Christmas Cards Anyone?

Hot of the press, here's our 2009 prototype:

Last year, last minute we produced a Christmas card from a picture of our pooches. We received so many comments that we decided to offer cards this year to anyone who might be interested.

Suzie and I had a blast last night shooting this shot and some long-overdue individual portraits of Wyatt, Josie and Cisco. (I'll post some, and a introduction to Cisco, our Pound Puppy and resident devil, soon.)

I prefer an all-white background but other colors can work too. It's all a matter of personal taste. We searched in vain for Santa-type Christmas caps this weekend but came up empty. It turns out everything is seasonal. So this may not be the image we send out...

Drop me a line or call if you are interested in a card of your pooch(es). The sooner the better as it is already mid-October.

Portrait Gallery Update

It's long overdue but I'm finally posting an updated gallery. If your name is Cesar, Markie MACH, Jessie or Zeus, you'll wanna check yourself out!

That's Cesar up top. I played around with this particular shot a little to try and highlight his spectacular beard and salt and pepper coat. I wonder if Doggy Photographer Heaven isn't a place where you can shoot portraits of Schnauzers and agility shots of Briards, Havanese and different spaniels in flight with their ears floating like they do...

DOCNA AGILITY - Grand Junction Style!

Here's the link: Grand Junction Agility Photos

Suzie and I (and Wyatt and Josie) had such a great time this past weekend. Y'all know how to put on a trial. Thanks so much to Cathy Stampe for letting me come and shoot the trial, and to the whole Junction Gang for being such great hosts. I see the Airport Motel 6 and Grand Junction as a regular stop for us!

An observation: while Utah rules (the nation!) in the whole birthrate thing, Colorado seems to be producing a significantly higher percentage of junior handlers. It was really great to see Kaitlyn, Levi, Mauryn and their young peers just tearing up the courses! (Levi's Jumpers run on Saturday, his first run ever if I'm not mistaken, put a HUGE smile on my face.)

Levi Hatch and Mater

Enjoy the photos!

New & Improved Great Salt Lake Agility Gallery!

(Or Keith Finally Gets Off His Rump and Posts Sunday's Photos)

Jorel

Hi all!

I was away all of last week without a good internet connection. (How we take it for granted.) Got home Friday in time to repack and head to Grand Junction for a DOCNA trial. More on that tomorrow, I hope.

Anyway, I FINALLY added Sunday's photos here: Great Salt Lake Combined Gallery.

Enjoy.

PS. I am swamped with orders. I'm trying to get caught up this week. I appreciate everyone's patience.

PSS. I seem to be posting too few photos lately. Let's catch up a little bit:

Emma

Trace Soaring

(Give that dog a cape!)

Ernie Page and Emma

(Could Ernie or Emma have offered some form of compensaton to be pictured twice in one blog entry? No comment!)

Zoomie

(and those great ears!)

Popeye

(Nobody, and I mean nobody works as hard as Melinda Gaines to get the most out of their partner!)

Great Salt Lake Agility Combined Gallery

(Ben, Darlene Cologna's Havanese)

Here's the link to a gallery from Friday and Saturday: GSL Agility Photos

Whew! A three day trial three days after four days at Lynnleigh?! GREAT event but I don't know how you all (me too?) do it sometimes. I didn't even run Wyatt this show and I'm exhausted. Crazy from the sun maybe.

Big BIG thanks to the Geat Salt Lake Dog Training Club for putting on their usual well-run show. Amazing how it flowed. Judge Mark Upshaw had something to do with that as well.

Note that with this gallery prices for high- and low-res jpegs have returned. These were omitted from the last few galleries due to my (coding) negligence. So, my bad! Until I make the changes to the IKC/GIV trial gallery, know that you can get jpegs from those or any other show I've shot.

If you didn't stop by our display, here's the new style we're offering for 8 1/2 x 11 prints ("8x10" in the shopping cart):

These went over well at the show, so well that this will be a permanent option; feel free to order this style from older galleries as well. Just specify "with text" when placing an order. (Click on the photo for a larger preview.)

Thanks everyone! I enjoyed shooting your dogs!

Group IV AKC Agility Photos

UPDATE: Hereare the photos for Monday. Apologies for the delay in posting these!

The link: Group IV Agility Photos, Monday, Sep 09

Here the link to Sunday's offerings for the Group IV trial. (Monday to follow.)

