Humane Society Pictures with Snow!

The Tuesday humane society session rolled around and I was super excited to be able to photograph all the new dogs that had come in! I was told to wear boots as I would be able to take each of the dogs out in the snow! Nothing better than a neutral background with natural lighting! Minus that most of the dogs were super super super excited to be outside and complete leash yanking, wiggly butts! Aside from one soggy knee, the outdoor pictures were super fun! They turned out great, especially with the new treats I had with me! Pays to have yummy treats for attention!

First up was the lovely miss Bella!

Next was Bow, an big energetic cow of a lab!

Kaiser was next, a lab mix with hints of speckles

Paused for some shots of the sponsor plaques on the kennels, then got to the rest of the dogs.

Sniffer, the ginormous lab mix. I have a ton of pictures of his tongue...

Yogi, the shepherd mix, who had been adopted and brought back. Snuggler but with tons of energy!

This picture cracks me up....

Blue the lab retriever mix. He is a puller so he uses an Emily Weiss Walkie. 

Fluffly little Casius 

Sweet Cherry, the pittie! She is a tubby bundle of moosh and mashing! Currently in isolation for having the ickys, hope she gets better quickly!

The baby pittie, Cypher! His only color is on his nose and spot on his eye! He is super cute and shy!

Millie, lab. She isn't a fan of other dogs, but she loves her ball!

This sleeping beauty is Xander! He's an older guy, but was super busy on Tuesday! He went to a radio station, chilled with the staff and was my best friend because I had treats!

The Truth About Cats...

Is that they are not dogs!

Last week I volunteered twice at Tri County Humane Society. Tuesday was a challenge being the first day of cat portraits as well as having a new lens that I was still figuring out the quirks of. Also didn't help that Buzz, an Am Staff, was a ginormous baby and constantly barking. The pictures turned out, but the results weren't as numerous as I had hoped.

Got home and did tons of research. Most would blah about light, eyes in focus, get them out of their cages - which most of this I already had a handle on. A couple of them mentioned to let the cat do what it wanted. Hmmm...

Thursday rolled around and I was stocked up for snagging pictures of the cats, and excited about it. Chaos, whom I had met on Tues, was my first portrait set. He was so laid back and nosey! I let him wander around the room and basically followed him with my camera. So much better than the frightened cats I had worked with two days prior. After we were done with our session, Chaos was adopted by a wonderful young lady! Hooray!

Misty, a torti, and Sissy, a calico, we just as laid back and easygoing as Chaos. Misty roamed the room, even jumping up into the tub where all the dogs get baths! Sissy was a little spooky at times, but she purred as she explored.

So by letting cats do their thing and letting them explore and nose around, I was able to get a solid handful of super awesome pictures of them.

Thusly, the truth about cats is that they are not dogs!

Tri County Humane Society, 2nd day

Yesterday went well at TCHS. One of the ladies who works there had concocted a list of cats and dogs that needed pictures. Perfect. One by one I located the animals in need of portraits. Most were cats, and most had red cards (red cards are for animals that are new or nervous and can only be handled by TCHS staff).

The all in one room was being used for some cutie patootie puppy play and visitation, so while I waited I scoped out the dogs available for adopting. Millie was still there, hiding in the corner as she is very frightened of the shelter. Next to her was a big collie/aussie mix of sorts named Prince, who also wasn't a fan of being in the shelter. Blue followed, a big happy lab/retriever mix and the last was a little terrier who was a mean barker.

Kennel room A still had Buzz, the biggest baby ever Am Staff. He sported an inflatable cone and looked hilarious in it as he cried and whined for attention. Charlie was next to him, super sweet, shaking but friendly. She had a beautiful brindle coat (couldn't tell from the website!) Etta was next, a cute white and black pittie mix, followed by a brother and sister pair of hound mixes, Boone and Remi.

The all in one room cleared, and I was able to photograph the animals. Little Joe was first. He's big, fluffy grey, full of static and super weirded out that he is in a new room, with a strange floor, cowering as Buzz barks and whines from the otherside of the door. Unfortunately kennel room A's door is basically across the hall from the all in one room, so photographing cats while there's a noisy dog doesn't work.

This is when I came to the realization that shelter cats are much much harder to photograph than the dogs. But with some patience and creativity I managed to snag some good ones. Might invest in a chair with cool legs that the cats can hide under.

Charlie was much easier to photograph, minus that she wanted to be in my lap, one paw on me anytime I was eye level and on my knees and she didn't have anything that would make her perk up unless someone was moving in the hall outside the door.

The cats with the red cards couldn't be brought into any of the other rooms, so I snagged some shots of them in their kennels.

All in all a good day of pictures and learning about photographing cats as well as using my new lens. And now pictures!

