There's a Camera in Your Pocket

Our local Facebook group basically covers four areas: people asking for recommendations when a simple Google search would be better; complaining about local politics, particularly the "wheel tax" and how we still have lots of potholes despite paying this tax; complaining about services at our local businesses and/or lamenting about how we need to bring businesses to town (although WHY any business would want to come to town when local residents are so antagonistic towards the already existing ones is anyone's guess); and posting about missing pets.

I mostly follow the page because of the lost pets.

But, dear readers, I want to say one thing. It is the year of Our Lord 2022 and if you don't have a well lit, in-focus photo of your pet that shows the following things, take out your phone and TAKE ONE. For heaven's sake.

1. The size of your animal. Don't show me a photo that is mostly a white room with your pet in the corner. How am I supposed to know if that dog is 15 pounds or 150?  

2. Your animal's body shape. Again, a photo of your dog laying down is not helpful to me since the chances are pretty good that if I do see them, they'll be running away. Is your pet trim? Stocky? Fuzzy? 

3. The age of your animal. The number of people who seem to think it's okay to post a picture of their pet when they were four months old (he's three now!) is insane. Your dog doesn't look like that anymore!

4. Any unusual markings. Does your missing cat have a heart-shaped patch on its back? SHOW US.  I recently saw a post with a dog laying down in the corner of a giant room and it said "has an unusual pattern of fur on its left side" with no further elaboration.  Don't even get me started on those absolutely adorable photos of your pet looking straight at the camera that makes their muzzles look ginormous, but tells you absolutely nothing about what else the dog looks like. WTF?

I know that I probably take more photos of my girls than the average person, what with having no children and nothing better to do with my days than follow them around like a puparazzo, but THERE IS A CAMERA ON YOUR PHONE. I'm not asking for professional photographs, but would it kill you to have just a few okayish photos of your pet? After one these posts with subpar photos came up recently, I joked with Dr. BB that I've taken a dozen photos in the last week of Hannah the Dog on my phone that I haven't deemed good enough, but that would serve as a missing dog photo just fine.  Argh.  

Here are a few of these mediocre photos.

1) On the dock. I don't love the lighting in this one - the shadows prevent you from seeing her colors really well. But this is serviceable - you can see how big she is, her giant ears, and that she's pretty slim.  It's not a photo I'd normally share with the world, but it would get the job done.

2) At the library. This isn't ideal because it cuts off her rear end, but you can still see her body shape here. Also, this is in front of the library and local people would be able to know how big she is because those silver sculptures are local landmarks of sorts. 

3) Hannah's got a stick. I would actually share this photo because I think it's cute when Hannah does dog-like things. She LOVES sticks, but will only play with them if you give them to her. She doesn't like to pick things off the ground, which is a perk since I'd rather she be cautious than put every piece of trash or other dog poop in her mouth, but if you hand her a stick, she gets super pumped. I think this photo is less ideal because you don't get the true scope of her ear size, but it would do in case of an emergency. (LOOK HOW CUTE SHE IS WITH A STICK IN HER MOUTH. I am ridiculous.)

I mean, let's be real. I have dozens of photos I could use - why don't people have JUST ONE?

And, speaking of photos to use, I was recently listening to a podcast in which the host sort of wondered out loud if the picture that would be used in his obituary had already been taken. Like, if he died tomorrow, it's probably out there already, but if he dies twenty years from now, will they use one that will be taken in the next twenty years or just one from his younger years? It's a morbid thought, but now I can't stop thinking about it. If it comes up in the near future, I'd like one of the following as my obituary photo.

Also, I'll be dead, so what do I care? But I like that I'm basically holding Hannah down in both of these photos. Forget my husband, LOOK HOW MUCH I LOVED MY DOG.

I don't even know what the point of this post is. Do you ever think about what photo will be used in your obituary? Does your local Facebook page include rants about taxes and include abysmal photos of lost animals?