, dude, because I don't care about the rules of photography. I don't think composition. I don't think about "the right time of day" to shoot a photograph. I don't "scout" out my "shoots" days in advance. I don't worry about that bull-friggin'-school taught-crap. All that schooling does is place limitations on your own creativity because you're thinking instead of doing.

The only thing I think about is this: I pick up my weapon of choice, the magnificent Nikon D700 full-frame digital SLR, aim it at whatever it is I want to take an image of and push down on the shutter button when I feel it's the right time. The "rule of thirds"? The "zoning" techniques and all that other technical mumbo gumbo photography nonsense I read all the time in photo mags? I have no use at all for any of it.

A guy at work said, like others at work have said when they've looked at the 8X10 photos I put up on my cubicle wall (hey, it's gallery space), "You have got a very good eye."

Yeah, I know I do. Why. I'm a very visual person. I was born with it. Charles Bukowski said we're "born into this" life without a choice but I do know that we're also born into this life with certain skills. Look, I'm not trying to brag here --- even though I am --- but it's a God given ability that I can shoot some terrific photos. I was blessed with a creative gene and I use that motherfucker the best I can. I take my art seriously.

Just as seriously as that pink flamingo is staring at me.

Hankette The Kitten

My sister, seen here holding Hankette, told me she heard a strange crying sound while she was downstairs in her house when it was raining heavily in Fort Worth, Texas, one day. The sound, she said, was coming from my youngest nephew's bedroom on the second floor of their house. His bedroom windows were open and when they're opened they allow one to crawl onto the back roof. My sister said she went upstairs to investigate.

"I knew it was some kind of animal," she told me. She saw a clump of wet fur on the roof. "I thought it was a rat or maybe a squirrel."

Turns out it was an almost new born kitten.

"Maybe a bird or something got it from it's mother and dropped it there," she opined. "For such a tiny thing she sure was making a lot of noise."

I went over to her house and took pics of the little sweeit pie. I told her to call her Hankette, after Charles Bukowski, since she was found drenched, like a "wet rat in the rain", which paraphrases a line from the movie BARFLY, which Bukowski penned and Mickey Rourke starred in as Bukowski's alter ego, Henry Chinaski.

She couldn't keep Hankette since she already had two beagles and a husband allergic to cats and said she would give her to a rescue shelter or an interested party once she was big enough.

My sister was feeding Hankette with a special feeding bottle and formula for baby cats that she got at PetSmart. Despite my protests my sister said she didn't want to name it Hankette, preferring Yoda based on her little tiny droopy ears.

"I'm not gonna keep her so I don't want to name her anything."

See, if you name an animal you automatically become attached to it and that means it's yours.

Claps of applause go out to my sister for saving a life.

UPDATE: My sister found a couple who wanted a little kitten to spoil. They told her they would get another kitten so Hankette would have a half-brother or half-sister for companionship. "I wouldn't have given them Hankette if they had not made a positive impression on me."

Blondie The Wild & Crazy Beagle

This is one of my sister's two beagles, Blondie. She's such a character, with a full of life personality. I love my sister's dogs. It's Blondie and Barney, Blondie's nephew. Barney hates having his picture taken, just HATES it. So I respect his wishes and don't take his picture since he immediately turns away when I have tried to snap a shot of him in the past. I always get them to start howling by howling myself. It's funny. The three of us howling at the moon. My sister yells at me, "STOP IT!" But being the family smart ass I just get them to howl more.

Now my sister was telling me a story about Blondie (I told you she's a character). Robyn said that she was in the corner of the backyard and heard this strange noise. "It was like a can being dragged across the rocky patio. I ran around the corner and saw Blondie eating fire ant killer! The can of it was on top of our patio table and I know it was shut tight. But she got it down off the table and that's the dragging sound I heard. She dragged it enough that the top came off of it. I immediately called the vet and asked what I should do. They told me to give her a teaspoon's worth of hydrogen peroxide and that that would make her vomit. So I grabbed her and took her inside and did that. She instantly vomited. So I picked her up and took her outside. She kept vomiting but then she would eat the vomit! And then puke again because the vomit had the hydrogen peroxide in it! She kept doing this over and over and I just gave up. Obviously, it didn't kill her. But the vet did say there's nothing in fire ant killer that would harm a dog."

She also told me that Barney can now jump onto the kitchen counter. The counter is a good 3 to 3 and one half feet above the kitchen floor. I said, "Are you kidding me?" She said she wasn't. Barney probably weighs a good 25 pounds. My sister said, "That's not bad for a ten-year-old dog." I just looked at Barney in amazement. Then I bent down and petted his head and said, "What are you doing, you silly boy? Training for the Olympics?"



Yep, those two dogs are wild and crazy and full of life canines.