Group IV AKC Agility Photos

(MACH ADCH Lexie, Andrea & Pat Milburn)

The big news of the weekend was, of course, Andrea Waldon & Lexie's MACH. Pretty inspiring stuff. Congratulations!

IKC Lynnleigh Trial Photos

(Kim Wabel's Daniel)

Hot off the press, Friday and and Saturday's photos!

Here's the link:

September Lynnleigh IKC Agility Trial

It's Monday morning as I post these and we're scrambling to get out the door for today's runs so that's all for this post.

Sprint Racing... or, Amazingly Fast Dogs

I had the opportunity to shoot sprint racing this weekend at Jack and Mary Lewis' home track in Riverton. I don't think words -- or even photos -- do these dogs justice in terms of understanding just how truly fast they are; it has to be seen to be believed.

Breeds represented were Whippets (above), Borzois (below), Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Italian Greyhounds, Basenjis, Salukis and a way cute Pharoah Hound puppy -- a young champion in the making?

Hit this link to see photos of the races and (some) practice runs:

IWRO/LGRA Sprints

(Note: After the link, please ignore the paragraph at top of the page. This is from a template I typically use for Agility. I've used it in the interest of quickly getting these photos on line for all to view.)

Thanks very much to Liz Campbell for introducing me to the sport and to Jack and Mary for letting me come out and shoot!

Nothing afte the jump this post.

DOCNA Camp GittaQ Agility

Here's the link to the Saturday and Sunday combined gallery: CampGittaQ

(That Christa has a way with words, no?)

Among my favorite captures this time around is this simple shot of Linda Newby and Wunder. I've been roundly chastised for posting unflattering people shots -- and YES, dear agilophiles, I'm trying to do better! But in this shot Linda looks as cool as the other side of the pillow. And Wunder's got that muscular, Doberman-black-sheen thing going on. Oh yeah, he's a good looking boy! (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

On the other side of the spectrum is Daisy Mae, Shannon Paulson's All American. Her signature weave 'dismount' is a sight to behold. I got lucky and caught Miss Daisy at the right time here. I wasn't as lucky on one of her equally spectacular teeter dismounts.

And how was our weekend? Well, it was the best of times and...

Wyatt and I had our best day ever on Saturday: Double Q and easily our best Jumpers run EVER at 5.29 yps! (Dang you Christa for going 5.6 or something amazing like that with Annie on Sunday. We have a little corgi rivalry going on.) But more importantly, Wyatt was happy to be there. Perhaps we should've quit while we were ahead because on Sunday, oh my, we did have our problems in both standard runs. I blame myself. We got some of our enthusiasm back for our final jumpers run though. And it was still a great day at a great trial!

Oh, and lest I forget, Suzie and Little Miss Josie had three really nice runs on Sunday. Josie pretty much nailed her weave entries in Standard (a first) and but for one jump that somehow got right in Josie's way, they would've had a clean Jumpers run as well. Big Thanks to Jim Mills for some great and timely handling advice for Suzie prior to those runs. I think it helped. A lot. (We'll both be attending Jim's seminars in Grand Junction come September.)

Enjoy the gallery!

Four Star USDAA Trial

Here are the links to galleries for the Four Star USDAA Agility Trial held at Lynnleigh this past weekend.

Team (Friday)

Regular Trial (Saturday and Sunday)

Briefly:

I don't think I've ever seen as many extremely high-level handlers at one event...

One of my favorite shots...

I'm starting to see a pattern here with the rain. (Let's hope for clear skies for DOCNA this weekend!) It wasn't the greatest weather to shoot in at times but I do like what the rain added to this chute shot. (Click on it for a slightly larger view.)

As for Team Wyatt, in P I Jumpers, the young man gave me his absolute best run ever. It was fittingly the very last run of the trial and was judged by LaVar, who has been full of encouragement for me and W since our debut in March.

Big Congratulations to both LaVar and TJ Mazur for their judging debut.

I'll try and post a few of my favorite shots this week. Some phenomenal weaves and pretty cool broadjumps come to mind.

It was nice meeting a bunch of you and seeing new/old friends.

Thanks for visiting.

Great Salt Lake Trial Combined Gallery

Sunday was WET. Hats off to everyone who toughed it out. 

