The crowd started gathering early, and 90 minutes before showtime the path to the ocean was already defined by waiting turtle lovers.

An hour later the line was 5 people deep, leaving a nice wide path for the turtles to take toward the Atlantic Ocean

First to be released was a loggerhead turtle named Beasley. He barely survived a cold snap in North Carolina waters in early February of 2009:

Front row seats:

I love how this boy crawled through a sea of legs to get his prime spot:

Finally Beasley reached the ocean…

…and swam away to a great round of applause and cheers from the crowd:

Meanwhile, another loggerhead survivor of the same cold snap in North Carolina, Ocracoke, was given a helping hand in getting to the water…

…and then stopped to pose for the paparazzi:

Seemed like Ocracoke was really checking out everything before going back home to the sea:

Swim Ocracoke, swim!

Up next was Dare, a green sea turtle who was also a victim of a cold snap, this one in December of 2009. He was covered in barnacles when he arrived at the aquarium, but he’s sure looking good now!

Cluse, another green turtle brought in as a result of the same event as Dare, testing the waters before getting in:

Here, Dare, Cluse, and Frisco, yet another green sea turtle brought in due to cold-stunning, are released at the same time:

Scute, a juvenile loggerhead turtle, has the distinction of being the 50th turtle to have been rehabilitated and released by the South Carolina Aquarium. Looks like he wants nothing to do with the fanfare of having his picture taken…

…and heads straight for the horizon once past the cameras:

It’s just so awesome to see them swim away…

Last but not least was Mingo, a juvenile green sea turtle found on Kiawah Island, SC, in June of 2009. He was found very underweight, covered in barnacles, and suffering from severe dehydration. Mingo was “air-swimming” the entire way to the water!

“Please, no photos”

The crowd loves little Mingo:

One last look before the show is over:

I cannot describe how magical it was to see these turtles find their way back to the ocean and swim away. If you ever get a chance to see it for yourself, go check it out!

Now, for those of you asking yourselves “What are sea turtles doing on a blog devoted to ‘pet’ photos?” The answer is this: some turtles are pets! (Though no one should have a sea turtle as a pet—they belong in the oceans.) Also, turtles have had a bit of a role in my life, as can be seen in this past blog entry of my brother and me holding our pet turtles in Holland. I’ll even confess here on my blog, that my mom’s nickname for me used to be “Turtle” (had something to do with me telling her I’d be right over, then getting caught up in something I was doing, and showing up an hour later.)

My mom would have turned 80 tomorrow. She passed away at age 78, and some days I still cannot fathom that she is no longer alive (she always believed she would “at least” make it to age 99, like her own mother did.) Mom would have loved to have been front row for the turtle release, and it is thanks to her that I have my love of nature, travel, art, writing and photography. So, in honor of what would have been my mom’s 80th birthday tomorrow, I am offering a May special for pet photography! Any photo session booked in May, and making mention of the discount code…wait for it…TURTLE, will receive an extra $80 print credit! So what are you waiting for? Book it!

I read a lot of blogs. A lot, of blogs. Mostly photography blogs, but also quite a few others. What I’ve realized, though, is that while I really enjoy reading and looking at the work of blog authors, I really get a kick out of getting to know the authors a little better when they choose to reveal a personal detail or story about themselves. I just feel I develop a better sense of a business by knowing a bit more about the person behind it.

And so, for you, my lovely blog readers (and yes, I am talking to all 3 of you here), I will blathely reveal actual personal details about my life, each and every Friday, until I run out of stories, or, until my readership falls below the “0″ threshold, at which point I will have to resort to hunting down all of your email addresses and spamming the heck out of you. Just kidding. Sort of.

Anyway…to get us started on our very first trip down memory lane together, I will begin with the intro portion of “Blast from the Past Fridays,” which is called “What’s Happening Today.” Well, it’s not really called that. It doesn’t really have a name. It will just be a little review of what I’ve found remarkable about the current week, whether that be music, photography, people, books, current events…whatever.

