Some of the Dogs of Doginhaus

The wonderful people at Doginhaus (our local doggie daycare) are helping me promote my photography business, and to give the staff a sense of my photography process, as well as to get them excited about my photography, I did a session for some of the staff and their pets earlier this week.

While the entire album is on my business website  here is a small sampling of the Dogs of Doginhaus.

First up was Stasha, a Bernadoodle - a poodle/Bernese Mountain dog mix.  Much smaller than the typical Bernese, she has doodle fluffiness, with the striking colors of the Bernese.  Absolutely gorgeous, and VERY well behaved.  She knew she was a supermodel!

Seriously, how cute is she?

She took to the whole modeling thing like a champ!

Seriously, supermodel material!

After the lovely Stasha, came Blu, so named for his eyes.  I have no idea what Blu's exact mix is, but with those ears, he looks like he has some pibble in him, and with those blue eyes, probably some Siberian Husky or something, and with his body and tail, he probably has some Lab in him, as well. Whatever mix he is, it all adds up to stunningly handsome!

Those eyes!  That is not a miracle of Photoshop - his eyes really are that striking!

"I can be serious, if you want to see that side of me."

"I can also look very interested.  Especially with those liver treats of yours!"

After the stunning Blu came the duo of Nigel and Cosmo.  Nigel is about twice the size of his brother Cosmo, and for the record, Nigel is a Treat Hog.  But a total sweetie, which makes it all okay!

And so handsome!

Getting Nigel and Cosmo to sit together was a bit of a challenge, as Nigel was seriously into the treats and as soon as he'd sit and I'd use the treat to get Cosmo's attention, Nigel would get up to go after the treat.  Much like photographing my own dogs!

I'll give you three guesses what Nigel is looking at!

Cosmo on his own was much more mellow (I was probably holding a treat off camera to keep Nigel occupied so I could photograph Cosmo!).

After Nigel and Cosmo, I thought I was ready for anything.  And then in came Ruger and Moose, and it was yet another level of entertainment!

Ruger is a slightly neurotic Vizsla (his mother's words), and Moose is a French bulldog.

Ruger reminded me so much of Fi and Abby's blog pal Dennis the Vizsla that more than once I accidentally called Ruger by the name Dennis.  Ruger didn't seem to care, as he was way more interested in my squeaky toy than whatever name I called him!

Dennis, erm, Ruger, is a Very Handsome Boy!

Vizslas are very regal dogs!

Moose, on the other hand, was about as non-neurotic as you could get.  I think he was too busy picking up deep space radio signals with his ears to be neurotic!

It was a very fun shoot, and I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the staff's dogs in the near future!

Nekkid Doodles

With our super-warm weather, the girls have been getting hot with their winter haircuts, so I just sucked it up and used my vacation day to cut the girls' hair.

Thanks to Gary for the photo!  And yes, Fi generally looks that way on the grooming table!

Once the unpleasantries of the hair cutting were over, the girls enjoyed their cooler, aerodynamic cuts!

I am convinced that now that I have given the girls their spring haircuts, we'll get 15 feet of snow in the next week....  Mostly because when I gave them longer winter cuts, the weather immediately warmed up and dried up....

Yuh, sure, Mom.  Our haircuts influence weather patterns.... Whatever...

Well, regardless of whether their haircuts affect our weather or not, the haircuts clearly put springs in Abby's leggies!

Molly the Basset Hound

Molly is a basset hound, who, sadly, has an incurable cancer.  Her family is enjoying the time they have with her and making sure that Molly is comfortable and happy.   I had the opportunity to photography Molly a couple of weeks ago, and it was a really wonderful experience.  The day before the photo shoot, I was told that Molly had been low energy and not eating much, so I was a little nervous that  Molly might not be up for a big photo shoot.   But when I met her, she was energetic and bouncy, and happy to meet me (smelling of other dogs and liver treats probably didn't hurt).  Her family wanted a studio-style shoot, and Molly was fascinated with my bags of lightstands and lights (and dog treats).  She was very cooperative for the hour and half that I took photos (she had the energy for it, and I was more than happy to oblige, as Molly's mother was ecstatic that Molly was so animated and engaged.

Today I went back to Molly's house to show her family the prints from the shoot.  Molly had just been on a long walk, so she was tired, but she still got off her couch and gave me kisses and ate a few of my salmon treats before retiring to her couch.  Her family was extremely pleased with the photos I presented, and I was very happy to be able to provide them with lasting memories.

Now that her family has seen the photos, I give you some of the photos from Molly's photoshoot.

Classic basset hound!

Happy girl!

This photo was a HUGE hit!

While Molly will always be in her family's hearts, they will be able to treasure these photos of her for a lifetime, and I'm really happy that I was able to provide this service for them.

If you'd like to see the rest of the photos from the session, check out the photo gallery on my photography website.

And yes, the presentation box was also very much appreciated!

And yes, it is a service.  There is very little profit built into 'special sessions' for senior and terminally ill pets - I cover my hard costs, and I try to keep those low, as I wouldn't ever want money to be a barrier that prevents someone from getting photos of their pet before s/he crosses the Rainbow Bridge.

Some Snow and Stuff

We got more snow today (still nothing like the northeast), all of which conveniently arrived after I was safely tucked in my office, and had mostly ended by the time I left the office.  And the girls were all excited about the snow, so all of the non-driveway-clearing members of the household were happy about the snow!

And the 'stuff'; this is the presentation box of the photos of Molly the basset hound - hopefully Molly's Mom will be as thrilled with product as I am!

A Little Snow, A Few Photos

We got a few inches of snow today, and since I am finally caught up on all my business photos, I thought I'd get a few photos of the girls having some fun in the white fluffy stuff.

Abby, of course, was all bouncy happy with the new snow!

This one makes my back hurt!

Fi, on the other hand, is much more of a classic snow-zoomie girl.

I love the composition of this photo!

Hey, Mom.  Why are you taking pictures when there are frisbees to be thrown?!?

Snow zoomies are not lost on Abby.

These girls are such sweeties!

This would be cool as a metal print!