Gene falls, Gene fell, Gene's fallen: Doggie Photo Shoot

I am teaching myself to get used to “short and sweet” vacations this 2013.

This is my second one in 2013 --- a five-day homecoming (May 10-14) to celebrate Mother's Day, my 31^st birthday, and midterm elections (Although celebration for this last one is quite questionable; how can you celebrate Philippine traditional politics anyway?).

I brought home the rose-inspired cake from TLJ (Tous les Jours), a French-themed artisan bakery with Korean ingredients and Korean-greeting sellers. The cake is really for Mama; I only used the candles for wish-and-blowing purposes on my birthday (May 11 =).

Credits to melodramaticparis.blogspot.com for this pic

(I wasn't able to take a picture of my own cake;

too excited to eat it, I guess, haha)

En route to Iloilo: Happy Mother's Day Mama!

With the precious five days in my hands. I managed to sandwich a doggie photo-shoot in between my short and sweet vacation...

Here goes the doggie photographer's notes :)
(Caveat: I am not a professional photographer, or even a wannabe; I just love taking pictures of my dogs, thats all.)

Location No. 1: Summer chair-to-bed convertible (used and abused during super-hot summer days)

Father and son shot:

Sunlight (behind) and Richy (front)

Sunlight's solo shot: Isn't he so cute in his windblown hair?

And someday, Sunlight will grow up to be a handsome man-dog like his father, Richy here.

Location No. 2: My bed (when I'm in Iloilo)

I love this shot of Mama and Whitey the puppy :).

Whitey looks like another “Hope, the camera-ready” in the making.

Location No. 3: Mama's front garden

I chose this location because I wanted an old vintage feel of rusty steel chairs...with old-fashioned designs and fading paint...against the backdrop of sprawling wild plants...where naughty free-spirited dogs are free to hang out and play...

Okay, fine...I will come clean. The chairs are meant to be painted but the constant rain prevented us from doing so. So there. =)
Nevertheless, the rusty “rustic” things aside, the garden is really a lovely place to hang out in and I know the doggies love it as much as we do. It's much cooler there, especially at dusk, and it has that good balance of the refreshing alfresco feel and the sense of privacy.
(Update: Mama informed me, in our latest “telebabad” call, that the chairs have been painted white already. Yay!!)

I love this “Welcome” plant and this side of the front garden, though I couldn't bring the puppies here for fear of them falling over to the mini fishpond below.

Puppy #1: Sunlight's turn...

Sunlight: I'm ready for my close-up :D

Me: Comb please!

Coaching Sunlight to project a “chin up”

Sunlight's close-up: He “smiles” although he can barely “see” the camera through that mop of “hair”.

In front of the camera, he's so much the male version of his mother, Faith --- somewhat camera-shy and still manages to look adorable in a “bruha” look :)

A long shot: Just to prove how cute Sunlight is with his short chubby legs

A fast learner: Perfect chin-up smile

Puppy #2: And now, it's Whitey's turn...

He's too long for the camera...

Whitey's close-up: He has that really “clean” white fur like Shakespeare's.

I'm sure he'll grow up to be a tall beautifully haired angel-of-a-dog.

For now, he's the opposite of the seemingly “tamed” goody dog in this picture.

Me: Let's see if you'll fit the frame if you crouch down a bit...

...try to look candid...

...now, look at me...

...and chin up...Perfect!

The rusty “rustic” backdrop shot :)

Post notes: Here are shots from my March 2013 “short and sweet” vacation.

I visited the siblings of Faith, Hope and Shakespeare and while I didn't plan on taking pictures, these two are too hard to resist.