Category Archives: dane + dane travel

Seabrook Doggie Days

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!

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Posted in Golden Retrievers, Uncategorized, dane + dane travel Tags: ,

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Destination: Crystal Mountain

One of the most spectacular sights Washington has to offer is the view of our majestic Mt. Rainier – but can you believe I have lived here all my life and never been anywhere near this Northwest icon? Shame on me, I know.

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!

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Posted in Chocolate Lab, Uncategorized, dane + dane travel, yellow lab Tags: ,

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Mighty Momo the Mini

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!

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Posted in Pug, Uncategorized, dane + dane travel, family photography, san francisco Tags: ,

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Back to the land of the living. Finally.

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!

*  *  *

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?

* * *

More soon my patient and loyal friends… xoxo

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Posted in Dog is Good, Pet Photography, Uncategorized, dane + dane travel

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Hop Kiln Winery {gets a makeover}

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.

* * *

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.

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Posted in dane + dane travel, design, graphic design Tags: , , ,

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