So, upon waltzing into my living room to see that not only had Charleston somehow managed to get himself up onto Olivia’s couch (this is the sacred Great Dane drooling and napping spot) but she let him stay there – I had to act.

My camera was conveniently resting on the counter (right where I left it after my shoot on Monday) so, armed with my trusty 50 mm 1.4 lens, I rolled around on my embarrassingly messy carpet (think new puppy + shedding great dane…. Yeah) to capture some shots of my two unlikely compadres.

Don’t you just want to eat them up??

What this Redmond home did not have when I arrived last Friday afternoon, was much furniture. But what it did have, was a whole living room of love!

Sounds cheesy I know – but it’s difficult to express how nearly tangible the relationship was between Lefty, Patton and their human, Drew. This man loves, LOVES his dogs. And not in an over-the-top, pampered with bows and strollers kind of way – but in an authentic Dogvergnügen kind of way.

These dogs are over the moon for Drew – and it’s pretty clear the feeling is reciprocated.

During my time with them they tugged and romped and tagged and cuddled and high-fived and smiled. There was a lot of smiling. The sun was shining so we took the show outside and the wag-fest continued as the three played tag and these happy pups rolled around in their new, grassy backyard.

P/S did I mention Lefty is part Dingo!?  Cool eh?  Hence the deliciously ginormous ears…

Drew and his crew just moved here from Arizona and so although his house will still a bit empty of “stuff” it was full of goodness. What a great way to spend a sunny Friday afternoon!

There was one thing on my mind last Monday as I tried to work, while staring out my office window at the ominous gray-black sky… Please, please don’t rain.  Having already had to reschedule my shoot with Abby the Malamute mix once due to weather,  I was very anxious as I watched the gray clouds turn to a squall of wind and pelting rain. So, I called Abby’s mom “Beth, where are you – what’s the weather like”… Turns out, near our destination it wasn’t raining. Yes!

So, as planned I pushed on my rain boots – layered in the ceremonious hoodie/windbreaker combo and headed down to Magnusun park. As I pulled away from Kirkland, around the top of the lake, I noticed the sky clearing and getting bluer and as I approached Sand Point -  I could see big puffy white clouds and dry ground. WHAT LUCK!

My dynamic client duo arrived as welcome as the sunshine – smiling and raring to go.

I knew we would face challenges while attempting to create fine art moments at an off-leash park, but I was so happy about the lack of rain, that I didn’t care if Abby just ignored me for an hour (luckily, she didn’t) but the first 15-20 minutes were pretty much filled with this lovely salt n’ pepper lady gleefully sniffing and romping with no mind to me, the camera or her mom. Because of course, that is what off-leash parks are for.

As we made it down to the lake – the wind and rain returned. But, I was prepared for this inevitability – and up went the hood, and out came my chamois towel to cover my camera. We laughed as Abby fixated on a golden retriever buddy and they chased around the beach, under the table, over the rocks and into the water. Abby had a big malamute smile the entire time.

After a reasonable amount of play, Beth, Abby and I snuck out a side-gate and wandered into my favorite part of Magnusun, my magical little corner and on this particular day – it was all but abandoned due to the weather. Perfect.

We let Abby plod into the lake again, this time in her own private little world – the sky hung dark and dramatic above her and she just smiled more. What a girl.

The rain returned a time or two before we were through but regardless of weather or water – this was one shoot that made me smile the whole way. Abby is a go-lucky lady with tons of personality and a gigantic grin. Her mom found her a year ago at NOAH (wonderful place, NOAH) and they’ve been inseparable ever since and the neat thing about Abby’s mom – is that she’s a police officer… how cool is that? Although I have to admit – nothing about the way she loves this dog has “officer of the law” about it. Just all rubs, kisses and really happy faces.

Thanks Beth for introducing me to your Abby – Thank you Abby for warming up to me and my big black camera – Thank you weather for allowing us some rain-free moments to capture it 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/rachel-the-radiant/ http://dane-dane.com/blog/rachel-the-radiant/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:30:13 +0000 admin http://dane-dane.com/blog/?p=722

For days I hoped and waited and hoped for the weather forecast to say “sunny” for February 15th. Please, please, please, let it be sunny on this one day.

As luck would have it – it was gloriously foggy in the morning and sunny all day on President’s Day 2010. I guess I wasn’t the only one wishin’

I started my voyage down to Black Diamond to meet little Rachel and her mom WAY too early in the morning in order to capture the best light and boy am I glad I did! 405 South was so fogged-up I could not see the metropolis around me – only feet off the edge of the highway, and barely the cars in front of me. It was glorious (although I happen to be a serious fan of fog.)

