The Dog Photographer

Anyway, Turner had a ball in the studio, once he figured out that my Golden statue was indeed not a dog, but something that looked very similar. He took a liking to one of my toys that I had gotten for free at some event that I was taking photos at. He threw it at me a few times and of course ran off it with several times while we were trying to capture his cute puppy expression that his Mom wanted on film. These are the photos I wanted to share with you today  -

Yesterday was spent over at BBB drinking foo foo coffee drinks and eating chocolate & vanilla sheet cake while I took pictures of the fun for them. Several of my coffee drinking friends have mentioned that BBB coffee is better than Starbucks, but I wouldn't know, as I'm not a coffee girl. A rare find, I know. G and I are a pair, as he's not a coffee drinking guy either. However, for us, their tea is just fine and I enjoy the black and white they make for me, sans any coffee product. One of the neatest things about BBB besides that they are good dog people with a good product, is that they support alot of non profit dog organizations through their tip jar. I know what you are thinking, tip jar, please, that can't be alot. Well, let me tell you since they opened in September of last year, they've given over $3000 to area dog charities. That is just simply amazing! Usually they do a charity per quarter, but because of Duncan and Holly (another dog they know w/Cancer), they did a one month collection of their tip jar for the National Canine Cancer Foundation and raised $689.00!!!! It was just awesome to receive that.

OK, on to yesterday's opening...

There were a ton of dogs there to celebrate the opening and several vendors and rescues came and set up booths as well. They had some fun dogs game, pinata luring, bobbing for hot dogs, pop corn catching and a costume contest. They also had a cool demo by PHADD - that's Phoenix Area Disc Dogs - It's not a PHADD, it's a Lifestyle. I just love their catch phrase! On with the pictures, or as Jack would say "Sweet, Cake!" (stargate reference for you non sg blog readers)

He was far too young, my Duncan dog, our Duncan Punk.  Hemangiosarcoma finally overcame him on Saturday.  He was such a trooper, he even took cookies from Dr. H and Joanne when they took blood for the two Hemangiosarcoma studies that he is now entered into.

Duncan was my walking buddy, my agility dog and most of all, my heart dog.  I miss him with all of my heart.  Born 4th of all the Nice Goldens, the first son of Bailey and we were so proud.  He took on the characteristics of Bailey’s wonderful personality and combined them with the silliness that was Sage and truly became Mr. Nice Guy.

  I know that he’s met back up with Ashby and Bailey, started running through tunnels with Julia’s Holly.  And I know he’s talking up a storm with Dutch and Amber, Dickens, his Mom Sage, Chuckie and Kimby, Dillon and Bunny, Rocket, Sophie, Echo, Kinder, Gilbert, Shaq and Scotty, Kia and has sought out EC’s Suni.

Duncan was best known for his love of food and his talent for diving off the diving board. 

He also was very good at cuddling.  He would butt his way up on the couch and curl into a little ball .


 A pioneer of the watch out the window for kitties technique, he was sorely missed last night as Casey jumped up and alerted to everyone there was something going on.  The words cookie and walk were the words that perked his ears the most.  On our walks he just ambled along enjoying the view and never pulling.  He bounced around off lead too but never to far from Mom.  

He always hated the car but enjoyed the destination.  When we went for agility he loved to lay down on the field on his back, tummy up while I loved on him.  Then when it was our turn, off we went.  He also loved to visit with everyone there.  

When we locked ourselves out of the house you could always count on Duncan to let us in the sliding glass door.  He was so excited to see we were there he would jump up and unlatch the lock.  And he loved it when people came to visit, of course he thought they were always there to visit him.

Duncan was an organizational dog.  He kept us running on time, you see he can tell when it’s 8am and 5pm because that’s when dinner is and he never missed dinner!  He also knew who the feeder was.   I do mornings and G does evenings.  So, if G was working too much on his computer and lost track of time, Dunc would come in and nudge him until he got up and fed him.  On the off chance that G didn’t get up and feed Dunc, he immediately came over to me and started to tell me it was 5pm.


Dunc also liked to sunbath in 100 degree weather:


He also took over photo duties when Ashby went to the bridge.  Sometimes he was all to happy to do it, when Mom was doling out enough cookies, but he would also get very bored of me too.  Hummm, models.

