I recently had the good fortune of spending four days in the Smoky Mountains. It was a wonderful retreat from work and obligations. There's something special about the color and light in the Smokies that I find irresistable.

While in the Smokies, I spent a great deal of time hiking along the abundant streams and rivers. The leaves, just unfurling from their spring buds reflected their lime green hue on the river.

The green, mixed with the reflected sky was the perfect combination for shooting some abstracts that for me, offers a greater sense of the place than a traditional scenic photo.

We spent most of our time in the Cades Cove area of Smoky Mountain National Park. We knew seeing a black bear was a possibility. To our delight, we saw 21 Black Bears during our short visit. The mothers with their cubs were a special treat.

LMEimages made the cover of the latest Popular Dogs issue devoted to Pugs. In addition to the cover, there are about twenty LMEimages througout the body of the issue. Many thanks to the staff at Seminole Blvd Animal Hospital and Dr. Dawn Daniels for helping with the dogs from Pug Rescue. Thanks also go to Jina and Robbie for bringing in their four lovable dogs. Once again, my husband, Dr. David Elmer was included in the issue as he performs an exam on a wonderfully cooperative dog. This was a fun issue to shoot!

I recently had the pleasure of shooting China, a Chinese Crested for an upcoming Popular Dogs magazine issue on Toy Breeds. China started off very shy but by the time she donned her Paris Hilton sunglasses, she was relaxed and ready to have some fun!

After finishing the shoot with China, my wonderful assistant Amber brought out a fledgling Starling she's been rehabbing. Of course, I needed to shoot a few photos before we packed up all the lights.