So let’s get started, shall we?

This week:

I’ve been listening to John Mayer’s “Battle Studies” non-stop since I bought it Tuesday. Non-stop. It’s great music to work to, ride the stationary bike to, to have playing in the background while making dinner. Just. Really. Great.

Seth Godin’s gift set of 5 books (no longer available…sorry!) arrived this week, and though I’ve just gotten started in Purple Cow, I’m already sensing a shift in how I am thinking about my branding. (Gosh, is this why I’ve suddenly come up with this new feature on my blog?!?!?) Follow him on Twitter (@ThisIsSethsBlog), on his blog, read his books!

Two photography books came out this week that I cannot wait to dig into: David DuChemin’s “Vision Mongers” and Chris Orwig’s “Visual Poetry.” Love both these guys, the way they write, and, in Chris’ case, his awesome video tutorial on Lightroom (I think he has more, but this is the only one I’ve actually seen.) I’m really hoping to find both of these books beneath the tree next month (or heck, I’d REALLY love to have them this week!)

Which brings me to the Blast of the Past portion of the blog today:

I attended the webinar given by Chris Orwig this week for his new book, Visual Poetry. He showed a lot of his own photos (many of which I’d also seen used in his Lightroom tutorial,) and seeing all his California surf (and surfer) photos really made me nostalgic for a past life (more than 15 years ago) in which I made the waters of Southern California unsafe on my bodyboard.

Bodyboarding was a daily passion of mine; early dawn sessions before my college classes, late evening sessions until well past sunset, winter sessions in cold water, summer sessions (in not much warmer water). I have some really great memories of surfing the beaches of San Diego for years, but I guess my quintessential bodyboarding memory is paddling out at (well, actually, within 25 yards of) the infamous North Shore Pipeline, on an epic 15- to 20-foot day (also known as a knee-slapper day to local Hawaiian surfers.) Let’s just say I’m happy to have gotten back to shore alive that day after bobbing out there on my bodyboard for what seemed like hours, just waiting for a small enough wave (turned out to be about a 15-foot face, no exaggeration) to catch back into shore. I will never forget what it felt like to ride that wave…a perfect right towards the Pipeline. Pure magic.

I still own all my bodyboarding gear (minus one fin that was ripped off my foot by a wave in 2001) and I am absolutely convinced I will be back in California one day to resume my bodyboarding life once again; I’ll be the one out in the water with the gray hair and the huge smile on my face.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Shadow was my first dog, and, he was my heart dog. We went everywhere together, and, over our almost 12 years together he taught me more about loyalty and love and acceptance and humor and life than I ever thought possible. Mostly, he showed me I could open my heart again to love, despite my having vowed never to be that vulnerable again. He also taught me how to survive the prolonged illness, and loss, of the most important being in your life—a lesson I’ve had to lean on a lot this past year after losing my other best friend, my mom, last October.

My mom and dad both thought of Shadow as their boy too, and, they were as devastated at losing him as I was. Back in 2002, when Mascha and Shadow and I moved back to our homeland, Holland, (for what turned out to be only a year, but, could have been permanent), my parents drove with us to LAX. We said our goodbyes and see-you-soons, with dry eyes(!!!), but, when dad went to say goodbye to Shadow, his tears started rolling. I can’t stand to see grown men cry, so, there I went, and pretty soon we were all bawling in the middle of LAX. We still love teasing my dad about how he wasn’t all that sad about seeing US go, but, when it came to Shadow…

Shadow, with my niece, Carolyn, in Charleston, SC, summer of 2001. Shadow, Mascha and I drove across country from San Diego, CA, to Charleston, SC, then up to Chicago, and back to California following Route 66 all the way. In Los Angeles we rewarded his excellent travelling behavior with a hamburger from In-n-Out. He ate the entire thing in one bite.

