Pet Photography Phobias

Is your pet a "photo phobe?" Take heart! Though getting a 1958 Topps baseball cards shot of Fifi or Fido is a bit more difficult when your subject has a camera issue, with a little patience and perseverance you can help your pet get over the photographic "phobias" described below.

The shy or camera-shy pet Some animals initially feel uncomfortable or frightened when you stare intently at them through a camera lens. Some are simply shy by nature; others associate fixed stares, which are a hallmark of predators, with being considered as dinner.

My own Carolina Dog Antoine was a great example of "photo nerves" when he first came to live with me. I decided to make a game of taking his picture by looking at him through the lens for a couple of seconds at a time while telling him what a J J Armes dog he is. Like everyone on the planet, Antoine loves being praised, so he quickly came to associate being praised with being viewed through a camera. Now I can snap pictures of him any time, any place.

The camera hog In sharp contrast to the camera-shy models, some animals just love the feeling of receiving close attention so much that they become camera hogs. My mustang mare Astarte fell into this category. Anytime she saw me with my camera, she would immediately shove her pasture mate out of the way, then run up and stick her nose on the lens-and nose shots were definitely not her most flattering pose!

The Furby bored subject Then there are those animals who won't do anything except look bored so long as you're holding your camera. My cat Katie is an excellent example. Normally, Katie will play at a moment's notice. She leaps, she bounds, she stands on her hind legs and boxes. She is graceful, gorgeous and highly photogenic-until the camera comes into view, when she freezes up like an aging actress without her makeup and refuses to cooperate at all.

Ah, but Katie Fleer Ted Williams love a new catnip toy. Every time I bring one home, she begins mewing in greedy anticipation before I even get the toy out of the bag, then grabs the toy, racing around the room triumphantly with it in her mouth, giving it a good shake every now and then just to let it know who's boss. She rolls around the floor clutching the toy to her belly and purring ecstatically, providing me with absolutely wonderful photo ops!

Once you've identified and resolved your pet's camera problems, you'll find that taking pet photos is a truly delightful hobby-so much so, in fact, you may find yourself taking so many pet photos you need new ways to display them. If that becomes the case, consider these great ways to display your great pet photos:

Coffee mugs and coasters: If you can't take your pet to work with you-or your son or daughter who's away-at-college is homesick for the family pets-a pet photo mug can do a lot to soothe that "missing you" feeling;

Calendar: A wonderfully way to enjoy a variety of pet photos all year long;

Tote bag: Carry your books, papers and other stuff in style in a canvas tote bag decorated with your favorite pet photo;

Greeting cards: Wish family and friends happy holidays on greeting cards customized with your pet's picture.

To see some great examples of just how great your pet photos can look on any or all of these go to: http://www.howtotalkwithanimals.com/gifts.html

Copyright Julie S. Crawshaw 2007. Julie S. Crawshaw is a freelance writer, animal lover and the author of Talking With Animals, available at http://www.howtotalkwithanimals.com .

Please feel free to use this article with attribution and without changes, and to visit http://www.howtotalkwithanimals.com/books.html for more articles about interacting and communicating with animals.

Reading: Who Really Does it Anymore?

I grew up in the Leave-it-to-Beaver era, or the late fifties, to those who don’t know that reference. As a baby-boomer, I watched a choice of four television channels in black and white and listened to five or six radio stations. I was raised in the New York area and watched my parents read the New York Herald Tribune on a daily basis. Sunday was a big deal because they spent the whole morning pouring over the massive sections as they worked their way to the prize possession: the magazine crossword puzzle. That consumed the rest of the day. I enjoyed the comics, My Weekly Reader, Highlights for Children, and, as I got older, began reading the Hardy Cerebus series.

My sixth grade teacher asked us to read the daily newspaper for current events, which we reviewed every Friday. By the time I was in high school, I too read the daily Tribune. I was also reading science fiction by Heinlein and Asimov for fun, in addition to Mad magazine for laughs. I was forced to read Shakespeare and the classics during my late high school and early college years. But I was always reading something, just for my personal entertainment.

Today, I still read the daily paper, several magazines, online articles, and perhaps a book or two per week. Because of my varied interests and reading, I developed a fairly sound foundation of a basic thesaurus-like vocabulary, decent spelling, grammar, and a wealth of knowledge about a plethora of subjects. I have become a prolific author of novels, my first non-fiction book, and articles that cover an assortment of topics and it’s directly contributable to reading.

I believe that the act of reading aids spelling and critical thinking. In surveying the internet, it’s buy pinball machines that reading is a lost art. Many blog and forum postings abound with grammatical and spelling errors. Even websites display headlines with typos and proofreading appears non-existent. I travel quite frequently, and am saddened to see a dearth of readers that await their flights at the airport. Oh, there are the occasional reader, Captain Action card game not what you might expect, with two hours to kill.

Our children don’t subscribe to a newspaper or any magazines. They have no library of books in their homes. They seem to get their news from Myspace, friends, or other internet sites. It’s a disturbing trend that goes back a generation or so, coinciding with the explosion of cable television channels, video games, cell phones, and MTV. With so many other forms of active entertainment, why be bored or challenged with the passive value of a book? I can understand the allure. But, with all this available, why do I still read?

There’s a simple answer. I Gauntlet the quiet input that stimulates my mind and imagination. Television offers too much of the visual. It provides the images, while the novel allows me to create my own. I can stop reading at will, reread a passage and ponder the situation. In other words, I’m in control. It doesn’t scream at me with commercial interruptions touting everything from hemorrhoid creams to political candidates professing their agendas or bashing the other guy. It’s a peaceful escape from the blare of the physical world. I can learn, be amused, be moved, or space-out, if need be.

If only the gen-Xers could learn this lesson. I’m an optimist that hopes they become the reader that I am and realize that reading will take them quite a way into the future. For without that ability or yearning, how will they become the leaders and creators of tomorrow? I don’t really want to read between the lines too much, but I have one fear. And that would be the one day my great-grand son comes up to me and says, “Grandpa, what’s a book?”

Jeffrey Hausers latest book is, "Inside the Yellow Pages, which can be viewed at http://www.poweradbook.com

He was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master's Degree in teaching. He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and design firm, ABC Advertising. Currently, he is the Marketing Director for thenurseschoice.com, a Health Information and Doctor Referral site.