A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of venturing out to Seabrook (my #1 favorite WA ocean-side getaway). My purpose was to #1 attend the “Doggie Days” event held there (making an appearance for both dane + dane pet photography & Dog is Good). The #2 reason for the trip was to photograph the three canine kids of my new friend Ann, the proprietor of “Salty Dog”,  the new pet boutique coming to Seabrook this summer.

The event on Saturday was a ton of fun – there was a great turn-out of fun-lovin’ Fidos, all helping to raise money for the North Beach PAWS Animal Shelter in Ocean Shores. We all thought Olivia was a contender for the “lick peanut butter off a spoon” contest – but alas she was bested by a ravenous Golden Retriever. I guess all those “dainty eater” manners don’t always come in so handy There was also BBQ and cupcakes… add in the beer + wine garden and I really don’t think you can get closer to perfection: BBQ, cupcakes, sunshine, cold beer and dogs by the ocean?  Yes please! Here’s some photos that the good folks at Seabrook posted on their blog (you can see Olivia chillin’ in the car as we set up our booth): Seabrook Doggie Days 2010

The next day we had a lazy one – made yummy breakfast, walked the beach, rode the beach cruiser bikes around town, relaxed in the hot tub.  When the tide was out and the sun was low, we met up with Ann, Max, Gus and Henry to wander down to the ocean for some fetch, frisbee and photos.

I love, LOVE shooting on the beach – what scenery eh? Makes my job soooo easy   (well aside from all the sand that gets everywhere – and I do mean EVERYWHERE. Sheesh) Regardless, I am happy to have the opportunity to return Seabrook a few weekends this summer/fall for some sessions there – I cannot wait!  In the meantime, Ann has the tough job of picking which photos should go up in her store!!  Good luck missy!

On April 16th I traveled about 90 miles to Crystal Mountain. Ladies and gentlemen – it was worth the wait.  I tell ya what, there’s no better view of Mt.Rainier than from that summit. It literally left me breathless – and speechless ( and if you know me, then you know just how rare it is for me to be sans commentary!}

More importantly, I was invited to mountain by Andrew and the Avalanche Rescue Dogs of Crystal.  Way back in November, Andrew saw me featured on the  “Tales for the Pet Lover’s Heart” TV special and he tells me he thought to himself… “Now that’s the kind of person we need up here at to photograph what our dogs do” – I couldn’t agree more!

When I arrived in the Ski Patrol room – I was greeted with half a dozen sniffers and wags… I have had so much anticipation building to meet these dogs I was just as excited as they were!

I had to quickly surmount my epic fear of heights and hop onto two consecutive chair lifts to get to the top – here’s the view from behind me… happy dogs!

***I have to admit – many of these shots didn’t turn out because I was shaking so terribly. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a lift with no board/skis, a pack full of gear and have turned around to photograph behind you (downhill) but for me it was terrifying. Luckily – I was surrounded by the mountains finest rescue crew, that made me feel a little better ***

When we got to the top the dogs went batty with glee – they loped over to the edge of the mountain – and once out of the flow of ski traffic – they chased each other, caught snow balls, tugged on their handlers and generally displayed the pure joy they felt to be in the snow, working.  Here’s portraits of each of the dogs I met that day… {and a few humans too.}

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{Cirrus + Andrew}

{ Dee + Jen }

{ Skye }

{ Ari }

{ Kala }

{Newman}

{ Sierra + Ben}

** You can see how the clouds started rolling in – look at the difference between Dee + Jen and Sierra and Ben – bye bye mountain!***

There are a ton more of these photos I want to share with you – but I absolutely cannot wait any longer to post this blog!!

P.S. I should mention that we accomplished this entire shoot without treats, toys or other methods of bribery. These dogs are conditioned to respond to praise as their reward for the work they do – a new and challenging experience for sure (for me). But all these dogs are so obedient and fantastic and their handlers were so helpful, that it truly was a pleasure to photograph them all!

Still, two weeks after photographing this little puglit, I cannot get her out of my mind. I have spent COUNTLESS hours in front of my computer selecting and deselecting photos, trying to narrow down 671 images to 50. Yeah, right. This is what I cannot stand about decidedly photogenic dogs and their equally lovely people… it’s pure agony to pick which images make the “cut”. Oh what a delightful problem to have.

I met Momo and her family on an incredibly blustery day in San Francisco (February 4th to be exact). This also happened to be the same day I arrived in SF – so I landed, jumped on the BART, found my hotel, checked in, and had just enough time to change clothes, gather my camera gear and grab an umbrella before bolting out the door. I was thankful for the town car that the Hotel recommended because although I typically walk EVERYWHERE in San Fran – this weather was pure misery.