So, I will leave you with one of my favorite pictures from Easter last year, as I could go on and on about my boy:

Duncan Dog, I Love You and I have to ask,
"How do you expect me to breathe with no air?"
Dunc's song:  No Air, Jordin Sparks/Chris Brown

If Canine Cancer has rocked your world as much as mine and you would like to do something about it, please visit www.wearethecure.org and make a donation or sign up to volunteer.  Being a part of the Foundation helps me each time this happens as I know I'm doing something to help end this disease.

Yes, it’s that time again. Time to find the perfect portrait of the family to send out to all those people on your holiday list. It’s ruff - you have to decided when to do it, what you are going to wear and IF the kids (furry or otherwise) will cooperate during the pictures.

Well, I did the first round of holiday pictures and I have to say that everyone did pretty good! We had our moments, but everyone got a good picture in the end.

Here are the out takes of our first holiday portrait party:





From Top to bottom, left to right:
This is Maggie Rose and her Santa outfit. Then Tessie lets us know what she thinks of posing for Christmas pictures! Woody, Zanni and Maggie Rose are all waiting for the photographer to get in gear. Finally, it's Miss Tessie and Mr. Duncan doing their brother and sister pictures, Duncan is obviously bored, not enough cookies.

Tis the Season
It’s Holiday season now and we are all starting to get very busy. Don’t forget to take time to embarrass your kids with portraits like this of London. He normally takes very handsome pictures but today, it just seemed like something was bothering him. He didn’t want to have much to do with the whole portrait scene. Of course, the antlers didn’t help I’m sure! ;)




Let's not forget our little elf, Noble, who fell asleep while we dressed him up!
S

And then she went on to show this weekend and get a Reserve Winner's Bitch ribbon on Saturday. The judge pronounced her a very typie bitch with good attitude and a fine head!

It's almost finished! The calendar that I've spent my summer shooting for our local Border Collie Rescue group is in the approval stage and will be sent to the printer next week! I'm so very excited to get my hands on calendar, it was so fun to shoot and a learned a ton about these awesome dogs!

The cover of the calendar is what you see above. Most of the pictures that were used in the calendar are great action shots and really capture the breed and their personality.

Here's one of my favorite series of shots. This set of shots was used in the calendar, but not as a main month picture. Max is the one reaching for this soccer ball and Max has had a double hip replacement!!! I could hardly believe it when I read his write up for the calendar.



I know I've got alot agility clients and friends out there that have a border collie - I think you all need a copy of this calendar for the great pictures, but more importantly - to support Arizona Border Collie Rescue. All the profits go directly to the organization. I donated all my time and pictures to the calendar. And I couldn't have done it without my best friend and graphic designer, Carie, who also donated her time to the project!

I had a great time putting this calendar together, I enjoyed working with Cathy - she's a hoot and a hard worker. So, I have to say thank you Cathy for asking me and Kelly and Gail and the rest of ABRC too!

ORDER INFO: If you would like to order one - you can send a check made out to ABCR for $13.00 to my address of 5437 E. Sweetwater Ave, Scottsdale, 85254. The calendar is $10.00 and there is a $3.00 shipping charge. Remember all your BC friends for Christmas presents too! As soon as ABCR has a website link up for Paypal payment, I'll post that here too.

Hello All,

It's been a long time since I've updated! Everyone is off for the summer, either staying indoors where the dogs are cool or going off to better climates to play or learn.

Our dogs have been swimming mostly, but I thought I would share one thing we did over our summer break thus far. Hubs is a writer/director and actor in his spare time. So, we entered the 48 Hour Film Project and did a film. When you do these challenges you draw a genre and then you are given a line, prop and character you have to build into your script. Then you have 48 hours to write a script, act it out and edit it all together. The deadline was 7:30pm on Sunday and we turned ours in at 7:20pm! The prop was a bandage, the line was "That's Not What I Said." and the character was Charles or Charlene Brennan, Dog Walker.

Our genre we drew was Super Hero, which I thought was going to be a disaster, but by the time we got back to the studio Hubs and the team had a working idea and we went to it. Our dog, Casey was cast as Mighty Dog, who is a retired Super Hero. The visual effects people made her talk! So, I thought I would add that clip here: (You'll have to push play to see it)



As soon as I check the rules I'll amend this page to have the link to the entire film. Please let us know what you think!

