Bokeh is the theme for our 52 week dog photography project and this is week 27. According to wikipedia, bokeh is defined as "the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens or the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light". In my images, the bokeh are the circles of sunlight filtering through the trees behind my adorable subject Oakley. 

This past week I got together with my best friend of <insert cough here> 32 years. I can't tell you how many times I got my calculator out and did the math on that one. Each time thinking "32 years cannot be right." It is right.

Susan and I met in college our junior year. In 1992 we moved in together and shared an apartment. We were young, single and having the time of our lives. We traveled together. My first trip to Europe was with her. We went to Hawaii together. Thinking back we were really living large in our 20's. 

I was with her the night she met her husband. I think that was in 1994 but I'd have to ask her to be sure. In 1996 we moved from our apartment to a house I bought with a fenced yard. I'd dreamed of owning a house so I could get my first dog. Sloan, a 5 week old lab/wiem mix puppy came into my life a few months later and I learned pretty quickly that Susan wasn't really a dog person. We were so alike on so many levels but this was one area where we differed greatly. She didn't grow up with them so they just weren't really ever on her radar.

In 1998, we both got married and we started leading our separate adult lives. As the years have passed we have stayed in touch but we don't see each other as often as we like. We have one of those relationships though that when we do see each other, we pick up right where we left off. I love her dearly and value her friendship greatly.

She lives about 30 minutes away and last week we decided to have a sleep over. I was going to drive up to her house Thursday, have dinner with her and Ron and spend the night. I also brought my camera because almost 3 years ago, her kids convinced her to get a dog.

This guy Oakley is now the 4th love of her life (hubby, 2 kids and Oakley.) Later in the evening as the sun was setting behind her house, we leashed up Oakely and went outside. 

I explained what bokeh was to her and that I wanted to get some shots of Oakely to use for my blog this week. We were outside for about 10 mintues and I snapped a few shots. I knew if I used backlighting with the sun filtering through the trees, we'd get some nice shots with a lot of dreamy bokeh and we certainly did. She lives on a golf course so having wide open skies behind me was perfect. I may ask her if I can use her backyard for other photography sessions. :o 

I sent her these images and she texted back with "Oh my gosh! I love these! So weird how you can get rid of the leash." That of course made me laugh. Several hours later, I got this text from her:

"I can't stop looking at my little doggie pictures."

That comment made my day. My best friend of all these years is in love with her cute little doggie and the photos I took of him. Life is Good.

This is a blog circle and next up is an awesome dog photographer I got to meet at the Breckenridge workshop I attended: Linda of DogShotz Photography, serving the Indianapolis IN. Getting to meet other dog photographers is something I really enjoy. I hope to get to meet more of you at some point and I'd love to see Linda again! Keep clicking the links at the bottom of each post to see each photographer's images with bokeh.