When I arrived my destination in SoMa, I was relieved to find a gloriously chic lobby waiting for me. As I walked in I thanked my lucky stars for the large windows, high ceilings and perfectly appointed decor, because there was no way we were going to be able to shoot outdoors as we’d hoped.

Deborah met me in the lobby, a squirming Momo in her arms, wriggling against her mom to greet me. Deborah set Momo down, she bounced over to me and I got my first fill of pugalove in ages. I got pug sniffs and snarfs and kisses and wiggles (and of course hair). It was the perfect way to start our time together.

We plodded into the elevator and headed upstairs to Momo’s apartment where apparently it became immediately necessary for Momo to run crazed circles around the floor, pausing at a few of her favorite toys before racing off again, tail tucked, screaming a battle cry that I took to mean:  “oh-my-gosh-mom-there’s-someone-here-and-she-has-treats-and-toys-and-she-smells-really-awesome-and-I-think-she’s-here-for-me!” She was right.

We spent the next two hours tugging, chasing, tossing, cuddling, and of course, shooting. Momo has the BEST little personality, and she was at the perfect age where she was still too small to jump off the couch on her own, so once I plopped her up there she hung out… being devastatingly photogenic until I let her down.

She also very clearly loves her humans and some of the images we captured are PURE GOLD!  I am so excited about this shoot I was actually a few days behind getting it out because I can’t stop obsessing over it.  I think you’ll have to agree with me that this is the real San Francisco treat!

P.S. After this shoot I had a meeting to attend – I ended up at a nearby “Philz Coffee” and had an AMAZING taste experience: If you want the details read my Yelp review. Otherwise – make sure you seek out a a Philz in Nor Cal and try the “Tesora Mocha”. Yum!

]]> http://dane-dane.com/blog/mighty-momo-the-mini/feed/ 4 http://dane-dane.com/blog/back-to-the-land-of-the-living-finally/ http://dane-dane.com/blog/back-to-the-land-of-the-living-finally/#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:05:20 +0000 admin http://dane-dane.com/blog/?p=663

Well I did it again – I totally neglected my blog for nearly three WHOLE months. Wow. I always think I am prepared for the sheer volume of shutter-clicks, late nights, design deadlines, plane rides, print orders, post office runs and various social, family and business events that come with the months of November + December, but yet again I was totally bowled over by the holiday season.I needed nearly the entire month of January to recover!

But here we are, February!  I love this month… I just celebrated my birthday this week. It’s amazing how every year they seem less and less important. I was in San Francisco this time with two of my dearest friends, working the Dog is Good booth at the San Francisco Gift Show. If it weren’t for the celebratory cupcakes and super sweet gifts from my compadres (I totally scored – Nordies gift certificate, awesome photo frame and LUSH bath products *yay*) I might have forgotten it altogether.

Well, I take that back… with facebook, no one can forget it’s their birthday! Although, it is nice to see dozens of special greetings pop up all day online, some from people you haven’t even talked to in years. I should also note – Olivia and I share a birthday – pretty cool eh?  We’re both Aquarius’  – I was sad to have been out of town for her sixth birthday (yes, she’s now 42 – nearly middle-aged! )  She’s gotten a bit lazier in her years, but is still regularly mistaken for a puppy. Love ya’ girl.

Ok so on to the FUN stuff!

Since I last wrote so much has happened that I am not even going to TRY to re-cap. Lots of trips to California, lots of photography, a move, lots of design – several exciting press debuts etc. etc. I am, however, going to post a few of my most recent puppy shoots this weekend. I have another puppy shoot scheduled on Monday (t’s definitely puppy season) and let’s face it – who isn’t excited about the prospect of squishy adorable puppy faces!?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.

We also have a flurry of exciting announcements to share in the next month or so – so definitely get back in the habit of checking this blog again!

So… to quell your fears – no, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth and yes, I am still shooting like crazy.

In conclusion: photos… because every blog post should have them.  These are some fun, random cell-phone moments from the past few months – please forgive the quality, my iphone is in failing health.

{ P.S. the photo at the top represents two of my favorite things in the whole world: sushi + Olivia – I indulged in a lot of both over the holidays }

Cheers!

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This is Njala { Njala means “hunger” in Chichewa – this little guy was a gift from my dear Amy – he accompanied us to Malawai, Africa last fall }

This is SeaTac airport – feels like my second home. I often sit here and eat a bagel sandwich, sip a yerba mate latte, and make use of the free wifi!

My mac baby got sick during my busiest season ever – ahh!  Now she’s all fixed up with a new logic board, new operating system +  a CS4 upgrage – whew!

