Human Society Orientation

Greetings all! So that nice weather we had here in Minnesota... purely a teaser! It's nice and frosty cold again today! Really looking forward to it warming up so its easier to do outdoor sessions!

Today was the orientation walkthrough at Tri County Humane Society in St. Cloud, MN. Dropped off some postcards and business cards, then proceeded to read through the paperwork. How to correctly handle cats, kittens, dogs and puppies as well as interacting with them and potential adopters were thoroughly touched on in the papers. Finished ahead of the three other volunteers so I browsed around the store. Met the mascot cat (her name escapes me at the moment) and gawked at the toys that my dogs may or may not destroy within the first five minutes of play. Axle is the ultimate tester for toys!

The group was ready to go and we got the grand tour from Kim. Cat room, with talk about the tags and how to clean the cages in the event of messy kitties. There was a big slightly fluffy white and tabby cat named Moose as well as a little fluffy black and white kitten that wanted to snooze in one of the other voluteer's arms. We visited the small dog and puppy room, for the same run down on cleaning and handling. A little chihuahua/terrier mix named Gizmo, and a stray dog called Snoopy watched our group. Lots of little details in between. In kennel room B, a 4 month old collie with puppy fluff fur named Jasper, barked for attention, while Uhnie, a brindle Am Staff, whined in her kennel like the biggest baby around. Visited the Etc room - it is the catchall room. Baths, photography, and adopter interactions occur in this room. It was decorated slightly differently from last year when I adopted Axle (granted it was right after Christmas when I got him!). Laundry room, cleaning room, where all of the supplies were and so many other things to remember!

Officially my first day is next Tuesday, though it is a run through of how the photography end of things will work. I'm super excited to get started! Especially since there are so many cute as button dogs and cats that need homes! There are 3 cute as a button coonhound mix pups in kennel room A that stole my heart! They are mostly white with reddish brown "freckles" all over their bodies! Two of them have brown completely on their ears, while the third was all freckles. If only I didn't have a gang of three already...

•••
I'm thinking of putting together a special price or package for people who adopt. Perhaps a portion of the session could go toward the shelter or perhaps a discounted price...

•••
My brain is also contemplating backdrops, props and floors (oh my!).  Currently there is a grey blue sheet tacked to the wall, not sure how changeable that may or may not be. The floor is tile and I'm toying with the idea of getting a swatch of flooring that looks like wood. I've seen other shelter photographers use props from chairs to ties and necklaces, though I'm not sure how much space I will have to work with.

•••
Need need need a faster lens! And possibly a flash...

Scouting Shoot with the Gang

Ah the weather is finally "warmish" - that is 33 degrees, cloudy and a touch windy! Not subzero so I'm happier than a clam. Did some random errands today with dogs in tow. We stopped by a place I've been before, but have been brainstorming for the upcoming collar shoots for Lisa at Josa Bloom. The place didn't disappoint, though I do prefer less snow on the various items of debris.

Icey was the first to be photographed, and though most times she is super easy to capture for attention and focus, today she was more interested in eating the snow. Sometimes I forget how long her tongue is!

•••
Next was Mick. Typically he's not a fan of the camera so I expected it would be hard to get his attention. Completely correct. I snapped a bunch of shots, but only a couple worked out as he had the same motive to eat the snow as Icey.

•••

Axle was the last one of the gang to be photographed, and the most attentive of the bunch, though he was pretty focused on looking and smelling around vs looking at me making weird noises.

We moved to a different area with "ruins" of concrete forms and other random traffic stop items, where Axle hopped into a electrical box thing for some shots. Up against the concrete forms he was very very focused at something to the side and behind me. Icey was in the car and the window was down. Mick is notorious for jumping out of the back window and soon I could hear his tags as he came trotting to where Axle and I were. At least it got Axle's attention for some shots!

Not the best shoot, but it was nice to be able to get out and about with my dogs for a bit. Mick and Axle did manage to spook up a rabbit too, though luckily they didn't see it so there was no chase. I need to remember to bring treats for more focus from all three dogs! Can't wait to revisit this site for the collar shoot! Also hoping I have a new lens to test out by then! 

•••

Prior to going out and about I did stair shots of the dogs. The stairs that lead from my front door into my apartment (I'm in the upstairs of a house) have a window that lets in a lot of light about a quarter of the way up the stairs. I've been wanting to shoot some pictures using the natural light and today I did! 