From the top left to right: Tubby, Tiger, Patch, Little Joe, Lia and Cali

The the lovely Miss Charlie!

Getting Older

Not sure what I wanted to post about, so I started to think about last night. I had settled into the couch with my sketchpad for a dragon drawing session, with a space between myself and my boyfriend. The space was one cushion in width, which is plenty if you are a doughnut dog like Axle or Mick. Not so much if you are Princess Fatty Fat Icey.

Last night Mick was the couch dog. He's a snuggler, always has been and is happiest laying some part of himself on the nearest part of me. This time it was my leg. Normally I continue on whatever project I'm working on, though last night I paused and paid attention to Mick. His muzzle is starting to grey, he has a pair of fatty tumors - one on the lower side of his ribs, the other on his belly. They have shown up in the past year and haven't gotten smaller. Nor do they bother Mick. He still runs, chases, and wrestles with Axle, chases squirrels and kitties and performs all of his tricks for a treat like the best of them. Last night, he had a little wheeze while he was settling in on my knee, and I began to realize just how old he had gotten. It was fall of 2006 when I first fell in love with Mick, adopting him in October of that year. He has been the best buddy I've had since.

Then I got to thinking today that somewhere I had pictures of Mick from when I had first adopted him. Which I do, though the amount of digging I have to do - egads I'm super bad at file naming! And not to mention I have a bazillion bazillion pictures in a bazillion more folders!!! But I did manage to find some from the earlier days.

And what a change!
Mick at approx 1 year and now at approx 8
(approx as Mick was originally a stray before I adopted him)

And because Princess Fatty Fat Icey has a birthday coming up, I did a set for her as well!

Icey at 1 year and now at almost 7

 

Writing this makes me wish I was home, snuggly with my gang. And having the pictures makes me glad that I can look back on how small both Icey and Mick once were and how much they've changed!

New Lens!

Or at least new to me!

Its a used Nikon mount Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. Its an older generation of this model of lens, so it is the one without the VC or BIM (vibration control and built in motor if you are curious).

I snagged it on Ebay for $290, had a couple of issues with making the payment, but it finally went through this past Monday. Then the waiting game. Due to arrive, but it wasn't with the mail when the mailman stopped, though the envelope from Lisa at Josa Bloom came! The dogs got the cutest camera charms for their collars! Lisa even made a necklace for me with one! Happiness! Alas, no lens though. Had a notion to check the address it was sent out to. Turns out, as per a brain fart, I had had the lens sent across town, to my friend's house. Now at least I knew where the lens was suppose to be, but I had no idea if they had tried to deliver it or not. Called my friend, played phone tag and learned that the package had arrived and had been signed for. Happiness and relief! I snagged the lens from his house, stopped by Caribou Coffee to visit another friend and for some tasty caffeine, and just as quickly went home and popped the lens on my camera!

This lens is in beautiful shape. Barely any dust on the barrel, and both the front and rear glass elements were clean and clear of gunk, dust or grime. There was a fingerprint on the rear glass, but it buffed out with a lens cloth. The build of this lens is very solid with a nice heft to it in comparison to my 50 mm f1.8 I had just had on my camera. Sizewise its similar to my 10-24mm (also by Tamron).

After I finished gawking at the lens now mounted on my Nikon, I rounded up the dogs and went outside to shoot some test pictures. It took a little bit to get use to zooming out from 50mm or even zooming into it, but it quickly came back to me. And man is this lens sharp! On my camera's screen it looked a little off, but zooming in quickly showed how tack sharp the focus areas were! This was instant love for me! Very quiet lens, quick to autofocus, f2.8 is sharp, though stopping down a bit is a touch sharper. It did give me a tiny bit of a blueish tint, but adjusting the white balance easily fixed it.

Visited the bf's parents house and photographed their golden retrievers and the lens did really well in the low light, minus that moving dogs in low light are hard to photograph even with a f1.8 lens!

Thus far, I love this lens! Its sharp, fast, quiet and gives me the midrange focal lengths I was missing.


Below is Mick at both 17mm & 50mm @ f2.8 - sharp with nice smooth bokah/blur - Don't mind my cluttery apartment, these pictures were purely for testing the lens!

Someone wants to mooch off my Campfire Mocha from Caribou...

Don't forget the googly eyes...

Reba and Willow! Willow is a squirmy 2 year old, and Reba is a laid back 7 year old. The easiest way to tell them apart? Reba has longer hair on her ears!

Learnings

I know I touched on what I learned at the Tri County Humane Society. Perhaps there is more to be learned from shelter dogs.

