March 24, 2011

Raleigh Pet Photographer: Tuck+Levi+Lola (with guest stars Spot+Reese)

Good friends and staunch CSP supports, Mary Ann and Daniel had me come over to photograph their motely crew of furry friends the other day. :) There are three, so I’ll introduce them individually:

Meet Tuk! Tuk was rescued by Mary Ann and Daniel and was sadly abused at his former home. :( He is absolutely precious and very happy in his new one. He’s a husky/shepherd mix and enjoys howling, trying to round up other dogs for pack purposes, and trying to annoying Levi.

Meet Levi! Levi is the feisty one of the bunch despite his small stature. I had been warned many times that Levi probably wouldn’t like me because Levi doesn’t like most people, but I gave him a few treats and we were BFFs. Levi enjoys growling, snarling, and avoiding Tuk.

Meet Lola! Lola is really the lover of the group. She’s a very nice and even-tempered dog who gets along with both Levi and Tuk. Lola enjoys treats, playing with her football, and running around with her doggy friends in the park. Below is a picture of Lola yawning. No, I did not photoshop her mouth. When Geoff saw it, he said that it reminded him of Gina Davis in Beetlejuice, which is totally accurate. We googled to find a picture to post next to it and, ironically, we found the picture on a blog that was comparing Gina Davis to another dog yawning. How weird is that?! Apparently that costume was inspired by fierce dog yawns.

Below is what happens when you have three dogs who don’t all entirely get along and you’re trying to take a family picture. Top left is Levi not cooperating. Top right is Levi growing because he’s now sitting next to Tuk. Tuk looks uncomfortable. Bottom left is Lola yawning (again) and bottom right is the closest semblance of all the dogs getting along.

We took a lot of pictures of Tuk inside because he was not to be joining us outside after his escapades in the morning where he broke through their porch, escaped into the wilderness, and had Mary Ann and Daniel chase him down for an hour. :) It was decided that Tuk was somewhat of a liability at the dog park, so he stayed behind to catch up on some much needed Zzz’s from that morning’s adventures. :)

Now meet Spot and Reese! I think it’s pretty obvious which is which. :) They’re doggy friends with Lola, Levi, and Tuk, and human friends with Daniel and Mary Ann. We met their pups at the dog park to get some action shots of them all playing! Spot and Reese are adorable dogs and so sweet! Spot is HUGE but was so nice and friendly and adorable. And Reese is very patient, quiet, and a good doggy photography subject. :)

All pups remained leashed outside of the park (even for their portraits below) because they are all kind of rambunctious together and a definite flight risk. :) Also, there were several swans in the park that they were all VERY interested in!

Thank you to all the pups (and humans!) for this adorable shoot!

1 nice things said

March 19, 2011

Raleigh Pet Photographer: Sabrina+Pookie

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.

Sabrina’s ferocious guard-dog shot:

Then back to your normal programming:

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

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. :)

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

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. :)

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.

2 nice things said

March 17, 2011

Pittsburgh Pet Photographer: LaSalle Faironaire

Geoff and I went home to Pittsburgh last weekend to celebrate his birthday and do whatever he does that involves his fantasy baseball draft. I also was tasked with the mission of photographing my family’s diva cat, LaSalle Faironaire (affectionately dubbed Sal for short). We’ve had Sal since I was 9 years old. She’ll be 16 in May. We credit her longevity to her voluntary solitary confinement in the basement for the first 13 years of her life… avoiding our two tabby cat hellions, Tang and Button. Tang died three years ago, followed by Button a year later, and finally Sal came out of the basement, happier than ever before. She now fully occupies the house (but mostly the kitchen) and has taken to sitting next to all the heating vents and stuffing her face in my parents’ space heaters. My dad calls her the Head of Maintenance.

Sal is both French and Jewish and in her spare time enjoys reading Anne Rice novels and watching Beyonce music videos. We photographed her in my parents’ kitchen where she spends 99.9% of her time.

Most of her time spent in the kitchen is spent hanging out with my mom, who is technically Sal’s owner. When I was 9 and my sister was 13, we just wanted cats who looked like Garfield and my dad was only interested in fish. So Laura and I got orange cats, my dad got fish, and my mom took home Sal, who was a rescue.