I read voraciously when I was young, a bit less so now that I'm an adult with lots of adult things that must be done before I can settle for a good read. I loved any book about dogs. Or horses. If it had dogs and / or horses, I was in. I read all the classics of the day; Sounder, Old Yeller, Follow My Leader, The Black Stallion, My Friend Flicka, Black Beauty, Misty of Chincoteague (and the novels that followed), National Velvet and more. 

One day I saw a book at the library titled "A Horse and His Boy" so I picked it up but soon realized that it was the 5th book in a series of 7 so I put it back and started from the beginning with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. From the moment that Lucy discovered the land of Narnia by hiding in the wardrobe, I was hooked and so started my love affair with science fiction fantasy that continues to this day. I wanted to join Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy on their adventures and devoured the books so quickly that when I finished them, I turned around started right back at the beginning and read them all again.

A few years I was thinking of the books and decided to purchase the set and give them another read as an adult. I had just finished the Harry Potter series and the escapism to another, magical world was a welcome respite from a stressful job I held at the time. They were just as enjoyable as an adult and I now recognized the symbolism in some of the characters and events. 

So why is Ginger at the door of the wardrobe below? Because it's week 39 of the Pet Photography 52 Week Project and the theme is "Favorite Book". This one had me scratching my head for a moment. Which book to pick? How to portray it in a photograph? I started doing random internet searches and came across a fanatic image of a wardrobe that was license-free. I had my idea and the burgeoning skills to make a composite image with Ginger, like Lucy, discovering the wardrobe for the first time. I'm currently taking a class to improve my composite skills, so this was a good exercise for me. 

I brought Ginger to the studio and wanted to photograph her walking into the wardrobe, but it turned out to be REALLY hard to get her to point away from me (it was probably because I was holding treats). That and the minute I say the word "stay", she lies down because she knows she's going to be there for a bit. I finally had to slide her in the other direction and then toss a treat past her to get her to look away from me. After a few frames I thought I had an image that I could make work and the rest of the magic happened in Photoshop. We then practiced treat-toss images, but that's another post :).