S

Each morning I pull myself out of bed, relax on the back porch and wake up while the dogs do their thing. Then I proceed to take everyone on their morning rides, walks, training adventures and what not. However, not this morning. You see, I woke up one sore little photographer because I have now added in weight training. So, as I was out on the porch, lounging in my chair, it felt way too comfortable and so the decision was made as one of the dogs threw their own ball in the water and waded in after it, so as not to disturb Mom in the chair. (how's that for a nice run on sentence?) I would make some tea for me, find some balls and everyone would go swimming this morning for their morning exercise and I could relax.

Here are a couple of pics from this a.m.

Emma

Casey

Duncan

Now, how is it that dogs know that you need to do more lunges the following day in order to work out the soreness the previous day's lunges put in your legs?

Here's the most interesting picture of the morning. I just snapped this one of Emma, but as I was looking at it, I realized I had the same picture of her Mom, so, here's the picture: Like Mother, Like Daughter -


Emma is on the left, her Mom, Tessie on the right.

Off I hobble to work on some photos -
Enjoy your workouts!
S

Wow, It's been 6 weeks since I updated...guess I was busy! Well, I was! I've been having a ton of fun working with the Arizona Border Collie Rescue group this year on their calendar! I own Goldens, I know alot about Golden Retrievers. As I found out earlier this year when I fostered Morgan, I know very little about Border Collies! So, when I set out to start this project, we talked about what it is that Border Collies do, what is their instinct. Everyone knows they have much higher drive than alot of dogs out there, but this experience has opened up a whole other world of dog sports to my knowledge base. I had a blast watching these talented dogs work stock. There seems to be so much to herding but the dogs make it look easy as well as their handlers! I have to say that the stock is hysterical to watch when they are just standing there looking around. They all have this same look on their face...like 'what's going on, where do we go, what's he doing, help me!'


They are sort of frantic, move quickly and then they are a calm group when the BC puts them in a hold. Imagine this as a photographer. I want to get a shot of the BC coming from behind the herd to work them. This means I need to be in front of the herd. Well, I got my wish one or two times and the BC happily drives them right at me. I'm in heaven, just snapping pictures away until I realize that there's a stampede heading my way! Talk about unnerving! They are heading at me full speed showing no signs of parting. Thankfully they decide I'm worth running around and I don't get pummeled by the sheep or the goats and I'm alive to tell the riviting story. ;) LOL.



I also loved watching their intensity as they focus in on their ball, frisbee or whatever they are doing. I have some great shots for this calendar! I'm so enjoying putting it together. I'll preview some shots in the coming weeks, but you'll have to invest in the calendar to see all the shots, more importantly to help out rescue as well! (It's their calendar, I volunteered my time, so all the profits go directly to them) Even if you don't own a BC you can appreciate this intense and talented breed!

Here is a sample of a poster product that I've made up -



I just have to say thanks the ABCR for asking me to work on this project, I'm truely enjoying it! The dogs and people have been great to work with, especially Cathy who has coordinated all of this!

Ok, well, that's all for now....off to create some more pages!
S

Ok, so I nominated it myself...but I'd not heard of the Blogger's Choice awards before!

I've spent the morning looking around the various blogs, nominating a few friends/clients of mine and generally enjoying what I've seen and read. There are some awesome wedding photographers out there and some great pictures, if you like looking at cool pictures. So, go to bloggerschoice.com and check out all the blogs, vote for what you like!

As for this blog - coming soon, tropical outtakes!

S

Things are HOPPING along here at the Nice house this week!  Mom is in town from TX and we have been taking the shopping challenge and succeeding quite well.  G has taken to cooking and doing all the honey do's [in shock as I typed that].  And we are doing brunch with my Grandmother (Dad's side), Aunt and cousin.  So,  Here are some fun Easter pictures!  Enjoy the holiday with family.

 

 

Happy Easter!!!!

Well, before my little BC Foster went to her new home I took the Easter Shots and boy did she have fun!  She loved the eggs and the grass too.  She had so much BC energy that day that I had to call in G to help me put her in the basket.  She thought the eggs were just as good as the balls, except they yeilded treats.   You see I thought if I put some dog cookies in an egg that it would make a great attention getter and reward holder.  I may have created a far to exciting toy...



