Day 17 and 18 for the 30 Day Photo A Day challenge flew by me. It was a busy weekend, as usual, and I was away for most of it. But luckily I was able to grab a couple photos of some tamed beasts around me.

Yesterday (Day 17), I chose my dog as my lucky subject. I was running around with her in the backyard, and as I was being chased I thought of how cats must feel being stared down by this scary-looking beast. Chasing cats is one of my dog Sarah’s favorite activities. So I crouched down on some stairs leading up to the grassy area where she stood and waited until she was above me to snap the shot from a cat’s perspective. She only looks big and scary here because of the angle. She really is just a big scruffy ball of love.

Since I got home today (Day 18) after dark and didn’t have my camera until then, I had to settle for some inside shots with low light. This photo is of a hilarious monkey statue we have sitting on our bookshelf. That thing always makes me laugh. I didn’t have much light to work with in the living room, so I actually used our Coleman lantern, which was sitting out nearby, as a light source. I think it gives the monkey some cool highlights. I made this photo using the macro setting on my point-and-shoot camera, which makes the statue I was focusing on crisp while the books in the background are blurry. I would have liked the books to have been even more out of focus, but overall, I think the shot turned out pretty fun.