I shot very, very little but came away with a few keepers, including this CUTE shot of Forrest exiting, no, make that floating, out of a tunnel!  You go Forrest!

I've combined both days in one gallery -- something I hope to start doing regularly. And it's here: GSL Combined

Thanks to Wendy, Melissa (and the Chihuahua Crew), George and everyone at the Great Salt Lake Dog Training Club for putting on another nice event. Looking forward to their September trial.

Also, special congratulations to Adrianne Belger and Dune on their Novice Standard title! That's them here:

I leave you with a shot of Derby that just makes me smile! (Click on it for a nice big view.)

Great Salt Lake AKC Agility Trial

Here's the link to today's shots: GSLDTC Agility

The courses seemed to lend themselves more to jumps today. Lots and lots and lots of jumps.

Here's one of my faves:

We began printing on-site today, which went over pretty well. Folks seem to like the idea of ordering and receiving prints on the spot. Weather and technology permitting, we'll do the same tomorrow. 

See you then!

Game Over!

And what a nice trial it was. 

Thanks to ALL the GOOD folks at the Group IV Terrier Club for putting on this event. Thanks as well for allowing me to shoot. 

I only shot Open and Novice classes today. And there weren't really a lot of participants to shoot...

Here's a link: Sunday Photos

Sunday's shots

Today's shots: GIV Agility

Kristin and Gyp were awesome today. I like this particular shot for what it is visually and because it reminds me of Kristin, an EXCELLENT young handler who seems to have these sort of intense conversations with her dogs during her runs, moreso than most of us. I believe they gained something like 85 speed points today. I'm not really sure what that means but I think it's good. (Laugh at me tomorrow if this is some impossible number or simply for my sheer lack of knowledge on the subject!)

Because of the rain and because I ran Wyatt (who did GREAT today), I only shot Excellent Standard. Apologies to other classes.

It was great visiting with folks who came by the tent today to check out photos. I'll fill orders tonight and welcome anything that comes in next week. The online ordering process is pretty straightforward. I try to turn orders around in less than a week.

Hasta Manana

More Group IV Terrier Club Agility

Today's shots are up and here's the link: Saturday's Photos

I ran Wyatt (above) today -- and Suzie ran him twice. Hmmm. He is supposed to be my dog now. I guess if you define 'mine' as one-third of the time, then yes, Wyatt's my dog. (Mind you, she's also running Josie!) That girl just can't let go! 

Not a Q in sight but we had FUN. I've heard from several friends so far this weekend that getting little pieces is fine but that it's frustrating when it's just little pieces time after time. I hear you but I guess it's all about perspective... Wyatt had flat out had enough at last weekend's ASCA trial in particular and more and more in general lately. So to get the little pieces (big pieces, actually) that we got today was a lot better than the alternative...

See you on site tomorrow!

Group IV AKC Agility Photos

OK, here are some shots from today: Group IV Agility

A little heavy on the weaves -- my weakness -- but plenty of jumps and other stuff as well... I think this is one of Nona's briard's again. Don't you just love that hair!

You can either order online or find me at the trial if you're interested in a photo -- I can print a small number of shots each day -- or if you have a specific 'want' for your dog.

Enjoy!

Jessie - with a dog's point of view!

So, what are they thinking when you plop 'em down in front of the lights??? Well, here's a recent conversation with Jessie, Dot's striking dalmation...

Me: Jessie, hey. Good to see you. We'll have you sit right here.

Jessie: Here? Let's get this over with. [Yawns] Already bored!

.Me: Aw, c'mon, Jessie. It'll be fun.

Jessie: Not listening Mr. Photographer man. Going to sleep now.

Me: Would you do it for a cookie?

Jessie: Hmm. Where do I look?

Jessie: How's this?

Awww. Thank you, Jessie!

Hee hee. Truth be told Jessie was far from uncooperative! We actually had what we needed in the first few shots. It was only later that we caught that great yawn and the precise moment of the blink...

Merlin -- The Cat?

Yes, that's right: Merlin is a cat.

This is apparently clear to everyone except... Merlin, an 18 year old domestic long hair who has been with his owner, Denise, all of his life, and more than half of hers. But after our "sitting" you'd think he's a much, much younger man. 

