You may remember this face from my photo shoot last June for Tales for the Pet Lover’s Heart.  This senior basset has a happy home thanks to Basset Rescue of Puget Sound in Woodinville. What you may not have known is that this rescue is not a shelter, it’s a home, the home of Alexa and JP. A home that recently burned down.

If you have $5, $10, $100 – PLEASE consider donating it to the effort of supporting these two and their rescue dogs as they recover from this tragedy.

To read more, see photos of the destruction and DONATE – visit here: www.adoptabasset.net

I must say, these dogs were fine, fine beasts. Soft, silky fur and gorgeous, thick, dangly ears. I loved following them all over squirrel territory and duck trails watching them inhale the leaves, grass and various forest debris. The weather was overcast which I was glad for as they weaved in and out of shadows and open spaces, following their noses like a children’s cereal commercial.

After the tracking bassets, it was off to the studio for some Dog is Good, some CityDog and some various “day in the life of a pet photographer” tasks.  This time, Amy snuck in with cupcakes. Mmm, Cupcake Royale (which was perhaps not the BEST way to start what would turn out to be an EPIC day)  but devilishly delicious none the less.

After some brief studio-fun we piled back into cars to find the basset meetup at Luther Burbank park (complete with the Bassets for Obama – hilarious) and messed about in the dust bowl for a while  gawking at bassets in hats and costumes and sunglasses and the like.

After a zippy drive back to West Seattle, I acquired my much-needed Yerba fix and then it was time for interview #2, and then those final words; “That’s a Wrap! All in all it was a very fast 16 or so hours, that ultimately will be somewhere around 8-15 minutes of final product. Oh the joys of editing and the cutting room floor.

With any luck dane + dane, myself and Olivia will look halfway presentable and the “basset story” will be told to perfection through our eyes.

I wish that was the end of the story for today – but the production crew headed back to Cincinnati and I rushed home to pack for a month, steal one last dinner with my boyfriend and then haul down to Portland to the lovely Hotel Lucia for the beginning of my month-long California “dog is good, surf dog and travel book shooting” adventure.

We rolled in to the hotel at midnight, which means it’s now officially time for sleep.

Nighty night all, see you in the morrow!

Just before we started rolling, Kara took Olivia out for a stroll and Amy slipped in quietly (Yerba in hand – bless her.)  I began answering the questions – babbling on and on about my business and my dog and all other aspects of what it is to be a pet photographer (none of which do I remember but hopefully it sounded coherent.) It’s amazing how, despite having done it several times before, and having no problem doing it in theory, talking about yourself on camera while simultaneously trying to remain conversational, is very tricky. It’s very hard not to “act.”

Lucky for me, and everyone surrounding me, watching, it was over soon and we began our whirlwind of a day. Our agenda included:

Six-week old Basset puppies…

…an appearance on the Dog Talk Show with the fabulous Julie Forbes (which will air at 2pm on Wednesday August 5th – 1150am radio for all you who care to tune-in)

…a trip to the ever-enchanting Marymoor Park

…and then Basset Rescue of Puget Sound to end the day.

All of this interspersed with what felt like a million “costume changes,” constant mic removing and re-setting, and hundreds of photographs fired off.

When I finally got home I was so physically and mentally drained, that I fell backwards onto my bed, closed my eyes and didn’t move for a solid 30 minutes. I was even too tired to sleep, the whole time, I was just trying to will myself to get to the studio to upload the day’s shots and prepare for tomorrow.

All in all it was a good day, and hopefully for the crew – a very successful one.

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Click here to see some “behind the scenes” photos on the Tales for the Pet Lover’s Heart Facebook page!