While putting together a submission for Lonely Planet Images I decided to do a series of blog posts. Here is part one in my series on travel.

Please share this post with anyone you know who may have lost a dog like this or anyone who may want to adopt a dog like this. She will need to be spayed and get her shots and all that. She is clean and flea free (I gave her a bath and put Advantage on her). She seems housebroken, but the longest I have left her alone is 45 minutes and I take her out often. She has been sleeping in the bathroom, since I didn’t know if she would go to the bathroom in the house or not, and she goes right to sleep and sleeps all night. I really have never seen a dog adjust as well as her. I would keep her, but i just really don’t want the responsibility of a dog. I am happy to foster her until I find the right home where she will be loved and well-cared for. Thank you for looking!

For the first time ever I am offering framed fine art prints. I’m doing a soft launch today with three collections: The California Desert Collection (featured above), The Abandoned Collection and The Railroad Boneyard Collection. I will be refining the offerings, but I wanted to get his launched so that there is still time for you to order these for holiday presents. You will need to register on the site in order to store your favorites and keep items saved in your shopping cart. You can always access the store through http://brendaernst.com/proofs/.

All framed fine art prints are 10% off through December 5, 2011 as an early bird special. Additionally, all friends and family can use the coupon code available only through liking Brenda Ernst Photography on Facebook for an additional 15% off through December 10, 2011. Remember, the early bird special of 10% off is only available through December 5th, so to get the extra whammy of savings, order by December 5, 2010. Please share this offering with everyone you know who might be interested in some original Brenda Ernst Photography Fine Art Prints. Thank you so much! Oh, gift certificates are also available if you know someone who needs some framed art on their wall, but don’t know if they’ll appreciate a 12×18 of my mug.

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I apologize if the photo of the dog grosses you out or offends you. It’s been decaying in my neighborhood for a couple of weeks. At first it smelled awful and was being picked apart by turkey vultures. We would ponder how it died and whether it was a stray or a pet. Today it didn’t really smell anymore so I went up for a closer look, and although a bit creepy I also found it kind of beautiful how its detached fur blended with the leaves in an Escher-esque way. Then I noticed it was wearing a collar and then I noticed the gunshot wound in its hip.

I also took the last two shots of the expired 3000 speed black and white Polaroid film that I had loaded in my Land 340. Unfortunately, the last image didn’t come out.

Randy, Matt, Noah, Eddie, Damion, Andrew, Lauren, Nancy and Patrick of The Four Coursemen and Scribe

As many of you know I took the last few months off to take care of my grandmother in South Carolina. I didn’t do much photography during that time, in fact, I spent most of three months in the house or in the garden. Then last month my peoples from Scribe in Sonoma came out to do a dinner with The Four Coursemen in Athens, Georgia. I went to the dinner, had a blast, and made new friends. It was my first outing since March. I brought my Polaroid Land 340 and a pack of expired 3000 speed pack film that my friend Mark had given me a year ago. Here is a shot from that night last month. I went back for another dinner this past Saturday. The food was incredible once again, the wine and beer parings were fun and scrumpy, and the friendships grow. Now it’s Monday and I’m back at my desk, getting back to work and ready to shoot again. I just had to update my blog before I had to look at that old post of my spring garden any longer. I’ll be making some website changes and updating my portfolios soon. Here’s to change, new friends and new horizons…

The thing I like the most about road trips is stopping to check out abandoned things and photographing them. I rarely do anything with these photos. I just enjoy the process of making them. As I was starting to shutdown my computer to pack it up for the move I quickly glanced through images from previous road trips and saw an interesting lesson in all of these abandoned things. Things that were once important. Things someone built, needed, painted, designed, desired. Now they decay. It makes me feel a little funny as I loose precious moments deciding if this blue resume paper that I’ve had since 1992 is worth keeping, hating the idea of it being wasted. Maybe someday I’ll borrow an old typewriter and type letters to all of my friends on that paper just to justify all of the moves I put it through. Or maybe I’ll drop it off at the thrift store. And what about this pressure cooker. I haven’t used it all year, but man, the next time I want artichokes it will come in handy. And on and on….