These are the  inks we were testing as we screen-checked a new Dog is Good design.  After hours of work we decided we didn’t like it + scrapped the whole project.

One of my favorite part of regular visits to LA — In N’ Out with my little Abby.  It’s actually pretty amazing how fresh their fries are… and sooooo tasty!

The view from the ferry window on my way home to Whidbey Island for Christmas – glorious isn’t it?  And this is a crappy camera phone photo. *swoon*

I am positive this is how I managed to avoid getting the great sickness of 2009  { swine flu, the plague, whatever – everyone was sick } Not me, thanks to Pho!

And finally – Palm Springs. Ahhhh. Every sunrise + sunset was more glorious than the last. Can you guess which is which?

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More soon my patient and loyal friends… xoxo

]]> http://dane-dane.com/blog/back-to-the-land-of-the-living-finally/feed/ 0 http://dane-dane.com/blog/hop-kiln-winery-gets-a-makeover/ http://dane-dane.com/blog/hop-kiln-winery-gets-a-makeover/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:38:36 +0000 admin http://dane-dane.com/blog/?p=638 I was so very excited to discover this morning that a web site I designed way back in May {and have been collaborating with the third party developer all summer/fall} is finally, FINALLY online! Yippee! This project is particularly exciting to see come to life because nearly every single photograph on the web site is one that I’ve taken. This site is the perfect example of how good design and great photography can re-define your entire brand.

Hop Kiln Winery {who you’ve definitely seen mentioned in this blog before} is one of my favorite clients – partially because they are a winery {i love wine} and partially because they are a sister property to Kenwood Inn and Spa {which has become one of my favorite places in the entire world} but mostly, because the people there are really fantastic and a joy to work with. Did I mention they make really great wine? Yeah, they do. Located in the heart of the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County – Hop Kiln produces some delicious estate Pinot Noir as well as a charming Chardonnay and several other delicious proprietary blends.

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We are about to embark on another exciting design project which is still top secret – but you can bet I will share it with you when it’s finished! In the meantime, check out their new web site, join one of their three wine clubs and generally investigate this jewel of Westside Road: Hop Kiln Winery.

Since the last time we spoke I : photographed a beautiful wedding on Orcas island, went to Africa (and shot a beautiful wedding there), had mini-stops in Amsterdam, Nairobi and Lusaka, got home and slept for a day or two, flew to LA, had an epic planning and design session for Dog is Good, attended the “Surf City, Surf Dog” event at Huntington Beach, had my favorite sandwich in the world at Crema cafe, took three 12 year olds to Disney, flew from LA to San Francisco, drove to Sonoma, stayed at Kenwood, had meeting at my favorite winery “Hop Kiln,” less than 24 hours later drove back to San Francisco, flew home, had TWO Fall portrait events at Lucky Dog Outfitters, shot a “deluxe digs” piece for CityDog and then spent pretty much all other waking hours catching up!

Due to the distribution of photos on various travel hard drives (and my NEW and GORGEOUS iMac in the office) I don’t have much to show you yet… but this is my “I am still alive post” with promise of LOTS of lovely images, interesting stories to come! *whew*

I suppose the fact that I actually enjoy it makes it feel like an indulgence, which then makes me push it to the bottom of the daily “to-do list” in my journal (along with pedicures, long walks around the lake, and happy hour with my buds.) *sigh*

So here you have it – a confession of neglect and with it a promise to be better!  To give you an idea of what I’ve been up to I will give you a list – partially to remind myself what the heck I’ve been so busy doing, and partly to give you an idea of the awesome back-blogs that are to come, and maybe point out a few awesome ones you might have missed

The madness started mid-June…

June 13: Day 1  filming + shooting (10hrs)  for “Tales for the Pet Lover’s Heart”

June 14: Day 2 filming + shooting (8hrs) for “Tales for the Pet Lover’s Heart” + drive to Portland (3hrs), stay at Hotel Lucia

June 15: Shoot at Hotel Lucia, drive from Portland to Calistoga, CA (11 hrs): Stay at Calistoga Ranch

June 16: Shoot at Calistoga Ranch, drive from Calistoga, CA to Hop Kiln Winery in Healdsburg, CA – meet pet-sitter to drop Olivia, shoot at Hop Kiln, drive to Santa Rosa, CA to pick-up Olivia, drive to stay at the Meritage in Napa, CA

June 17: Shoot at Meritage, drive to Kenwood Inn + Spa, meet BEST santa rosa, CA pet-sitter EVER to drop Olivia, shoot at Kenwood, meet consulting client who just happens to be live in Napa, drink wine + relax at Kenwood.

