Day 159 (August 17) - The Black Dog

Most dogs in Thailand live on the border between stray and pet. Theravada Buddhism forbids the killing of any living thing, so euthanasia is not practiced and populations go unchecked except by hunger and misadventure. It's common to keep a dog in the street that you feed sometimes to protect your house, but not common to keep a dog indoors.

And the dogs fight with each other, and sometimes attack people as well.

I thought this dog was beautiful as I approached to take a picture, and I still do. It's a difficult, heartbreaking sight, but it's not possible to help all the dogs.

Still, this one has lovely eyes. I hope she's doing okay.

One Year

I've had my DSLR (Canon xsi) for almost exactly a year now. In some ways, it's gone really fast. In other ways, I can't believe that a whole year has passed. I certainly don't feel older, or even all that different.

But some things certainly have changed. Last August I was in California, I had just finished teaching at a really intense ESL summer camp and I was gearing up for my imminent move to Thailand. Plus, I had a bunch of new fun photo equipment to play with that I still didn't really know how to use.

Now I live in Thailand, I teach children, I'm coming to understand basic Thai, and I've seen and photographed some of the most beautiful places in the world. Plus I've been attempting to post a photo a day for almost six months. And I've learned a lot in so doing. Not all necessarily photo related.

This photo was shot in Alameda, close to sunset I believe. It was a beautiful, clear evening, warmer than average with the feel of summer still in the air. We were walking along the beach with one of Evan's friends.

There were tons of pelicans out in the water and I was doing my best to capture them with my new 55-250 lens racked all the way out to 250mm. I sort of knew about shutter speed and aperture and ISO, but not enough to know that my shutter speed wasn't quite fast enough for a sharp image, and that I should really have gotten closer to the birds instead of zooming in. So the image isn't quite sharp and it's backlit to boot.

But I love that sailboat in the top corner, and the way the light is turning it yellow. And this photo makes me nostalgic for the Bay Area, and the crisp evening air, the ability to walk along the shore in the evening. Like Mexican food, good pizza, the ability to communicate with strangers, and public transportation that gets you pretty close to where you want to go, I miss California sea air, and the moderate range of temperatures.

I may post a few more photos from a year ago in the next couple of months. I'm enjoying the contrast, and the memories.



I can't wait until we're back in a couple months and I can go scouting for pelicans again. I'd love to shoot them properly.