Once I arrived I was greeted by a VERY polite Rachel and her smiling mom. We spent time in the living room and the back yard – trying hard to capture the early morning sunlight through the tall trees surrounding their property. It’s not too often that I am presented with a backyard this stunning: a stone waterfall surrounded by ferns and shrubs – all dripping with morning dew were only bested by sweet little Rachel bouncing, sniffing and nibbling her way around it all.

After our outside paces, Rachel was keen to come back inside and curl up with her mum – which she did, in true Golden fashion, with a statuesque beauty.  This shoot just reinforces for me what I already know (and tell people often) Golden Retrievers may just be my #1 favorite dogs to photograph – sweet, gentle, gorgeous and happy.

Well now that Halloween has come and gone (even just barely) and it’s OFFICIALLY November – it’s time to start getting busy with holiday madness (yes, already!)

I just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know about some exciting events we have coming up, during which you can join us for some fine portraits at fun events! As always our photo packages start at only $25 for these “mini-sittings” – this year we’ve added some Holiday Card options as well as the ability to purchase High-Res images to make unlimited prints and cards.

You will find us + these great and timely deals at:

Barkz in Kirkland, WA — November 8th, 11-4 { visit the Barkz website for pricing and full details}

Starbucks in Seattle, WA — November 21st, 10-2 { this is only available to Starbucks partners }

Barkz in Kirkland, WA — December 6th, 11-4 { visit the Barkz website for pricing and full details}

CityDog Yappy Howlidays Pawty in Seattle, WA — December 9th, 6-8pm { @ the W Hotel in Seattle}

* * *

We hope to see you and your fabulous canines at one or ALL of these upcoming events – keep in mind, all photos will be back in time for holiday gift-giving! What is a better present than fine-art pet portraits?  Want to give the experience as a gift? Consider a dane + dane gift certificate.

We would also like to remind you that all of the dogs we photograph go into our “Doggy Database” – and we have some exciting commercial projects on the horizon in 2010 so make sure we’ve met your pup – he could be the next dane + dane super model

Thursday afternoon I met up with Chelsea, Carrie, Courtney and Candace (C is for Cool) at Magunsun for some last-minute family portraits. Courtney lives in California (more C’s…) and will be headed home on Monday so we wanted to get some snaps before her departure.

I arrived at the park a bit early to scout some locations for us – the sun was changing rapidly from directly-sunny to overcast, so I wanted to be sure we had plenty of shade.

I should mention that I was lucky enough to photograph Chelsea (the dog) and her family last year (see the blog here) – We decided to return to Magnusun again this year because it’s one of Chelsea’s FAVORITE places – she’s been coming here since she was a wee pup.

Once we met up – we got right to work. Courtney is a singer and last we year we shot some head shots for her, in addition to family portraits, this year we started with the same goals. I was LOVING this bunker door which happened to be in the shade (with only about 2′ of shade to spare on either side – whew!) It worked perfectly with Courtney’s skin-tone, curls and turquoise tank.

We wandered a bit – in and out of shade, of course ending with Chelsea’s favorite activity: SWIMMING!! She was a very patient girl as we forced her to sit and smile over and over just feet from the water’s edge. But… it all paid off and this happy hound got her share of splashing, fetching and paddling.

The weather by this time had turned just a bit breezy with some cloud cover – it was the perfect temperature – really quite delightful. It was so pleasant I had half a mind to go grab Olivia after our shoot and whisk her back there! (of course when I got home, plans changed and we settled for a neighborhood walk instead) but man – what a gorgeous day!

*** Don’t forget to mark your calendar: PAWSwalk will be at Magnusun Park on Sept. 12, 2009 (8-1) – sign up to walk for PAWS or just stop by to visit the awesome vendors or participate in the CityDog Cover Dog Model Search. Sadly, we won’t be there, we’ll be shooting a wedding on Orcas Island – oooh! ***

As I parked and walked across the grassy space ahead of me, I realized that “Memorial Park” (where I was supposed to meet my clients) is the same piece of grass to the right of the Library where I used to romp as a tike – only the Library is now a “Senior Center” and the park is much fancier than it used to be. I didn’t even realize where I was until I was passing the old-familiar brick walls.

Even better, when I met up with Jason and Julia I found out that we all went to the same middle school, and Julia and I went to the same Elementary school (go Clark Sharks!)- and we’re all just a year apart – bizarre!

* * *

Ok, enough reminiscing and onto Bella!  Bella was very excited to watch me approach. Not sure if I smell of liver treats permanently these days, or if she is just that excited to meet every new stranger, but it was great to see her big, smiling maw straining towards me.  She was mid-hydration (we scored another 90-something degree day – whew!) and so of course her drippy cheeks and mouth parts dragged lines of wet drool all over my legs and hands as I greeted her. Now, this is where a non-pet photographer might get squeamish, but I was actually glad of the cooling effects her slobbery painting had – in all reality, it very refreshing!