June 18: Meet pet-sitter to pick-up Olivia, drive to Hollywood, CA (7hrs) to meet Jamie – drive to Seal Beach, CA

June 19: Jamie and I work all day to the melody of leaf blowers and lawn mowers before finally indulging in a dinner of In-and-Out at 10pm and deciding to wait until the next day to head to San Diego

June 20: Jamie and I pack up and head to San Diego to check out the Coronado Bay Surf Dog competition, stay at the Sofia Hotel and meet up with fellow pet photog friends for yummy mexican dinner

June 21: Wake, eat, drop Jamie off at the San Diego airport and head to the Westin Gaslamp to meet up with buddy Janine + Beau of Luxurypaw.com – explore the Gaslamp district, listen in on  a Padres game, dine, shop, pass out. (Happy Father’s Day!)

June 22: Check out of the Westin, drop Janine off at Rancho Valencia and head back to Seal Beach to get down to business!

June 23: Dog walk on the beach with the pups + photo shoot with Roxie Heart in LA

June 24: Screen check in Long Beach, CA for our new Dog is Good tee (6 hrs) Very excited about this one!!

June 25: Hop a plane back to Seattle for the weekend to work – stop in at Urban Beast for their Yappy Hour

June 26: Treck down to Tacoma (braving rush-hour traffic) with Amy to the Hotel Murano – eat at “bite” – fall in love with Fried Green Tomatoes and Fries + Gravy

June 27: Shoot the Hotel Murano, spend FOREVER trying to find an open Tully’s (seriously testing our sanity) – score our Yerbas and some snacks  + water to sustain us for the day – head to find our bride at her hotel and then off to the Tacoma Museum of Glass for a gorgeous wedding (Congrats Crystal + James.) Dinner with the boyfriend at Benihana and then collapse.

June 28: Venture to Lake Union to meet up with bride + groom at the Skansonia Ferry. All day wedding (with Opus, the most AWESOME ring-bearer EVER) and then home again to upload and collapse.

June 29: Meeting with potential commercial client, errands then product shoot + pizza at the studio with two Great Danes and a black lab mix. Weeeee

June 30: Fly back to Seal Beach, CA

July 1-9: Work like mad on Dog is Good: Greeting Card designs, new hat designs, tee screen-check, booth configuration, choosing a commercial space etc. etc. + LOTS of beach walks with dogs

July 10: Pick boyfriend up at Long Beach airport, shop for road trip snacks,  test out local sushi joint

July 11: Wake early, one last beach walk with pooches, pack, shower hit the road- drive to Carmel, CA (9 hrs) – check in at the Cypress Inn and hit the beach for sunset.

July 12: Breakfast at Cypress, hit the highway, following the coast up to San Francisco (2 hrs)- Lunch at awesome an Burmese restaurant in the city, kite flying in the Presidio, photo shoot with the lovely Pam Biasotti + Karma at Baker Beach then off to Santa Rosa, CA to drop off Olivia with Mandy (super awesome-amazing pet-sitter) and on to Kenwood Inn + Spa again.

July 13: Amazing breakfast at Kenwood, pack + acquire the the pup and head up to the coast, through the Redwood National Forest, stopping at beaches here and there– all the way to Portland (12 hrs) to the Hotel deLuxe.

July 14: Shoot at the Hotel deLuxe, breakfast and back on the road to Seattle. Unpack, laundry, collapse.

July 15: Breakfast at Luna with the roomies + catch flight to Tucson, AZ for Family Reunion

July 16: Drive to family cabin near Sho Low, AZ  (6 hrs)  lose, cell reception + internet

July 17-19: Family reunion goodness – visiting and exploring and getting dirty in the sand car

July 20: Drive back from family cabin to home in Tucson, AZ (6 hrs) see the new Ice Age + eat pie with the fam

July 21: Fly back to Seattle

July 22-31: Catch up on many, many, many projects… (including this blog!) *whew*

One of my favorite places in on or around San Francisco is Baker Beach. Combine the Grecian romance of the turquoise waves and stucco-spotted bluff, with the overwhelming beauty of the nearby Presidio and the iconic glory of the Golden Gate bridge and you’ve got one perfect locale.

Did I mention it’s off leash?  Yeah, it is.

Did I mention there’s an old bunker with lots of steel and rust and old concrete with grafiti? Yeah there is. It’s so incredible.

Even better, on this today I got to trade photo-skillz  with my friend, client and colleague Pam Biasotti of You Had me at Woof Photography (and her Golden pup Karma) What a treat!  We wandered in and out of shade and sunlight, bunkers and beach snapping and posing. It’s such a delight to shoot with another pet photographer, and it’s even more fun to watch someone else photograph your own dog (and/or you and your dog, as the case may be.)  Pam is incredibly talented and it was a blast to “trade dogs” and see what we could see around the way.