When Denise asked me to shoot Merlin, I had reservations. I thought there was no way a cat was going to sit for the camera, especially for any length of time. But after Merlin got comfortable with strangers in the house -- Suzie gaffed (controlled the lighting) for me -- Merlin did in fact sit pretty, on his terms, in his favorite spot on the couch.

With the late afternoon sun coming through a window from the right, this shot almost lit itself. I just added some fill flash from Merlin's left. So the cool thing here was that Merlin, being the boss of me in this particular situation, actually helped/forced me try something new. 

The stalking shot is the one that most resonates with Denise though. It reminds her more of the active, dare I say something of a Bad A** Merlin was in his prime: a houdini, who could unlock kitty carriers and open doors, a thief, of jewelry and all things shiny, and an antagonizer of dogs.

Truth be told, I'm not entirely happy with the online versions of these shots. We went for -- and got -- some truly dramatic stuff. The Print of Merlin in the grass is, if I do say so myself, amazing. Surprised me, even. (Picking up a portrait at the lab, having that first look, is a such great feeling.)  If you know Denise, don't take my word for it. Drop in on her and check it out -- she'll ply you with her latest batch of homemade cookies and you won't want to leave! 

(Nothing after the jump this post.)

Agility crops... I'm starting to get it.

Both at the trial and in a few orders that came in this morning, I was asked about cropping photos. Here are two crops of Trace, Laurie Spease's very quick little corgi, which Laurie just ordered. Pretty good stuff. I especially like the jump. These examples are very tight crops of shots in which handler and dog were on the far end of the course but they will print up nicely.

So, yes, I can do crops! There's a comments section in the online ordering system where you can state your crop preference, or you can call or email and let me know what you'd like done. 

But I say this with a caveat: if there is an ocassion where the crop is just too extreme, I'll tell you I'd rather not do it -- and I'll work to get you the shot you want next time. Why? Because frankly, I've just seen too much inferior quality stuff over the years, stuff you all have paid good money for. Stuff that, in my humble opinioin, shouldn't have been allowed to see the light of day. And I don't want to be that guy...

Posting some portraits later today or tomorrow. Stay tuned! And rest up for Lynn Leigh!

Muddy Paws, Day 2

Here's the link: Day 2 of the ASCA Muddy Paws Agility Trial

(See the entry below or look under "Sites & Galleries" for yesterday's link.)

I didn't shoot nearly as much today. If you didn't trial Saturday, I tried to get you today. I shot the snot out of this briard (above); couldn't help myself!

On a personal level, Wyatt and I didn't have such a good day. The young man just did not want to run. Suzie and Josie did okay though. Methinks Josie is one to watch. It's gonna be a little while yet, but she's getting there!

Thanks for looking!

ASCA Muddy Paws Agility

Here's the link:  Day 1 of the ASCA Muddy Paws Agility Trial

I think I shot too much... 

More to come tomorrow. Enjoy!

All the way from Ohio... meet Toby

What to do on vacation, on the road, far away from your comfortable home studio environment, when you want a portrait of a very important person.... err, companion animal, who means the world to his family, and who happens to be... family? You enlist your brother-in-law to serve as set designer (yeah Jeff!), throw up a few sheets and turn an ordinary foyer into a home-away-from-home studio.

The end result is this shot of Toby, a three year old Corgi of the Pembroke variety. Hard to believe it, especialy when you spend a little time around him, but Toby was actually given up by his first owners and became a rescue dog before landing in his forever home with Jeff, Lillian, Catherine and Michael.

And since we think of them as cousins, we couldn't pass up the chance to get a shot of Toby with Wyatt (our corgi).

As corgis go, they couldn't physically be more different, with Wyatt's long, lean body and that fluffy coat, compared to Toby's stocky linebacker-like build with his beautiful short hair. Surely there's not a female corgi who wouldn't absolutely drool over one or maybe even BOTH of them!

Probably the most remarkable thing about Toby is his drive. We had serious discussions about whether to whisk him away in the middle of the night and make him Super Agility Corgi but for some reason we thought better of it...

(Nothing after the jump this post.)

Agility Photos!

It took much more work than I thought, but I've finally built an online 'storefront' for last weekend's USDAA Agility Trial in South Jordan! 

Here's a link to the gallery:  Agility Photos!