Photographing your own dogs is easy. Photographing other people's dogs or shelter dogs is... creative. Each dog has its own personality and motivation. From living with dogs you learn each quirk to produce a result. Icey will give a head tilt with a open panting mouth when she's talked to - the ultimate happy smiling dog. Axle gives 100% focus with a ball or a treat - where ever it goes his eyes will follow and he will perform any command asked. Mick loves treats and focuses the best, otherwise he is more apt to look at everything other than a camera. From living with Mick and Icey for 6 years and Axle for a year I know what to say to catch their attention for a perked up look - outside, walk, squirrel and cookie are a couple of the key words.

Now introduce a shelter dog. He's been in his kennel all day, let out to go to the bathroom. There has been a plethora of faces and people looking him over, but no one picks him yet. Enter me, on a mission to capture a portrait that advertises this shelter dog to be happy healthy and perfect to adopt! Easy enough.... well sort of. Of the 5 dogs I photographed yesterday, 2 were energetic - Walter as a bouncy energetic BIG lab with a sporting dog focus (which can be a bit scatterbrained at times) while Copper's energy was snuggly, squirmy puppy energy. Sage the 2 month old pup was a typical puppy with no focus other than to play and chew. Louie was nervous and out of his element, though he wanted to be closer to me than away. And the lovely beagle Dezie wasn't interested in much interaction with me. She was super calm and laid back, but mostly wanted out.

So motivation for them was... super creative. Walter would do a beautiful sit at attention for a treat but only shortly. Copper was all eyes on me when he wasn't stuffing himself under my arm, camera and in my face to kiss kiss kiss - which was 90% of the time. He was interested in the ball to chase, and would chase the treats I threw, but wasn't food motivated or ball motivated. Sage was attracted by sounds, but inconsistently so to the passerby the room had some crazed sound machine installed. A sparkly bit of tinsel was an attention getter until it was more of something to eat. Louie didn't respond to words, the ball, the squeak or treats but his eyes would focus on me when my shutter would click and his ears would perk up. Dezie responded to the words outside and go - though I did almost give up on her. Luckily just as I was about to call it quits and try a different time, she responded to me. The cool thing with having patience with these dogs is getting a glimpse of their motivation as well as part of their personality!

Now when it comes to photographing other people's dogs its the same creative motivation finding as with a shelter dog, though in a more comfortable atmosphere and often with the owner's help. In the same instances as with the shelter dogs, there's different energy and personalities that go with each dog. I've known a large amount of labs, some a mellow as a cucumber others that are bouncy drooly fiends that go gaga over a ball. So my ready supply of key words often don't translate to dogs other than my own. The result? Not frustration, but patience and creativity.

What I learned:
Motivation is to each his own for each dog and shelter situations make it more creative to find.
Energy levels can be little to way over the top and take talent to coax or tame
Patience goes a long way
I still love dogs and love to photograph them!
Most dogs have the basic understanding of commands, whether they follow them is another thing!

1st Day Humane Society!

Greetings all! Yesterday was my first day photographing the animals at Tri County Humane Society! It was tons and fun and quite the challenge! Today it was dogs only!

Things I learned:
I love dogs.
I love photographing dogs.
My dogs are crazy well trained.
Shelter dogs are bundles of energy, motivated by treats, toys, and snuggles.
They know everything from basic commands to an extensive list or nothing at all!
Patience to wait for the right moment even when nothing wants to work out.

Definitely a learning process! I would love to be able to photograph each dog after he or she has been adopted and living in a new happy home!

•••
This is Louie! He's a wirehaired small terrier mix who's looking for a new home! He's small, quiet and shy and would love to have a quiet family to love him. He's an older gentleman at 10 years old but still has lots of love to give!

Walter (the stray). Walter is a moose for lack of other words. He is a big lab, with big feet, a big nose, big tail and long tongue. He had a lot of energy and was motivated by treats. He also pooped on my floor! Despite his size and energy, he walks well on a leash. 

 Dezie is a sweet beagle girl looking for a quiet home of her own. She wasn't sure of the floor or me, but when I asked if she wanted to go outside she gave me the cutest head tilt!

The puppy fluff ball Sage! Two months old and all puppy, she's a fluffy chow/retriever mix who had a taste for chewing on my floor, me and my camera!

 

And the last dog of the day was Copper. He's a cute pup, 4 months old and leggy with a wirehair coat that makes a cute mohawk on his nose. He is also a super snuggler and kisser! He wanted to be as close as possible to me (which made it hard to get more than headshots!) and kiss my face over and over! He's shy in his kennel, but he has tons of funny puppy energy and personality! If I didn't have 3 of my own, I would snag him in a heartbeat!

 

 I can't wait until next time! Might even get time to get some pictures of kitties too!

Snow, Collars and Willmar Humane Society!

So much has happened since the last time I wrote, so bear with me if this gets a little lengthy!

