When you first start taking pictures, you have to take a lot of shots before you begin to see what kind of photographer you might be. I’m still narrowing in on what my natural subjects are, but one thing I know for certain: I love taking pictures of things with eyes. I guess I like looking at something that looks back.

Here’s what I know about portraits so far: focus on the eyes, take a lot of shots, and blur that background, because the subject is everything. And we all know that this particular subject really is my everything:

Stella’s eight now, with white on her eyes and muzzle, but she’s been orchestrating my existence since she was just a tiny squirrel only 8 weeks old. In those first days, her ears could not even hold their own weight yet, but even then she had the wiles and guile to bend others to her will, which usually involved snax and belly worship. I have to work to be the top dog, but Stella, she just is.

This was a lazy morning shot, taken to see how my new boyfriend, the Sigma 50mm asskicking portrait-honcho lens, handles himself wide open (which, in this case, is f1.4…HAWT!). Even though I got the white balance all wrong according to my photography teacher, just CHECK OUT THAT BOKEH. And don’t be fooled by Stella’s expression. She may look like a dog of a certain age in thoughtful repose, but you can see what’s really on her mind: THIS BELLY’S NOT GONNA PET ITSELF, HUMAN.

My assignment this week is portraits, portraits, and more portraits. So c’mon over and lemme take your picture…

This is what I woke up to this morning, and what I’ve spent the day with, as well:

We’ve been in the kitchen all day long, staked out in the comfy chair with the laptop and the paper and the big new Ayn Rand bio, which is as repellently riveting as its subject. I had other plans for the day, but it’s been snowing, so we’ve settled in for the extended hang. This is how the winters work around here: big blankets, small dogs, and a chance to catch up on my reading.

So far today, I’ve done part of the crossword, had a couple gallons of tea in one cup increments, made at least ten trips upstairs to offload liquids, researched big-girl cameras (what can I say, I’m craving the bokeh), dinked around on the internet (although the wifi’s wee at this end of the house), and plowed through the better part of Rand’s adulthood, from the writing of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged to her elevation as Our Lady of Laissez-Faire, the culty queen of unfettered capitalism.

For me, seeing a hotly-thumbed copy of Rand’s masterworks of selfishness on a new dude’s bookshelf is, as they say, a real bonerkiller. But not everyone feels the same way. Back in 1998, Modern Library polled readers on their favorite books and Rand won the top two spots. In all, she had a total of four books in the top eight, which only goes to show that there have been a lot of college sophomores out there, looking for heroic validation of their BIG DREAMZ and their spiraling self-absorption.

I wonder what Rand would make of the hillbilly hellraisers who are going Galt in her name? I mean, talk about your moochers and looters. It’s like the objectionists meet the objectionables. Or from Roark to Dork.

(Stop me, I could go all night…)

So, did you have a rational self-interest phase back at the good ol’ University (or did you just read Rand for the sex scenes)? And what camera and lenses would you recommend? Any thoughts on either one?

Time for bed again. Say goodnight, Archie: