Tri County Humane Society's Companion Walk!

September 7th, 2013 marked Tri County Humane Society's annual fundraising 5K Companion Walk (aka Woofstock). The weather was warm and humid, but there were plenty of kiddie pools and cooling off stations to make sure no people or dogs ended up over heating.

This was my first year at Woofstock, and I was lucky enough to be able to have a booth showcasing my photography at the event. Granted, I tended to meander and photograph all the dogs instead of manning my booth, but I believe it generated some solid interest or at least shade for people!

The walk started, but I did not get a chance to get to the front of the pack, so instead I jogged to roughly the middle, maneuvered between walkers and dogs and plopped down in the middle of the path and started shooting. Some dogs pulled their owners so that they could meet me before passing, while other dogs looked at me like I had gone crazy. One little pomeranian almost walked right into me, then growled at me because it was my fault it hadn't seen me!

Not only did dogs attend, but a cage of rats, some turtles and a pair of hermit crabs also made an appearance in support of Tri County.

The temperature kept rising, but that didn't stop the awesome frisbee dogs and agility dogs from showcasing their talents! Axle would do well at both, I wonder if there is a agility frisbee course?

The event was tons of fun and I took a bazillion pictures! I can't wait to attend next year's Companion Walk! If you'd like to join in, next year's even will be on Saturday September 13th! I might have my own frisbee or agility dog to show off!

Working at the Dog Wash!

**cue the music for Working at the Car Wash**

The weather was super nice, perfect for the Minnesota School of Business's Vet Tech program's dog wash! They didn't have metal buckets outside in the parking lot full to the brim with bubbles and dogs, but there was still some bubbles and dogs getting washed inside! In addition to getting a bath, the dogs also had their nails trimmed, anal gland expressed, ears cleaned and a blow dry at the end! In total 22 dogs attended the event. A couple of the dogs were repeats from last semester, so it was fun to see them again, as well as capture more formal pictures.

I had an awesome idea for using a wingback chair for a prop and luckily the week prior had come across a large perfect condition wingback chair for a steal of a price. Granted, most of the dogs weren't interested in sitting in the chair at all! Luckily there was a brick wall that worked for a backdrop, so the non-chair sitters weren't a total bust!

Thor, Chase, Daisy & Bailey

Gus, Duke, Peanut, Jake & Foxy

The wonderful Miss Tatum!

Kiki, Flash & Missy

Scout, Sammy, Shadow, Sprocket & Scrappy!

Woofie, Charlie, Toby & Tink

 Everyone's favorite swoon over the cuteness pair, Gus and Stella!

Sun/Lens Flare - 52 Week Project

I was super stoked about doing a sun/lens flare challenge! My backlighting images were starting to come together really well and I was planning on doing some scouting for a new area to shoot at. Then it rained, and rained another day. And was gloomy the following day! Not one ounce of sunlight anywhere!!! So just when I was thinking I would have to rent a tanning booth and create a "faux" sun (and a tan!) the clouds cleared for a tiny bit. Then went back into hiding when I decided to chase it. I did snag some shots with Icey and a little tiny sun flare though.

The next morning started promising for sunshine but quickly that promise was pushed away for some deep grey sky darkening rain clouds that poured for most of the morning. The clouds waned a bit, but returned shortly after I left work. A neighboring town (basically connected to St. Cloud) was hosting the last of its Ladies Night Out events so I snagged Icey, and all of my pictures and headed to For Little Dogs Grooming. The clouds rolled in, but didn't drop any rain. I was seriously thinking I was going to have to go the Wash and Tan just down the road when the clouds cleared up! There wasn't many areas to go as we were fairly downtown, but For Little Dogs is an old house with a pair of porches on it. And the back porch was generously accepting the sunshine. I got Icey setup in the doggie sweatshirt she was modeling for the night and snagged some pictures with the "play" camera. The play camera is a lended Sony A57 with an 18-55mm kit lens who's RAW files don't work with my Lightroom 3, sigh. But the results did turn out interesting...

Next up in the sun/lens flare challenge is Lina Tey of Petlense Photography!

Fiona and Otillia's Mini Session!

The other day I met will Fiona and Otillia's mom and she loved all of the images I managed to capture of her silly pair of french bulldogs! Now I get to show them off to you!

 These two have a frenchie/bulldog sister and lab brother, as well as a big human family, some chickens, ducks and cats! Perhaps I will get to meet them all! I'm thinking holiday pictures!

Recreate or Imitat - 52 Week Project

This week's challenge required us to recreate or imitate artwork from our favorite artists. Ummm.... I had a bit of a mind blank in thinking of who my favorite artist was. Then I remembered that growing up I had always loved William Wegman's weimaraners portraying characters in classic children's stories such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Mother Goose as well as a some of his other works featuring his fabulous weimaraners. Let the inspiring begin!

 

 Sadly the only wig I had was a mullet one (eek!) and I wasn't positively sure where it was offhand, so neither of my models, Axle and Icey, wore it. Instead of recreating a fair tale, I tried to personify my two dogs as people doing a common people thing - eating supper. Axle was not a fan of the storm trooper hoodie, nor the grey tank top, and was especially not sure about sitting on a chair next to the table with his feet upon it. He made it through a couple of shots, and decided to ditch. Leaving me with Icey. 

She is such a pro for modeling for me! She sat in the chair, wearing one of my button downs, one foot on the table, not minding the stinky catfish in front of her on the table (she wouldn't have eaten it anyway, she thought it was yucky!) and worked for dog biscuits. The lighting was poor at best, the walls were dark, and my super high ISO threatened to show too much noise... the result:

 

Yes my kitchen walls are really a rusty red color! But I love the way this turned out! A fun challenge! Next up visit the wonderful Lina Tay of Petlense Photography!

Word - 52 Week Project

This week's challenge for the Beautiful Beasties Network was word and/or words. Which meant pairing a word or saying with an image to help portray a meaning or emotion. I've been in a ball face mood lately, but I'm not sure there is a phrase that sums it up just right...

And just a set of three of Axle catching a ball without any words but lots of spit... 

Next up visit the wonderful pet photographer Stacey Gammon! Remember to click through all of the links until you end up back here!

Photographer in Action!

The wonderfully talented Kelsey Lee of Kelsey Lee Photography met up with me, her dad's schnauzer Russell in tow, to help me out with some photographer in action shots.

 

 This last set was staged a bit more than the others. It's hard to smile while squinting like Popeye!! 

And yes that is the lovely Miss Kelsey Lee behind Russell. I love how all of these turned out! 

A HUGE thank you to Kelsey Lee for shooting me in action!