Jan 3's photos

Yesterday my friend Holly asked if I like my job. I was a photojournalist for more than 25 years for five different daily newspapers. Almost everyday was tight deadlines, death and destruction, crime and uglinesses, fires and grumpy people.

I miss the paychecks, a lot of my co-workers and shooting basketball games. I don't miss the long hours, uncertain days and driving around looking for people doing anything in bad weather. I do a little freelance photography - a bit of magazine work, some dog show stuff and an occasional wedding. But I do it on my terms.

Now I get paid a third of what I use to earn to be a dog trainer in a big box pet store. I set my own work hours, working as much or as little as I'd like. Even the grouchiest, nastiest shoppers can not stress me after spending so many years on the streets stalking and photographing folks who wished to remain hidden.

And I get to play with the puppies! (And other animals.)




Heather checks a hamster.



A rat waits for its date with a snake.


A Great Pyrenees gets a grooming.



Laura watches television during her lunch break.




Tyler visits the store on his person's day off.




Darla and Sarah receive a shipment of small animals.




The ferrets are always in motion.



I have only trained dogs, cats and children. I'd like to train or tame this parrot. However, every time I walk near the cage, it attacks the bars... Look at the size of that beak.

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“Live dangerously and you live right.” -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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