Here's what she did next after throwing it in the air and losing it in the grass:



As I said, she had quite a good time and then I must have taken too many pictures because I also got this:



In the end, she had several cute pictures, which I will post on Easter, but here's one for now before we talk about my golden models!



Ok...so after Morgan had her way with the set I turned the Goldens loose on it.  Now, I've been taking pictures for a long time and my original two models were very tolerant and well behaved.  I thought they passed down their patience with me to the younger generations, but I'm pretty sure they left out the two youngest!  My Exuberant, excited, part time dog, Wrigley has a tail that just doesn't stop wagging and he thinks it's all about him, which is a great trait for the show dog side of him, but not for modelling! 



So finally after many many tries at several different poses, we tried this one:




But the puppy was exhausted and the older two annoyed...  ;)  But Wrigley is determined to have Emma join in the fun:




So he shows her his ears.  Meanwhile my husband is sitting on the other side of the curtain listening and I'm sure laughing because all he has heard for the last 20 minutes has been - Wrigley - sit, Wrigley, RIGGS - sit, no not there...over here...leave Emma alone....and so it goes.... the life of a dog photographer and her models! 

Soon, Eggs will be hidden and Easter Bunnys hopping around...  so, we all have to put on our Easter clothes and have our picture done.  The dogs didn't want to wear dresses, but they would wear ears and bunny collars and smile for the camera!

This past weekend was spent at the Jumping Chollas Dog Agility show doing wonderful Easter pictures.  I met some great new people and dogs and just had a wonderful time.  Someone asked me if dogs really smile for their pictures and I have to say YES, some do, but some give you the look, MOM - WHAT are you doing to me?!!

Ok - You just have to see the wonderful basket I borrowed from a friend:

It was HUGE and wonderful.  However I kept losing the eggs under all the grass.  And I was really frustrated after the first batch of pictures to find out that they all had spots on them!  It seems that I have a problem w/my lens and dirt probably from the Scottsdale shows and I have cleaned it and cleaned it - so I'll be going to the camera store today.  You can see in this picture all the spots - I spent yesterday in photoshop cleaning all the pictures, thank goodness for photoshop!

Ok - on to the outtakes:

I have to laugh at everyone because the majority of people thought that their dog would NOT get in the grass.  All of them got into the grass, most loved it, some wanted out as soon as possible, and some, well just got comfortable and didn't want to go:

Miss Bailey was quite happy to stay!

Bailey asked: "Do you think I'm sexy?"  [wolf whistle] Grooooooowlllllllll!  [/wolf whistle]

While Bailey was being sexy, this one certainly said "Kiss Me"

As soon as I opened this to work on it yesterday, I saw the missing pigment on her mouth and it just looked to me like she was puckered up and ready for an Easter kiss!  And the Ears are priceless!

This one decided to go Easter egg hunting:


And aside from some pretty cute puppies I took pictures of in the basket, Coco and Ginger have got to be one of the cutest pairs in the group:

Coco was ready for the cookies in the eggs!

Over all a very fun weekend for me and I think the dogs and their pet parents had fun with it!  So, off I go to order the pictures and then I'll add my kids Easter out takes pretty quickly!

S

Well, my perfect model Border Collie, Miss Morgan has found her forever home.  It is both a happy and sad occasion.  Happy because someone did a great thing by adopting a rescue BC and will have a GReat member of their family.  Sad for G and I who were quite attached to our little BC girl.



There she is with Wrigley relaxing before we did one last photo shoot for Easter and before we took her home.  Home, that sounds so weird.  She was quite at home here, as you can see.

Her new home is two acres with 4 horses, 4 goats, chickens and ducks.  She has a BC brother who is one year old and also a rescue and a 12 yr old heeler.  The family also has 2 teenage kids too.  When we left yesterday to take her home, we packed her bag with her favorite bones (enough to share with her new brothers) and toys and a bed that all the kids had taken turns sleeping on, so she'd have a familar smell for the short adjustment period.  Of course I wrote a big LONG note of what she knows and what she likes - to make me feel better, I'm sure she'll change according to her new family.'s way of life.

Once we were on the road, we had to stop for lunch and had In and Out Burger, and you know she got some treats from us!  She saw alot of new people who thought she was quite cute and intelligent.  She also saw one of those big garbage push carts and just wasn't too impressed with it.  Then off we went for the 45 minute drive out to her new house.

