Bark! | Seattle Fine Art Dog Photographer

Tag ... I'm It!

There is a little game going around right now.  Someone tags you and you have to post 8 things about yourself and then tag 8 other people.

While I was out on vacation a few weeks ago Dustin Steller tagged me and I totally forgot about it (sorry Dustin!) Yesterday I was tagged again by Chenin Boutwell so I figured it was time for me to man up and post my 8 facts.  Which will be kind of hard for me because I already gave up 5 good ones while I was out on vacation.  But here goes!

1)  On any given summer evening you'll find me with a glass of Pinot Grigio, with ice cubes to keep it cold!

2)  My all time favorite move is The Goonies.  Baby Ruth?

3)  On Tuesday's + Thursday's, I take the Bootcamp Class at the local YMCA. 

4)  My guilty pleasure?  Nice purses.

5)  I am fascinated by the book Close Up by Martin Schoeller.  One of these days I am going to actually buy it instead of always looking at it in the book store.

6)  I am an avid reader.

7)  My first 'real' job out of college was an Administrative Assistant at AT&T Wireless.

8)  I'm most inspired by the work of:  Elliott Erwitt

. . . .

Now here are 8 people that I am tagging!

1) Rachel Devine

2) Ann Hamilton

3) Sean Flanigan

4) Deb Schwedhelm

5) Bonnie Berry

6) Serena Boggs

7) Amy Smith

8) Laura Siebert

. . .

Little Bean says have a great day!

Daycare Rocks

If I could, I would open up my own doggie daycare so that I could play with dogs all day long. 

Here are a few more shots of Gracie's friends from daycare.  I had to put her in the car while I shot because we quickly found out that although she is very docile at home, if other dogs try to come up and see me, she gets very protective of me and tries to body block them. 

New Life!

Oh goody! Mimi was gracious enough to let me share some of the photos we took on Sunday.

As with her maternity photos, I really loved collaborating with another photographer. It is so nice to have a great relationship with a local photographer because we can bounce ideas off each other, borrow equipment if we are in a pinch, share different techniques we have picked up along the way, or just vent about the irritating parts of business. Another photographer also understands angle, light, shape, and form.

What was so funny is that Mimi admits that she was a little nervous before our shoot. She was worried that Sophia might be fussy or might not sleep or might sleep too much. We both know that newborns take patience and time, but she was still worried! Natural for new parents of course!  And Sophia did awesome, she is so incredibly adorable!

And yes, I am definitely missing the newborns and really people in general. I think the time is coming closer where I will be adding people photography back into my business mix. Right now I am doing some self-examination on what type that will be as I'm not quite sure yet. If and when I do, it will be a different site and branding, but I will never give up the doggies as my first love and main business. Seattle's Dog Photographer is here to stay and I'm not going anywhere any time soon.

Enough talking . . . take me to the Slideshow!

More of Mr. Winston

Hope everyone had a nice + relaxing weekend! Sunday I got to finally meet little Sophia, who was was in Mimi's tummy 3.5 weeks ago when we did these maternity pics (back in June).  Ooooo she is just too cute!  We got some really great photos of Mom, Dad, and Sophia and I had a blast.  I do miss the newborns for sure.  Hopefully she will share some on her blog! 

On a side note, when we were done with photos, I let her use my card reader to download the images onto her computer.  It wasn't until I got home that I realized that we had inadvertently deleted them off my card so I didn't get to look at any of them!  With the help of some Data Recovery Software, I was able to recover the images.  This was the first time that I have had to recover images from what appears to have been a blank card.  So file this info away for that dreaded day that you accidentally delete images!   (It did, however, take about 3 hours!)

I hope everyone enjoyed the little weekend slideshow I did of Mr. Winston.  I have it set pretty fast, so I wanted to post a few still images from our time together for your enjoyment.  Boy is it ever hard to shoot a fast moving little puppy when I'm used to a big, lazy, 130 pound girl! 

My Nephew

Would you like to see more of Winston?

How could you not?

Click on his pic to go see his slideshow!

Winston

Guess who got a new baby nephew?

Me!

Meet Winston, a 9.5 week old Boston Terrier.  Gracie can't wait until he gets a little older so she can meet her new cousin.  But she has to wait awhile because he is only 6 pounds.

Now he will be the 2nd most photographed dog in Seattle!

Isn't he adorable? 

Jump!

Friday's deserve a little jump for joy!

In The (Neighbor) Hood

Thanks everyone for the feedback on the image sizes. I think I'm going to stick with the smaller sizes for now. That way, you get to see all the images and then decide for yourself what you want to see larger. The scrolling annoyed me.

Spaces are booking quickly as we try to squeeze in what is left of the summer light.  If you have been putting off a session, now is the time to book! 

A few Non-Dog shots to mix it up a bit.  Here is what was going on in the neighborhood yesterday evening.  The neighborhood kids are getting to be such a great age, they never fail to make me laugh.  Still playing with the 50/1.8. I think the 50/1.4 will be joining my family soon.

Gradient Map Gracie

Day 2 of trying out a different size for my photos. I have received one YAY! and one NAY! I need a tie breaker. Anyone?

Yesterday I decided to take my trusty 24-70 off and see what my very rusty 50/1.8 could do. Although I leave the 24-70 on about 90% of the time, I am getting bored with it. I'm thinking about trying out some prime lenses to mix things up a bit. I had the 85/1.2 for awhile, and while it was lovely for portraits, it was downright miserable for dogs. It hunts and pecks with the focus and there is absolutely no way I could shoot indoors with it.  I sold it last month and got my MacBook Pro which I use WAY more than the 85. 

Right now I am seeing what focal length is best for me and I think the 50 might still be too tight for indoors.  Because we all know I have about 6-8 months of indoor shooting coming up real soon. Booo hoooo.

Next to try out will most likely be the 24/1.4 or the 28/1.8. I got to use Jamie Fender's 24 while she was here in Seattle for the Antiworkshop and I really loved it. I am looking for something in the 1.2 to 1.8 range for additional bokeh and available light. So we shall see.

Anyways, I'm thinking out loud, sorry.  Here is what I shot with the Nifty Fifty. If I had to do it all over again, I would have just gotten the 50/1.4. Oh well. Live and learn.

I have also had a few questions about my BW conversions lately.  When in doubt, I use the Gradient Map, 3rd one in. For these, I used the GM and added the Antique Tone from the Totally Rad Action set at 15% opacity to warm them up a bit.

Gracie is such a patient girl, but she'll do anything for a little snuggle with Mom. 

More Vacation

I wanted to post some more shots from my vacation.  The only time I really pulled my camera out the entire week was during our day at Cave B Winery, so that is what you are going to see!

I decided that I like to see larger pictures on the daily Blog's that I read, so I am going to try that today.  Would love to hear some feedback on whether you like larger images or prefer the pop ups.