Learning how to groom a lamb is part of the curriculum of the 2005 Baltimore County 4-H Lamb Grant Project. Lisa Wheeler, project leader from Whitehall, right, supervises Juliana Buckman while she trims a lamb’s hoof Wednesday June 22, 2005 at Green’s Lamb farm in Whitehall.

The 10am Update is a (somewhat) regular blog feature showcasing some of the better photos from my archives.

A super costume wins the costume contest for Como, 3, during the Columbia Association’s first Welcome Event of the year, Dog Day Afternoon held at Hopewell Park in Columbia Saturday, April 17, 2010. Como, a rescue boxer, was shown by his owner Jody Stacoffe, from Elkridge.

I was not excited about the high noon sun and the busy busy background of bright white shirts and subsequent raccoon eyes. So, I decided to use some on camera flash. I zoomed my sb-800 out to 105mm, stuck with the high shutter sync and underexposed the sky. Honestly, I’m a little surprised at how cool the photos came out. But I think the lighting lends to only half of why these photos work. They’re quirky. That is, the subjects are quirky. I like these photos because they show off the subjects personalities in really interesting, imperfect ways. They’re like pop songs. …you know, catchy, memorable. well, at least I think they’re memorable.

Phoenix, five, a Jack-Russell/Chihuaua mix is a “fashionable lady,” or so says her owner Ronda Lennon.

Windsor, a rescue dog, owned by Amanda Williams, of Dorsey Hall.

Samantha McHale, 7, brings Racall, 4, a Daschund to the “Best Kisser” contest.

Deneen Craves, from Elkridge, pulls her fingers away after giving a ball to her dog Ace Windu. His name is an homage to the Star Wars character Mace Windu.

Windsor rolls for a treat.

This is during the “Best Kisser” contest. They rolled out before I could get their names.

Eight months-olds, and Lilly, left, and Caesar, right, are already flirting. Lilly is owned by Ken and Katrina Knudsen, of Kings Contrivance..Caesar is owned by Alex and Luisa Bishop, from Harpers Choice.

Barbi, an eight-month-old toy poodle, backs away from the bowl (well, really, its me) during the biscuit eating contest. Her owner Jean Jungblut holds Barbi’s leash in the background.

“Sammy thinks she’s going to win this one because they practice kissing all the time,” says seven-year-old Samantha McHale’s dad,”John McHale, of Long Reach. The crowd and loud music seemed to give Rascall, 4, a Daschund performance anxiety during the “Best Kisser” contest.

A few more from the “Best Kisser” contest.

Deneen Craves, from Elkridge, looks on while her neighbor Jalen Stewart, who she used to baby sit, coaxes Craves’ dog Ace Windu to jump.

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Dog Day Afternoon – Images by Matt Roth

A fox family member sits by the Owings Mills 7-Eleven it frequents on a regular basis

I made these images back in 2004, when I was an intern at the Patuxent Publishing Co. I was filling up my car with gas after an assignment, and I looked over and saw a fox. I looked around to see if anyone else pumping gas was phased by this. Come to find out, they’re regulars. These guys like people — well, at least they’re not too scared of us. I got really close to the one in these two images, only using a 50mm lens.

There was another one who preferred to stay in the shadows by the wooded area. The dumpster seems to be their main source of food. I wonder, if after more than five years, they’re still hanging out at the 7-Eleven in Owings Mills. Maybe I should investigate?

“This house is like Jerassic Park North,” kids Gordon Hyssong, a 65 year old self-proclaimed herpetologist who shares his Parkville home with almost 40 reptiles, a fish tank full of hissing cockroaches and an ornery parrot names Caesar.

This guy was intense! I met him back in November, 2004, while I was an intern at the Patuxent Publishing Co. Legally blind when I met him, half the stuff we talked about was how he was in this horrible health care infinity loop. Retired from a security job at Johns Hopkins Hosptital, he was living off Social Security and he needed eye surgery. How frustrating must that be? He’s has all these cool looking animals, yet can

barely see them. But, he sounded hopeful. The medical stuff looked like it was panning out. He told me he would have his surgery in the next few weeks. What a great feeling it must be to regain his eye sight so he can see all his creepy crawly friends again. I never followed up with him, though. That’s one of the spikes of this job, our encounters are so brief and almost always limited to no more than an hour. He’s one of those subjects I’d love to revisit. Here‘s the story we did for the Northeast Reporter.

“I tell people and they think I must be lying that I have all these animals in my house,” claims Gordon Hyssong, a 65 year old self proclaimed herpetologist who shares his Parkville home with almost 40 reptiles. His bedroom houses a few large spiders, one scorpion, and some boa-constrictors, one of which is a rubber boa, seen above, native to North American Pine Forests.

The 10am Update is a regular feature on my blog (I try to make it a daily thing) where I showcase some of the best work from my archives.

This is from December, 2008. Jess drew the heart, and our upstairs neighbor’s dog, Josh, was looking to make some yellow snow.

I just got my new full-frame D700 and I was making as many night photos as possible. The drawback — which doesn’t really bother me in this image — is that all my wide angle lenses were made for DX camera bodies. I shot this with a 17-55mm and that’s why there’s that huge black vignette. I could crop it out — and I played around with that idea — but it felt wrong getting that tight.

I try to bring my camera with me when I’m not shooting. You never know when quirky little things like this will present themselves.

Branches protrude form the frozen waters of Lake Kittamaqundi during the preliminary snowfall Friday, February 5, 2010.

Lake Kittylitter is what my old boss Tenney Mason would call Columbia, MD’s Lake Kittamaqundi. …because, lets be honest, it’s a tough word to pronounce. On my way home Friday, I made an quick photo essay for the Columbia Flier of the frozen man made lake (the deepest area is a little over 7 feet).

As beautiful as the snow is, it’s expensive! This season’s unusual amount of snow, including a storm that dumped 21 inches in less than 24 hours, has left the county’s snow removal budget $1.3 million in the hole…

Read the Columbia Flier article, here.

Two ducks take a stroll on the frozen water.

Duck tracks leave a trail in the freshly fallen snow-layered-ice.

Snow falls around ivy on a tree trunk, the only visibly green plant in the flora surrounding Lake Kittamaqundi.

A dusting of frost covers a fallen sweetgum tree fruit.

“Neighbor Cats” paw prints, Thursday, December 31, 2009.

As a rule I don’t like cats. …mostly because they make it hard for me to breathe.

Admittedly, I enjoy watching cats from a far. And my favorite kind of cat is ferrel. They keep the mice away. We’ve got a family of 4-6 cats living in our alley and, to be honest, I worry about them when it snows.

Right now we have two-plus feet blanketing Baltimore. They’re smart cats. I hope they find a nice place to hole up.

We have these ferrel cats that live in our alley. I’m allergic to cats, and because of that I’ve made up a rule: I don’t like them.

…but I make an exception with these guys. They keep the rats away and they don’t rub on me. What’s not to like? There’ll be more photos of these guys to come (and probably some video when I get around to it).

Saturday, April 25, 2009. Neighbor cat on the deck.

during Camp Bow Wow’s Cupids and Canines doggy adopt-a-thon Saturday, February 14, 2009.

…at the Patapsco Valley State Park Department of Natural Resources “Scales and Tales” display at the Clark’s Elioak Farm Saturday, October 10, 2009. None of the animals are named because the park rangers and naturalists want to impress that the animals are wild and tagging a name might impress the idea that these animals could be considered pets.