It was a wet but fun weekend and we had a blast. Wyatt, our litte bundle of paradox, (above) ran much faster than usual, probably because of the cool weather and the fact that we are now running him at 8" instead of 12". Had I not been guilty of some poor handling at a key moment in Steeplechase, we might've even finished in the money!

As for the photos, the site is organized in sections; select your class and go right to it. I'm new to the crazy world of html (code) so please, please let me know if there are any issues. 

We are now only taking orders by e-mail, telephone and snail mail but we hope to be set up with PayPal soon.

Enjoy the gallery!

Cesar

This week we were able to sit down with Cesar, a standard Schnauzer.

Cesar and his owner Marianne have been a fixture in local agility and obedience circles. He is currently working on his UD in obedience and a MACH (Masters Agility Champion, I think). Advancing this far is a pretty big deal, especially for a schnauzer.

For our shoot all that training and discipline meant "Ceeze" could hold a pose, like, FOREVER!

We tried several different lighting set-ups and came away with an extremely high number of keepers, thanks to his spectacularly good looks.

Here's a second shot:

(Nothing after the jump this posting.)

Tia & Callie

Sometimes I feel like I really nail a shot while at other times it really is all the dog. This photo of a pair of Australian Shepherds, Tia, on the left, and Callie is one of my favorites so far. That amazing look of Tia's gave me goose bumps the first time I pulled it up on a monitor.

Hit the 'read more' link for two more shots.




More Tia. So photogenic! Most of the shots of Tia that didn't turn out were errors on my part - bad focus or underexposure. It happens. But we came away with so many 'keepers' that Tia & Callie's owners, Coleen and Kevin, and I had a difficult time paring things down to a select few for printing.



This shot of Tia didn't make the cut -- for Coleen and Kevin anyway. It's one of my favorites though so I thought I would 

share.

What do you think?

Meet Mitzi!

... and David and Erin, too.

I tend to focus primarily on the dogs themselves but I also like shooting family portraits; either way, without fail, a sitting becomes a window into the love and affection we have for our companions. And in this case there was the doting -- lots and lots of doting -- over Mitzi. It was priceless. I knew it going in but our session confirmed that Mitzi means the world to David and Erin.
More after the jump.


Mitzi's a Miniature Schnauzer. She was 4 months old at the time of this photo. ManyMost dogs are just plain cute. Some have a sort of regal air about them. Mitzi has both. At her young age she hasn't spent a lot of time around other dogs, so it was great to see how she reacted to our Wyatt and Josie, who are both pretty gentle around younger animals. (I wonder if they feel the same sort of emotions we do around human babies?) It's thought that Mitzi may actually believe she's a person, so no telling what she thought of these two other... beings. She seemed a little timid at first but before long she was romping around, play bowing and having a blast with her new buddies.

Note Cards

Starting in March, I'll be adding note cards to my photographic quiver.

I'll use Josie here to illustrate the style -- very simple, just Jose against a white background. 

(Full disclosure and shameless plug: Josie is our girl. She's a big time cuddler with serious herding 'cred' in her lineage. She's two now. She almost killed us with abject fear last year when she ate a rug and had to have it surgically removed. This was no ordinary meal -- she ate the darn thing Lady and the Tramp style (think their spaghetti date). She unraveled it into a strand that ultimately went from her mouth all the way to her, hmmm, other end -- in one piece. I wanted to kill hug her and never let go.
More after the jump.
I got the idea for the cards this past Christmas after getting comments about a really hastily thrown together Christmas card:



We got so much positive feedback from this that we will be taking orders for Holiday Cards in September, possibly earlier. Here again, it's just shot against a simple white background, nothing to distract the eye from our subjects. 

(I've already introduced Wyatt and Josie. On the left is Digger. In January, just two weeks shy of his 15th birthday, Digger left us. I still can't 'talk' about it beyond that. We miss him a whole lot, but sadly his time had come.)



I'll leave you with this last example, a shot of Craig, a beautiful border collie. He's from strong herding stock as well (like Josie, from Idaho). Craig belongs to Marianne, a very good friend of ours. 
We'll be taking printed note cards of Craig, along with a few other samples, to our next agility trial. I think that will be the DOCNA trial March 14/15 at the Legacy Center in Farmington. I'll add a note to this post when we know for sure.

Thanks for visiting. I'll try and have another post up by Monday.

Enjoy your weekend!