Shadow, playing in the snow in the mountains, about 10 miles from where he was born in Pine Valley, CA—an hour's drive from San Diego. Winter, 2001. He loved chasing snowballs and then running to where they crashed and digging down to the dirt trying to find where they went.

Shadow, running on his favorite beach in Del Mar, CA, Christmas Day 2001. I'm sure wherever he is now, he's on a beach, with a stick in his mouth, searching for a friend to throw it into the ocean for him to retrieve. I'd like to think the "friend" he'll find there is my mom.

Rest in Peace, my sweet boy Shadow. You gave me everything I could have ever hoped for in a best friend, and so much more.

First up: downtown Charleston.

While i do think it would be neat to see Charleston by way of horse-drawn carriage, i just can’t get beyond the fact that these poor horses (and donkeys in some instances) are subjected to 95+ humid degrees (real feel temperature of 115+ degrees — that’s 46+ degrees for you centigrade lovers.) Let’s just say i will never be supporting these horse-drawn carriages with my money for a ticket.

Just around the corner from State Street, where the above image was taken, are the German Fire Department and the Old Slave Mart Museum on Chalmers Street. Slave auctions at this site ended in 1863. The cobblestones in the street originated in England, and were once used as ballast for trade ships coming over the Atlantic. The cobblestones were dumped in Charleston, and, were replaced on the return voyage with goods obtained here. The clever Charlestonians started using the cobblestones to pave the streets. The even-more clever British realized this, and, started charging for the cobblestones.

While not the famous “rainbow row,” Queen street also boasts plenty of homes painted in pastel colors. At the end of this street, toward the harbor, is an awesome fountain, and a pier overlooking the Ravenel bridge and the decomissioned aircraft carrier Yorktown, located across the harbor in Mount Pleasant.

Up next: Sullivan’s Island.

Poor Cooper had to stay home because of his ear infection, but we decided to see what we could find one evening this week around sunset. We found tons of parachute surfers and came across this super-excited kid who couldn’t get enough of watching the guys perform their tricks. Here he is calling one over to ask him to perform a specific trick . . .

. . . which he performed to perfection. The kid was really trying to get his fishing buddy’s attention to check out the trick.

The kid was so excited. Great to see. I’m sure we’ll be spotting him out there in another few years on his own board and parachute.

Meanwhile, the kid’s fishing buddy was busy reeling in fish after fish, and, was so focused on catching more that he completely missed the bird who kept stealing his catch. I’m sure he must have wondered why he kept catching fish, but, his tally on the shore wasn’t increasing. The guy on the windsurfer had the whole thing down pretty well, with the exception of turns, which he made by jumping off the board into the water, then climbing back onto the board and heading off into the other direction.

What would a pet photograpy blog post be without an actual pet photo? So, in closing, a somewhat “test” photo of Cooper taken only to check the settings on my camera. For whatever reason, i kind of like the end result. Probably because this is a pretty common view i have of Cooper when i am just settling down onto the couch for some relaxation, and he arrives with his nonchalant “hey-i’m-just-sitting-here-next-to-you-so-in-case-you-are-ready-for-a-walk-i-am-TOTALLY-ready-to-go” look on his face.

I’m not really much of a planner—more of a spur-of-the-moment kind of person—but, I had planned to take Cooper, and his new “I’m-legal-at-the-beach” tag/collar, to the beach this morning on Sullivan’s Island. But poor Cooper woke us up at 4:30 a.m. needing to go outside…and it wasn’t pretty. So much for planning…

Our poor guy is still suffering, though showing signs of improvement, so, our beach escapades will have to wait for another day. Too bad too, because it is simply GORGEOUS outside. And, I really cannot wait to get out to the beach to get some shots of Cooper running in the surf and chasing birds and playing with other dogs.

We’ll cook some rice for him today (sometimes I think he pulls this stuff just because he wants rice!) and hopefully tomorrow or this weekend we can make a go of it to the beach. Silver lining to this dark cloud? In honor of Earth Day, I’m doing my part by not driving to the beach today…(lame, I know.)