Black from nose to toes

Although I truly haven't minded the Chicago winter so much this year, a dull day like today reinforces the fact that I'm definitely looking forward to some sunnier weather. Posting about Buster's rehab yesterday reminded me just how much trickier it is to get a good photo of him than of Billy. Combine the grey skies and limited outdoor time (bad weather + leg operation) with his shadowy face and it verges on impossible.
I'm rather keen on the idea of taking some kind of photography course to improve my general skills a little, but in the meantime, Buster photos in particular tend to come out looking mostly like this

...or this

That said, come the summertime it's surprising how much those extra rays help out both black dogs and inexpert photographers. Even in these quick snaps you can see that our old boy is actually quite a handsome guy.

Who can resist such a happy face?!

However, I'll have to borrow from the work of a master to show him off at his best. Both Bilbo and Buster participated in a photo shoot with the fabulous Jeremy Lawson for the One Tail at a Time 2011 calendar. We struck gold with an absolutely beautiful October morning and he took the most wonderful shots of both dogs in Humboldt Park.

One of them was blown up in a gorgeous print for sale at the release party in December and a full color version of this shot now hangs on my wall:

How much do you want to run out a schedule a shoot with Jeremy right now?!