Bella is alllll smiles. So much so, that during the whole 2.5 hour shoot, I got nearly the exact same expression: wide-mouth, panting glee.  That’s ok with me, it’s a good look for you Bella.

Bella’s mom and dad are engaged to be married and it was fun to get a few mushy-lovey-dovey shots for them… Bella seemed oblivious of our conversation and photographs that did not include her, she just stood wagging and panting pretty much the whole time.

I first met Bella and her family at the Yappy Howlidays party last December at the W Hotel. I took a portrait of the three of them and apparently it was well loved, because Julia booked her session this summer with a bit of urgency: Turns out Bella’s health is failing… she’s a bit limpy and will soon need surgery on one of her knees to save the other. Julia wanted to spend a day with Bella, photographing her in the sun, her favorite place to be.

We lucked out – we had sun a’plenty – we had to take a few “cool down” breaks in the shade (which may have also included some hot, melty cheese and chuck-it teases)

Ultimately, we headed over to the Pickering barn for a few last shots among the flora – nothin’ better than a big red barn for a summer portrait sitting! Oh, and did I mention the willow tree?  Yeah, there’s a willow *dreamy*

A big woof to J + J for letting me spend a couple hours enjoying Bella – she’s a fine, fine dog with a big ol’ head and a big ol’ heart.

Yesterday I was able to explore a bit around my new Eastside neighborhood.

At 5:30 (which at this particular point in the season is the PERFECT time for pet photography I’ve decided) I meandered into Medina to meet Linda, Ralph and little Miko. We scored a gorgeous sunny afternoon and spent the evening rolling around in the grass, chatting on the deck, relaxing in the family room and generally ooohing and ahhing over Miko, who slowly but surely got VERY comfortable with being photographed.

I particularly like the shots of the family… Linda and Ralph just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary (no small feat) and these photos were a gift to commemorate this time in their life. I was lucky enough to share a sunny afternoon, chasing mighty little Miko around with a camera and basking in this little Lhasa’s majesty.

Aside from forgetting I am allergic to grass and rolling around in it (while wearing a tank top to boot – nice one Nichole) the shoot went flawlessly! Congrats L + R – you’re an inspiration!

I love this time of year. I love being surprised again and again how late the sun stays up and how abruptly the weather turns so lovely and how we all tend to smile just a little bit more when the rain and gloom have vanished. I love noticing lilacs and tulips blooming, cherry tree petals sweeping up the street and trees that were dark skeletons, filling with supple bunches of leaves. Ahh Spring in the Northwest!

What I especially love about this season is the outdoor, on-location photo shoots I get to indulge in: boats, beaches and backyards, parks and porches – a million perfect spots with a million juxtapositions of inspiring backdrops and “props.”

Saturday I had the opportunity to photograph the lovely Jamie, her husband and their furry family members: Star and Kitty Mo. Jamie warned me that that feline might be a little aloof (as felines often are) and it would be great if we could somehow get her in a few shots, but that the chances were slim. I had to laugh when I arrived because when I stepped into their oasis of a backyard, Kitty was lounging lazily on a vivid mosaic table, sunning his underbelly and pawing at the air. I giggled out loud as I noticed Star carrying around her gigantic new “baby”, over-sized fuzzy bunny that dragged on the ground as she pranced around with it in her soft retriever mouth. “Oh yeah” I said sarcastically – “these guys are going to be realllly hard to photograph.” ☺

The whole shoot was charmed. The sun sat low in the sky, Star pranced and posed with her baby, occasionally stopping to share some licks with her humans or to give me a beaming golden smile and Kitty Mo was a downright camera hog – walking between my lens and whoever was in front of it just about any chance he got.

There were hug piles in hammocks, “keep away” in the grass, rests on the deck and lots and lots of kisses. All in all, a perfect day, a perfect little family, and a downright perfect shoot. *Swoon*

Thanks to Jamie and her crew for providing such a magical place for photography and thanks to the almighty weather gods for blessing us with the perfect lazy May afternoon.

* * *

Did I mention that Jamie is a wonderful, amazing, talented and delightful artist?  No?  Well now I have!  You MUST check out her gorgeous jewelry designs at: Laughing Raven Design or on Etsy. Be sure to check out her robot, dog and wonder woman themes. SO awesome!!

You can also find her at the Best of the Northwest, the Seattle Kennel Club Show and a variety of other local art events. To find out where you can find her creations check out her “news + events” page.