Yesterday morning I woke up pretty early (for a Saturday). I took my camera, my dog and started exploring my surroundings. Winter arrived and gave me many opportunities to capture it.
Take a look at some photos that I took while I was strolling. Enjoy :)
14 years ago or so, I've started to listen to Brazilian music, and immediately fell in love with the Bossa Nova, and with the unique voice and interpretation of João Gilberto. One of the first songs that I've heard was the classic Desafinado (written by Tom Jobim). I tried to understand the lyrics, back then they were all difficult for me... but one word was really strange and not logical - ROLLIEFLEX. I took a Portuguese dictionary, but it wasn't there... Google or Wikipedia in the late 90's were more like a science fiction... so I had to accept the fact that I won't understand the word.
Later on it was easy to understand and to find out what was ROLLIEFLEX. It was a beautiful German camera, created in the late 20's (it is still being manufactured). You can read about it here.
Anyway, last week a friend who is a photographer, showed me his latest purchase. It was a cute little Rollie from the 70's, I was so surprised, and the whole story with the Bossa Nova came back to me again. I told him about the song and he asked me what was the line about. Well... in the song it says "Fotografei você na minha rolleiflex, revelou-se a sua enorme ingratidão" which means I captured you in my Rollieflex, and revealed your enormous ingratitude. After that, I just took a picture with the camera, and quoted the same lyrics. It was kind of a closure :)
For dessert, please listen to this classic and beautiful song - Desafinado
The other day I was walking on a beautiful Friday morning, checking out a local art fair. Everything was so colorful and lovely, music and laughter were all around. When I was taking a little break I've noticed a beautiful dog, full of character, it's face reminded me an old Tibetan monk :) It was Dogue de Bordeux.
Here is the picture of the same dog from the art fair
I was thinking the whole time... I wish someone would order a portrait of this kind of dog, I really want to paint it! 3 days ago I decided to paint this one for myself, just for the fun and the challenge. I really wanted to paint all those wrinkles and to preserve the character. It took me more or less 12 hours to finish the digital painting.
I really love the result, it looks exactly as I imagined! I wish that I could show the portrait to the dog's owner.
If you enjoyed the portrait, feel free to share this post. You can see more of my dog portraits on my Digital Finger Paint gallery
Last month I sent a Digital Dog Portrait to a review blog. The owner has a beautiful Labrador mix, Brielle, and I've digitally painted the dog. Last week she got the portrait, and she wrote a review.
Today I will post here a photo from today's photo shoot. It was just a simple pine tree, nothing special, but the angle, the diagonal branch and the bokeh make the difference - as I said many times before , composition is everything. And by the way no filter was added.
Few days ago I first heard about Lisa, a beautiful and sensitive Pit Bull, who was adopted by a cold-hearted family. Today we know that this family is a series Put Bull adopter. I guess they look like a decent and caring folks, but after the adoption is complete, suddenly the dogs disappear - some of them "die" or "being lost" but the truth is, that they sell the Pit Bulls to some criminals who arrange dog fights. It makes me mad, especially when good and loving dogs are being treated, and raised like ruthless killers, without compassion and love. I personally know some super sweet and people loving Pit Bulls, and just the thought of them being in situation like that gives me the creeps.
My thought was this - by sketching a portrait of Lisa, the issue will get more personal and maybe will touch some hearts and will make a little difference.
