Santa visits Dog Grin Photography

Santa paid a visit to me over the Christmas holiday via one of his UPS messengers. Wrapped amidst some bubble wrap, inside a #4 brown cardboard shipping box was a new copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2! Just what I've ALWAYS wanted! How did Santa know???

I've been reading about the virtues of Lightroom on blogs by some excellent dog photographers like Erin Vey and Jamie Pflughoeft (don't ask me how to say that last one), and decided that Lightroom 2 was the next thing to tackle in the never-ending quest to master this crazy thing we call...photography. I already own all kinds of photo editing software but this one seems to be a real time saver when it comes to "workflow", the process of taking an image from your digital media through a series of edits and file conversions to ultimately wind up with a finished product. The trick is to do this in the least number of steps possible to save time and to do the least amount of damage to the file. Unnecessary steps or conversions can damage an image by degrading it's quality - and that's always bad. The time savings becomes important when you come home from a shoot with 400 images that need to be kept or tossed - cropped, color corrected, tweaked, touched up, and finally saved (with a backup of course).

Every photographer has a different workflow. Mine is still under development, especially with this new tool in the toolbox. I fully expect it to become much more streamlined and efficient in the very near future. That will leave me with more time to cruise the web sites looking for great deals on Canon camera equipment so I can work on THAT toolbox. :)

More on Lightroom 2 to come after I drive it around the block a few times and kick the virtual tires.

Dogs Welcoming Home Soldiers

Here's a link to a series of home movies of dogs doing just what the title says...welcoming home their friends who had to defend our country. Some of them are quite touching. It's just amazes me how much affection an animal can show and how ingrained dogs have become into our society.  

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/40324

Bountiful Beagles!

Last week I had a chance to meet up with a couple of Beagle pups - six month old Daisy and her brother Oliver. These guys live in downtown Madison and greeted me with a familiar Arr-oooooo when I walked into their home. After a few minutes of ear licking and furious sniffing (my camera bag must smell like 20 different dogs by now) we were all best buds.

During the 45 minutes I was there, I witnessed the complete destruction of a new stuffed animal. After pulling out every possible piece of stuffing, the prize was unveiled...the squeaker - which mom promptly took away and put on a table. One of my favorite shots came out of this event. The shot of Oliver standing amidst the explosion of stuffing scattered all over the carpeting. I still chuckle every time I see it.

 

A brief jingle of their collars was all that was required to wake them from a very brief nap on the sofa. Oliver and Daisy knew exactly where the elevator was and bolted for it the second the door opened. Then it was off to the Wisconsin State Capitol (or is it Capital, I can never remember).

While living downtown might not be super great for wide open spaces and walking dogs off-leash, it sure is good for sightseeing. I never get tired of the architecture and contrast of modern buildings sitting alongside 100 year old buildings. The Beagles seemed right at home, bounding up the capitol steps like they live there (it's capitol...I looked it up).

After all that excitement, a four hour power nap was required to recharge the Beagle batteries according to their mom. The next day, we met up again at a dog park in Verona and got some good shots of the dogs bounding through the snow and attempting to steal a pink tennis ball away from a Golden Retriever. They actually worked as a team, Oliver distracting the dog and Daisy sneaking in for a quick grab before getting chased down and coughing up the ball.

Good times in the cold, Wisconsin weather. Stuffed animal destruction, walks in the snow, and pink tennis balls. If you are six months old and a Beagle, it doesn't get any better!

(Click on photos to see larger version)

Tuckered out...

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a chance to spend a little time with Tucker the Cocker Spaniel. He also happens to be a dog-in-law. When my niece Katie is home from college, you can find Tucker and Katie together somewhere.

Tucker, who's a bit of a counter surfer, happened to be a tad over-stimulated with all of the Thanksgiving meal preparations under way. He did a pretty good job of making sure the floor was a no-food-zone too.

It's pretty obvious that Katie is Tucker's keeper. While he gets along with everybody, he mostly hung out on Katie's lap.

(Elvis impersonation)            

Happy holidays Tucker and everybody!

(click on photos to see larger version)

Black dog times two

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a chance to stop over to my nephew's house to meet-n-greet his dog Ruben and meet his new dog Race. Ruben was quick to warm up to me and my camera bag (which is collecting LOTS of dog smell these days). He was giving me some play bows in the living room about 5 minutes after I got there. Race, on the other hand, was having nothing to do with the strange stranger with the camera. We'd have to try and warm up to each other later as he decided to bail and wait me out in the bedroom.

Ruben was much more accommodating. Up on the sofa, his eye color turned out pretty awesome with the background. The lighting was courtesy of a nice, sunny day and a north facing window.

Christmas lights were on the tree already and that worked out well for me. I liked how this picture turned out when Ruben decided to take a break on the living room floor.

Here are a couple more random pictures of Ruben. My goal when I do a photo shoot is to document the dog and his/her environment. Some people might be expecting a Glamor Shots kind of picture when they hear I do "dog photography" but that is exactly the kind of thing I try to avoid.

One of my favorite pictures is the top one of my great-niece Emma and her dog Race. From a photographer's standpoint, it's a pretty bland shot but from a cuteness standpoint it's awesome. Race was still being very shy and wouldn't leave the side of the house to interact with us so Emma marched over and sat next to him and struck up a conversation. That put him at ease enough for me to get the tight shot of her and Race.

Thank you Emma, Race and Ruben for a nice, day-after-Thanksgiving photo shoot!
(click on the photos for larger size)

Hank and Chug

I first met Chug (left), yet unnamed, at the Madison vet clinic where his mom works. During a visit with my dog, one of the other vets said to me, "You have to see this!" and walked off. When he returned, he held out this little bulldog puppy that I quickly took from him. What a cool dog!

Turns out, all was not well with Mr. Chug (the name a combination of Chihuahua and Pug, in case you were wondering). After being in his new home for about a week, he developed some serious health issues and there were concerns about his survival. But, after some heavy duty treatment, he pulled through.

Though not completely out of the woods, Chug and his older brother Hank were full of energy and life when I met them at their home in Madison. Hank, being 8 years old, had significantly less energy than the new puppy but when somebody brought out a soccer ball...LOOK OUT! Hank morphed into a crazed animal - chasing the ball all over the street at top speed until he "caught" the ball a short time later and used his powerful jaws to deflate the ball. Game over.

They were great dogs to work with and hopefully Chug will continue to do well as he grow up. He does have pretty good home health care after all.

Thanks to Hank and Chug for a fun morning!
(click on images for a larger view)

Buddy the Collie

Now that November is here, the number of nice Wisconsin days are getting fewer and further between. We recently enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day with warm temps and a visit from a neighborhood friend. Actually, two of them.

Buddy the Collie and his mom Jo stopped over for a little photo shoot. Jo is pretty much the premier dog walker in our area and I thought it would be fun to get some shots of them. She and Buddy make the rounds every day, rain or shine and that can be a challenge in this area of the world where the temperature can go from 100 degrees to -20 degrees in 6 months time.

Buddy, and Jo's last dog Scottie, are both from collie rescues.

Jo has owned ten or so Collies in her life. As a retired nurse, I'm sure Jo has saved a number of lives and comforted countless others in her career. And now, she can add two Collies to the list.

More Cloey...

Earlier this summer, I stopped by the home of Cloey and Pandy for a morning photo shoot. I posted some pictures of Pandy, but never got around to posting more of Cloey...so, here they are!

 

 

 

 

 

They were great dogs and we had a good time. Sorry for taking so long to get your pictures up, Cloey!