•••
First things first - ZOMBIE COLLARS!!! These are the coolest, most awesome dog collars ever! Now prior to getting the collars was the worst waiting period ever. Lisa at Josa Bloom (who hand creates unique cute dog collars) had come across some zombie fabric. And I being the zombie lover I am promptly stated to sign me up for three of them! She and I decided to do a trade - with me photographing a collection of collars and the zombie collars would be my payment. Probably the best trade system around! Not only do I get zombie collars, I get to photograph the other super cute collars she sent too! So that was the easy part. The waiting for the shipping was the worst! The collars were coming out of Colorado where Josa Bloom is based and I had no idea what the zombie collars were going to look like. So I waited, and waited. And waited. Finally there was a white priority box in my entryway! Happy dance, happy dance time!!!

Here are the zombie collars!! The top one with green on the edges and back is Mick's, the middle with the blue is Axle's and the bottom one is Icey's girlie collar with zombies!

 

 

And since there were new collars to wear it means its time for a photoshoot! It was cold and chilly, with a dusting of new snow. The dogs and I revisited the half abandoned grain company, this time armed with treats - which didn't help capture the dog's attention at all!

 

•••

I love getting out and photographing the gang! Later in the evening, as I was munching on radishes I managed to "break" my permanent retainer - basically because the radish was so crunchy it put too much pressure on the wire causing it to snap out of the concrete that was holding it in place. Which meant I needed to make a trip to my orthodontist in Willmar, MN. So Friday rolled around, attended my appointment (eww new concrete taste!) then afterwards headed to Hawk Creek Humane Society.

Wonderful, clean shelter with a good handful of animals who need homes. Earlier in the week I had had some communication about volunteering my photography skills, but they already had a photographer who was going to be part of the staff. Doesn't mean I still didn't snag some pictures of the animals!

My personal favorite was Bender, the cute as a button pittie! He was very smiley, and a happy go lucky guy with a love for his blue half destroyed chew toy that he would fetch, tail wagging away!

The second favorite dog of the day was Dax. He was a crazy bundle of energy and derpyness. He was a rottweiler shepherd mix and carried traits of both parents. He was a snuggler, so eye level shots were mostly out of the question as he wanted to eat my camera as well as pounce on me!

There were a handful of other dogs, but I didn't stop to snag any pictures of them as I was starting to miss my dogs at home! On the way out the cat rooms caught my eye, so I popped into one. There are 3 different cat rooms at Hawk Creek - two are free roaming rooms where cats that get along are able to lounge on a window or ledge or interact with the other cats in the room. There is also a standard kennel room with cats in it. I visited both cat rooms, but only was able to snap pictures of the first gang.

The cat room residents; Bells, Molly, Chloe, Irina, Butter Rum and Butter Rum's toes.

•••
Onward with the adventure! I mentioned waaaay above at the beginning of this post that I was doing a trade with Lisa at Josa Bloom for photography of her collars. I hadn't gotten around to shooting pictures of the sushi collars, mustache, classic car collars or the rockabilly set (collar and leash - kind of want a zombie leash....). The other day I loaded up the dogs and we wandered around town searching for the perfect backdrops. Mick and Axle were the lucky models as Icey's neck is on the big side - she's fluffy for the winter! Scouted out some old cars as well, though they didn't photograph nearly as the way I could see them in my head.

•••
Yesterday a big beautiful baby blizzard (called Nemo) breezed through central Minnesota and dropped a solid 6 inches plus of fluffy white snow. Naturally it was so pretty and inviting that I had to snag my camera and let the dogs play in it!

This is a before and after shot of Icey in her snow camo!

•••
Another bit of news ~ ebay finally let me pay for a Tamron 17-55 f2.8 lens that I bought on Friday. It should be here on the 14th or 15th! Super excited!!! Stay tuned for more collar pictures as well as pictures from the humane society tomorrow!

And once more apologies for the long writing, but there was so much to share from the last time I wrote!

Testing

Just testing the update...

Short Recap

Once more its snowing. Nice fluffy lazy snowflakes, doing their best to make the world (at least this part of Minnesota) as pretty as possible. I might take the dogs out for a shoot later...

Humane society day 2 - this was the "photography" training day. Myself and another volunteer went through the steps of who to shoot, how to shoot, backdrops, handling animals etc. Wish I would have snapped a quick shot of one of the dogs who had both of his feet in his water bucket as our little group waited for the all in one room to open up. For the most part the information was short and sweet. The other volunteer headed out and Kim let me know more about some special upcoming projects that the shelter would use my photography skills for. I'm super stoked to be a part of the volunteer team at the Tri County Humane Society!

Oh and the vinyl floor I bought that looks like a wood floor - I can use it! Yay!

Now I need to snag a new (or new to me) lens!