Karma is such a dear, sweet little girl, I can’t wait to visit in a year or so and see what a lovely lady she’s become… Look at those paws and ears and eyes oooh and that nose… and that tongue!  I could photograph her all day and all night….

Although I do love this set of her and her mama:

It was truly a wonderful afternoon and I am so glad we took the time to stop and enjoy this San Francisco treat.

Thanks to Pam and Karma: Be sure to check out Pam’s blog, complete with photos of Olivia and I

Well this Roxie may not have Renee Zellweger’s long, long legs and she may not have ever been to Chicago [ the town OR the musical]  but she’s sure got spunk with a capitol FRENCHIE!

By now, most of you know what a Frenchie fanatic I am – but there really is nothing better than having an on-location shoot in sunny Los Angeles with a beautiful family and their BEAUTIFUL baby [ dog baby that is, the human baby won't be born until September. Move over Roxie you've got competition coming!]

From the moment I laid eyes on this spotted bundle of Frenchie-love I could barely keep my hands off her long enough to photograph her!  She was all kisses and tugs and grumbles and barks. She showed how good she is at “bang, bang dead dog” and how well she can drink out of my water glass *note to self I should probably hydrate, I gave all my agua to the perro*

Roxie lives in a beautiful spot in LA with her mom and dad – but soon she will be a Lone Star pup – they are off to Houston, Texas in just a matter of weeks. I, of course, am very sad about this turn of events – I have only just met Roxie and I will be losing her just as quickly.  I mean, I can barely imagine anything more photogenic than this family of three -  but a baby makes four and what’s more awwwww-worthy than babies and puppies?  Seriously.

So, for now, we will just have to swoon over these shots of our LA Roxie girl. Ooh la la she’s got star power!

P.S. Roxie’s parents informed me of the most AWESOME pet boutique in Beverly Hills: Doggie Styles. They have a Frenchie Soiree on Bastille day – how cool is that?? We give them two Dane paws up!

After crazy a week of travel and chaos for both Jamie and I, we found ourselves far too tired to drive to San Diego last night, so we planned for departure in the reasonably early morning.

Somewhat predictably, “reasonably early” transitioned into “almost on time,” which quickly became “pretty darn late.” We had a relaxing morning of fetch with the dogs, last minute photo-assignment tweeking and billions of emails between the two of us. But, after a requisite stop at Starbucks, we were on our way to San Diego.

Along the way there was some cursing of gridlock, some twittering from the road, and one stop for gas, but we arrived at the Coronado Surf Dog Competition with just enough time to score rock star parking and see the “tandem” events (which in all honesty, was what I was most excited about anyhow.) As predicted, for yet another consecutive year, Scott Chandler and his dog Zoey (and his daughter Tyler) were #1 in tandem surfing. An interesting twist of fate, is that Scott and his dog-paddling brood were also just recently filmed for “Tales for the Pet Lover’s Heart” – in fact, the camera crew was fresh from bobbing in the Pacific Ocean, trying to keep up with Scott when they arrived in Seattle to film Olivia and I.  Knowing this little tidbit, I was sure to introduce myself and snap lots of shots of these fellow TFTPLH’ers.

Also at this event, Jamie and I were lucky enough to meet up with fellow pet photographer Tamandra + her handsome companion Borias (Heart Dog Studios) we all got snap-happy together for the last 40 minutes or so of the competition.

After the event we trekked back through the Gaslamp District to our beloved “Hotel Sofia,” which I reviewed here on Yelp if you’re interested in knowing more… we scoped this place out online the night before and upon check-in, we were MORE than pleased with ourselves for sleuthing-well-done.

The rest of our evening included snacks and beers at the hotel’s restaurant “Currant,” uploading and ooohing and ahhhing at photos from the Surf Dog event, dinner at “La Fiesta” with some fellow pet photography cohorts ( Thousand Hounds Photography + Heart Dog Studios) and the lovely and incredibly ambitious Bernie Berlin, proprietor of “A Place to Bark” – a shelter in Tennessee that you NEED to know about. In fact, you may know about it sooner than you think, Bernie was in town working on final negotiations for her reality TV show series about A Place to Bark and the amazing work she does for the dogs of TN.

If you’d like to see more exclusive photos from the Coronado Bay Surf Dog event vist dane + dane pet photography on Facebook. Also, check out the bit from the Today Show (the camera guy for the Today Show kept stepping in front of me while I was shooting – at the time I was annoyed but I suppose he gets seniority, eh?)