We have had a truly amazing amount of adorable doggos lately, so when we heard that we were going to be photographing little Finn, a Cockapoo Extraordinaire, we were sure that he’d be pretty great. And he was! And what makes Finn so great, you might ask? Well, Finn has a wide variety of adorable quirks, mostly involving the fact that he loves to chase toys but hasn’t yet mastered the concept of bringing them back to you, so rather he exchanges one toy for another. All games must involve multiple toys. You go out in the yard and throw something, and he runs at sound-barrier speed to go get it, and then chooses whether or not it’s worth dropping his current toy (which he brought over with him in his mouth) for this one that you just threw. His favorite is a little pink tennis ball and a frisbee, which he carries in such a way where it adorably gets stuck a bit on his head. He also has a stuffed log in which plush squirrels are hidden, which is also currently a big hit.

Finn’s beloved owners are Robin and Bob, who are incredibly lovely people who adore their family and wanted to have photographic evidence of this point in time in their lives with each other and Finn. They were really wonderful and easy to work with despite it being a particularly freezing morning and shooting outside. They were also capable of interacting in an endearing and beloved way with each other, regardless of the fact that zero out of the four people present were morning people. We had such a great time getting to know these guys and witnessing their dog put a frisbee on his head. We’re happy to have captured their family together having a good old time in their neighborhood!

It is with great love and enthusiasm that we induct Claudia, Ron, and Layla into the CSP 3rd Timers Club! We’ve had three sessions with these two amazing dog parents and their pups. Layla, the golden Golden Retriever, has been with us from the beginning with her brother Canela. When Canela passed away, Layla and her parents adopted Reagan, the white Golden Retriever, who is now being inducted into the CSP 2nd Timers Club. ;) The dogs are so excited when they greet us that I’d like to think they remember us, which I think also might be true because Layla is very good at posing for us at this point. She sits where she’s supposed to, looks at the camera, kind of dog-smiles, and then either looks like she’s falling asleep standing, or it’s her version of the Tyra Banks “smize,” I can’t really tell. Reagan is still learning about cameras and modeling, but he can tell you all about his purple dragon toy, and repeatedly give you his paw when his parents go out of reach for reassurance (either for himself or for me, I also can’t tell).

Claudia and Ron, the humans in this story, are two of the most wonderful and gracious people we’ve had the pleasure of working with. And it is truly an honor to photograph them for the third time. That means so much to us and is such a huge compliment that I can’t even adequately describe it. It’s just nice to see the same people over and over again and to have our work trusted and appreciated. We really love these guys, and we love their dogs, and we love how kind and gentle they are to their dogs (and to us!). Also, we love Claudia’s accent, so that doesn’t hurt either. Happy 10th wedding anniversary, Claudia+Ron! And here’s to many, many more. :)

This is going to be split up into two sections with Sabrina the Dog first and Pookie the Cat second. Because while Sabrina and Pookie are familiar with each other, relations are tense and their shoots were done in separate rooms to avoid any possible animosity. ;)

Sabrina is a very kind mutt of a few different breeds and one of the sweetest I’ve met. She’s of a somewhat indeterminate elderly age. When they adopted her she was anywhere from 1-5, but they’ve had her for thirteen years, so she’s thirteen or older. She is very sweet and has gone through a tumor surgery but is doing very well. Despite her looking very ferocious in a couple of her barking pictures, she’s really just talking. :) Sabrina likes dog biscuits, belly rubs, and sitting by the fire.

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Sabrina’s ferocious guard-dog shot:

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Then back to your normal programming:

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Happiest dog ever!!! Look at that face. :)

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Now on to Pookie the cat! So I have a bride and groom next year who are so awesome and nice and are flying Geoff and I up to their wedding in New Jersey to photograph it. Sabrina is the family pet of the bride who lives at home with the mother-of-the-bride. Pookie is under joint custody of both the groom and the bride and was a visitor in the house. Pookie and Sabrina know each other, but Pookie’s still kind of unsure. So we did her photoshoot in a separate room. :) Gotta keep the furry clients in good moods, you know?

Pookie is an adorable little cat!! What was so strange about Pookie is that she has the coolest and most unique eyes of any cat I’ve ever seen. Annie, the bride, commented that her eyes usually photograph purple, and it’s true. They’re kind of a seafoam green/pale teal that also kind of come across as purple. You’ll see. It’s pretty strange, but really adorable. Pookie wasn’t a huge fan of the camera, but she really didn’t dislike it either. She was more curious. Cats don’t take direction nearly as well as dogs… and you kind of just have to follow them around into whatever lighting situation they happen to walk into because they’re totally their own photoshoot boss.

Pookie enjoys playing with twist ties, looking out the window, and toy mice. She also shakes when she gets excited (the first cat I’ve met who does that besides Buckles, our cat) and I’m relatively suspicious that she may be a close relative of Dolfy, our other cat. They were both homeless on the mean streets of Durham, look very similar, both talk a lot, both like water, both are runts, and both are two. Dolfy will be three next month, so Sabrina might be like the equivalent of his really young half-sister or something. :)

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LOOK AT THIS FACE!!! Ohhh, Pookie, you are nothing but love.

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Below is a series that I may print out in a small series of 4x6s and frame them all next to each other on the wall. No, it’s not my cat, but it’s hilarious. I now have a bad habit of loving other people’s photographs to the point where I’m printing pictures of their pets and family members to hang around my office. A little weird? Maybe. But I guess it also means I love my job. :)

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See what we mean about those eyes? I have never seen a cat with eyes like that before. They look great with her little pink nose and purple collar. :) She’s basically a series of nice Easter pastels.

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