LOOK AT THIS, it’s Wilf the Dog!!!

OMG!11!1 He iz so small! HIS SKIN DOESN’T EVEN FIT HIM!!!11!1

That was several years ago – he doesn’t look like that any more….

Wilf’s been out and about again!

I want whatever it is that is on that plate. I don’t care what it is, I want it.

I want that lolly.

Mmmmmmmmm lolly.

Wilf the Dog has a mental attitude which fluctuates between wild fear and wild fearlessness. As a result he’s always an interesting companion. I decided to try to capture some of his moments, and his thoughts. My grand plan is to make this into a series but in reality I’ll probably forget all about it within moments.

“Is that chair looking at me? I think it is? That chair better not be looking at me. I’ll bite that chair, then it will learn not to look at me.”

Is that pigeon looking at me? I think it is. It better not be, or I’ll bloody eat it. Yummy pigeon. Come here pigeon….”

“Is Goran Ivanisevic looking at me? He better not be. I’ll eat his tennis bat if he’s looking at me. Yummy tennis bat.”

As you can see Wilf knows his own mind.

On Saturday I received my processed films back from Peak Imaging. These were the first rolls of 120 E6 slide film I’ve actually had processed properly, and it was really great to see the image in your hands without needing to scan it and convert if from a negative.

Problem was though, with 5 rolls of 12 exposures, I had a lot of scanning to do. It took me all day Sunday to scan in the slides, and I was happy enough with a few of them. Most of the shots were taken in Venice which I’ll post up seperately once I’ve sorted out the ones I like.

I am apparently unable to go more than 5 minutes without taking a photograph of Wilf, so it’s no surprise to see this one, taken a few weeks back when I forced him into a T-shirt to pose for pictures. This was shot on Fuji Provia 400 in my studio

Holga

Holga 120cfn
Wilf do bad things
Fuji Velvia 50

This next picture was taken in my back garden when my cherry tree was in full bloom, and we had a rare day of blue sky. I wanted to see how the exposure would come out when set to “sunny mode” and shot on 400iso film. I struggle to see how you could ever go below 100iso film even on a very sunny day, which renders my 5 rolls of 50iso Fuji Velvia a bit worthless.

Holga

Holga 120cfn
Cherry Blossom
Fuji Velvia 50
More lessons learnt, I feel like I’ve got the hang of the Holga a bit now!

I continue to avoid sorting through several hundred photos of Venice, this time by going out for a walk with Wilf the dog and two of his friends Baggins and George.

I’ve written here before about Wilf’s neurotic character traits. He’s been examined and observed by a number of vets and dog psychology experts who have diagnosed his excessive obsessive tail chasing as various things such as epilepsy, and come up with various ways to cure him – none of which have worked. Fortunately with some recent work his tail chasing seems to be getting better, which is promising.

He’s also been diagnosed as exhibiting “extreme fear” when taken on a walk, which results in him not wanting to get out of the car, or leave the house unless it’s to get in a car. All this leaves Wilf as a bundle of pure energy (typical of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier breed) who gets little or no exercise.

When the opportunity to walk him with other dogs arises, it’s always worth a try – he seems less fearful when other dogs are around to take the lead (pardon the pun).

Here’s a rare photo of Wilf enjoying the great outdoors:

After the walk, we take Baggins and George back to my studio and attempt to get them to sit still for five minutes so I can photograph them. Once again I had issues with the optical triggers on the Vivitar flashes – you would think I would have learned by now and given up.

Meet Baggins:

Baggins is the Brother of Bailey and Simba, who I photographed a couple of years ago – back before Wilf had developed the worst of his current psychological traits.

And this is George, who lives with Baggins:

Two dogs at once is difficult in the extreme – I hoped to get a photo of them together but all my efforts were in vain. Sit still you buggers!!!

When I do eventually process and post my pictures from Venice, you’ll see I’ve developed an apparent obsession with panoramic photos. This seems to have continued after my return, with this one resulting from the walkies with the doggies.

Click on it for a larger version, go on, you know you want to.

Following his needless slaughter of a soft toy earlier this week, Wilf felt very guilty, and went to sit in the corner.

His favourite T-shirt is a fitting item given his behaviour.

Huge amounts of bribery are required to get Wilf to sit still for a minute, luckily he’ll do pretty much anything for cheese!

This photo may look like the precursor to a savage dog attack, but he’s actually gobbling a thrown bit of cheddar out of the air!

Good dog. Stay.