When we got there, she was so bold and excited.  We used to have to coax her through doors from inside to out, but she walked in the door just as bold as she pleased.  Her two brothers were on lead and waiting to meet her.  Once all the sniffing was over we took the tour and went out back.  Here she really got to know her BC brother and they just ran and ran and ran.  We continued on our tour, back on lead to the goat pens.  I handed over her lead for the first time to their daughter who I'm sure will be the one she bonds with.  Morgie wasn't too sure about those goats at first, but she studied and studied them.  I'm sure she enjoy annoying them over the years.  Her older brother Jack promptly went out and jumped in a trough of water and rolled in the dirt and pranced around the two BC's showing them he was allowed EVERYWHERE, because he knew the rules!  He was a hoot!

We showed Morgie the doggie door, which she'd never seen at our house and was a bit perplexed by.   At this point, it was time to go, I felt.  She was comfortable, hovering away from us and I went to say something nice about how good a home she would have and started to cry.  I felt silly because she was going to be loved, she wasn't dying.  G hugged me and I made him start to cry.  The family left us alone for a minute to say goodbye to Miss Morgie who had gone off to the laundry room and found something under the rack in there.  So, G and I petted her and told her we loved her and we moved off into the living room with her.

We stayed a few more minutes while she got her bed situated and gave her a bone.  The family was really nice and was trying to say that she would be well taken care of and that the daughter wanted to do agilty with her and that they would send pictures.  I so desperately wanted to say Thank you to them and that I thought she would be fine and that they were a good home, but I couldn't all I could do as I raced for the door was give a thumbs up, which I'm sure looked stupid.  I don't think G was much better than me.

And of course I cried on the way home.  But I called over there this morning to see how the little girl was adjusting and she is just having a ball.  Apparently Morgie and Rocky wouldn't give the family the time of day after we left because they were too busy playing with each other.  And at some point Morgan was soooo tired she just passed out in the kitchen and they carried her to her crate.  She said that Morgie opened only one eye and promptly fell back asleep.  Later in the evening she curled up on the daughter's lap and apparently she alternated sleeping with her BC brother and their son last night.  They say she might have missed us a bit last night as she howled a little bit in her crate, but I'm not sure about that, she sounds like she's pretty content in her new home.

I'm glad to have had Morgan in our life, but I'm not sure I can do that again, unless I plan to be a foster failure, which I could very easily have been with Miss Morgan.  G definately says he can't do the fostering because it's just too much.  I think the payoff is great - we helped a super pup that was in need and she will have a great life, but there is a little hole in our heart where Morgie lives.  

OK...well, there it is - stay tuned for the Easter picture out takes because we had a ball with the pictures and she had a ball with the grass!

S

We take a moment to bring you this announcement:

Gary has submitted a short film that he wrote and directed to the new reality series, On the Lot.  Take a moment out to watch it and vote for it if you enjoy it!  You see, the more votes he gets, the more likely it is he will get on the show!

http://films.thelot.com/films/30325/

Thanks,
S

I had high hopes of blogging everyday of the Cluster, but alas, I was wayyyyy too tired!  As a photographer, I could have spent more time taking photos.  However, I enjoyed meeting all the dogs and their people.  I especially got a kick out of the Newfies, but that's another post entirely!  As someone who showed their dogs, I had an absolute blast.

I'll bring out some of the out takes in the next few days, but for right now, this one is my favorite!  I was asked to take pictures of Hemi the Border Collie's first show.  I took pictures of everyone in the 6-9 puppy dog class and this one was my favorite and yes, he was looking at me:



Caption:  What dogs think of the politics of dog shows!  ;)

OK...off to finish up my pictures, more on the show soon!

S

OK - I'm off to bed in a moment after a busy day, but not nearly as busy as the days to come.  I will be at the Scottsdale shows, showing in conformation and rally and being a photographer!  Today was spent on work, getting dogs to the vet and having fun in agility classes.

However, before I wind down [read crash in bed asleep as head hits pillow] for the evening Duncan wanted me to share his daily meditation with you:

Living in the moment is what it is all about.  Being one with the ball, even if only for a moment.  So, I paused to enjoy this moment with him and make an effor to do so each day.  Enjoy each moment you are given.  

S