Images shot with my Nikon d300s and 50mm f1.8 

Monday Snow & Lens Dreaming

Good afternoon! To all of those Minnesotans out there, how do you feel about the snow? Indeed we got a nice fluffy dusting to camouflage the dirty, crunchy snow we've had since December. Everything has the winter wonderland look to it, which I love! Now if only the snow didn't come with cold weather! The dogs love it though, which reminds me that I need to get out and photograph my gang one of these days, especially if the temperature stays warm - ok 30's is not "warm" but after a week of subzero temps its almost tropical weather!

So I've made the decision on a lens! Whoot! Drumroll..... and the winner is the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8! Read a lot of reviews (while at the laundromat) and this lens seems to be the perfect fit for my collection. Granted it is a full frame lens on a crop sensor (its cropped at 1.5 so technically its 42-113mm!) so it will only be a touch wider than my 50mm f1.8 but the added "length" will be nice! The solid f2.8 throughout will be super awesome to have! Now I only need to save up a bit... I can get it from my camera shop job for $380ish, but I have been looking on both craigslist and ebay. Speaking of ebay, I have already put a bid in for one! Wish me luck!

Interview and Lenses

Good news! I had an interview with Tri County Humane Society on Thursday... and I will be volunteering on Tuesdays from 4-6pm! Hooray! It will be both photography as well as working with the animals. I'm super excited to start, though I need to have an orientation before I do. February is the next orientation I believe. Ann, the woman who gave me the interview, adores my photography and has a cat she can't seem to get a good picture of.  She may invest in my services!

So with the excitement of working with the humane society lingering, I looked into my collection of lenses and decided it was time to invest in a new one! Ideally it needs to be a mid-range telephoto (less than 50mm and up to 50mm or more) that has a fast aperture speed and not break the bank too awfully bad.

Here are my choices: 
Nikon 24mm f2.8
Nikon 28mm f1.8
Nikon 35mm f1.8
Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 (non VC)
Tamron 17-50mm f2.8
Sigma 30mm f1.4
Sigma 17-50mm f2.8
Sigma 24-70mm f2.8
Tokina 16-28mm f2.8 FX (full frame)
Tokina 11-16mm f2.8

All of the above lenses are under $1000 (Tamron makes an awesome, brand new 24-70mm f.28 VC that is $1200!!! Which is a touch out of budget!) I'm familiar with Nikon lenses (I own the 50mm f1.8) as well as Tamron lenses (I own a 10-24mm f3.5-5.6 and a 70-300mm f4-5.6 - I also work part time in a camera shop that has a large selection of Tamron lenses). Ideally I would like to stay away from the prime lenses as pets often tend to move closer or farther from the photographer as they play. In the perfect world I would order one today and have it tomorrow! Alas I need to do some more research on each lens to find the perfect fit for me and my collection.

Frozen Land & Collars

Greetings all from the land of frozen things! Defiantly looking forward to when it starts warming up! Why? Well so I don't need to wear 30 layers and the dogs can be out and running longer without their feet getting too cold! Plus it makes for a happier time to do outdoor dog photography sessions. Keep in mind I can do indoor sessions on those frozen toes days, but the outdoors offer so much more selection for backgrounds!

Heard back from the Tri County Humane Society about orientation to volunteer my photography services. They would love to have me, though the next orientation isn't until February. I look forward to helping out dogs and cats :) I've been toying with the idea of having a discount on sessions of adopted dogs, or having a portion of the proceeds going to the humane society or shelter they were adopted or rescued from.

Exciting news! Lisa from Josa Bloom has been working hard on a set of ZOMBIE collars for my gang! I stumbled across her collars at The Green Paw in Golden, CO this past fall and fell in love. The only problem? I was back in Minnesota! So I contacted the Green Paw, did some research and contacted Lisa through her facebook page. Three Halloween collars was the end result! Now I get the chance to photograph more of the cute, unique collars and leashes she makes! Super excited!

Frozen, Humane Society and Randoms

Good frozen morning! Here's hoping everyone is warm and cozy with their pets today! Put some pictures up of horses (there might be a cow picture too!) up today, they are under the Other gallery. The website project is slowly coming together, just sorting out little details here and there. I want to send a HUGE thank you to Rob for all of the help getting the site live and active, and also answering the bazillion questions I have.

I recontacted the Tri-County Humane Society today in the hopes to go through orientation and then begin photographing the dogs and cats that need homes. And yes I will want to bring each one of them home with me!

Looking forward to working with Lisa at Josa Bloom. Josa Bloom makes super cute, super stylish dog and cat collars, that are not only cute but durable! I currently have one collar for each dog in Halloween styles, but I can't wait to see the new and exciting designs coming out! Look forward to shots of the new styles!

I will try my best to keep this blog updated, but in the case that it gets out of date, please visit me on facebook for newer news!