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LMEimages bio picture

WELCOME!

For those that don't already know me, I'm Laurie Meehan-Elmer. I'm a photographer and writer that's crazy about pets.  I live in the Tampa Bay area with my husband David (a veterinarian) and a house full of non-human family members.  As I type this, I'm peering over the top of Polly, one of my six cats.  She loves the warmth of the monitor.  There's another cat lounging at my feet.

While I specialize in pets, I also love wildlife, nature, and art.  My portfolio certanly reflects my varied interests and influences.

This blog is where I'll post images from recent portrait sessions, news about LMEimages, and musings about the daily life of a photographer.

Using the links above, you can subscribe to this blog or contact me.  If you'd like to receive periodic newsletters including the "Pic-Pick" of the month, fill out the contact form and type "add to newsletter" in the message section.

There's also a space to leave comments under each post.  Please don't be shy!  I love hearing from people visiting my blog.

Laurie

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Colorado Trip-Adobe Badlands

I’m still working through the images I made on a recent trip to Colorado.  Here’s the next installment.

Just outside Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is Gunnison Conservation Area. It falls under the Bureau of Land Management and appears to be largely ignored in favor of it’s National Park neighbor. The badlands area was a feast for a photographer’s eyes….all the color, form, texture, etc., especially under ideal light (mostly overcast late day light).  It was a little depressing seeing the tracks of ORVs all over the place. However, it does seem there’s an effort to limit ORV use to specified areas, at least by signage and some fencing. I’m not sure if there’s any real enforcement. During bright daylight hours, the area just appears as gray mounds, not enticing for the average park visitor and possibly viewed as “bad land” by those who just don’t get it. I hope the area is ultimately saved from weekend warriors on their noisy and destructive ORVs.

One of the many great things about National Parks is they are typically surrounded or adjoin other public land (National Forests or Preserves, State Parks, Conservation Areas, Wildlife Reguges, etc.). Most visitors stick to the National Parks and completely overlook the surrounding areas. The visitor “in the know” will make it a point to look beyond the park boundary and spend some time in these much less crowded but often equally enchanting landscapes.

Click here to view the full set of images

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Captain Riley

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About five years ago, my brother rented a room for a short time from a real character known to me as “Captain Riley”. Riley is one of those people who lives life outside the lines. He has endless stories to tell of his days as a commercial boat captain, his time working as a farmer, and even a career of sorts as an actor/model.

One day, while picking my brother up for dinner, I photographed Captain Riley. I simply had to photograph him. He was hanging out in the back yard on and around his derelict boat. The two made quite a pair, both in their own permanent dry dock, with only hints of their prior glory days showing through the more prominent signs of hard living. Riley climbed up on the bow of the boat, cheap beer in hand, and began telling his stories with animated delight to have a willing listener.

He told stories of his days as a boat captain. He described how he lost two toes to heavy farm equipment. There were stories of drugs, brawls, and binges. Riley struck me as a sort of unfettered Hemingway soul mate. When telling his stories, he didn’t hold back but he managed to tell them with polite language and a sensitivity to his female audience. He was a gentleman.

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This afternoon, I got a call from my mother. She told me she read an article in the paper about Captain Riley. Apparently, he shot and killed a boarder. My first thought was that I was glad my brother was no longer living there. After that, my thoughts went back to that late afternoon in his backyard, listening to his stories.

I found myself wondering how it is that some rules, rules like not cursing when in the company of women, opening doors, being polite etc. seem to stick like there isn’t an option while others like not killing people seem more like a mere suggestion.

I can’t claim surprise that Captain Riley shot someone. He’s a man that has lived his life with disregard for rules and consequence. I’m pretty sure if he was arrested by a female officer, he tipped his hat and at least attempted to open the car door for her.

Click here for the newpaper article.

Click here for his arrest and booking information.

Laurie & Mike - You sure do have a way with words and telling a story.November 11, 2009 - 9:08 am

LME - Thanks Laurie & Mike! I hope you both are well!November 11, 2009 - 11:39 pm

Rescue Dogs

I love all dogs.  Whether packaged as a 4 pound Chihuahua or a 180 pound Mastiff, at their core, they’re still “dog”.  That said, there’s a special place in my heart for rescue dogs.  Somehow, they all seem to know how lucky they are.  You can’t spoil a rescue dog.  They just never seem to take any act of kindness for granted.

I was thrilled to recently have the opportunity to work on an editorial submission on training rescue dogs.  In addition to plenty of images in my archives to choose from, I called in some rescue dogs to model for the occasion.   Whenever we’re doing an editorial shoot, we start with a specific “shot list”, mostly stuff we want to try if the dogs are willing.  We also like to do a variety of traditional portraits and some shots of the dogs just having fun.  The first round was done mostly indoors or in the studio.  There are some recent photos of my dog Nikon posted in a previous blog entry for this assignment.  Here are some of the other dogs that modeled for me.

Of course, we needed a photo that would really tug on the heartstrings.

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I love straight forward portraits, simple lighting and no post processing tricks.  It’s all about the subject, not about the photo or technique.

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I also love exploring the interactions between species.  Here, Zoe and a kitten from our adoption center are introduced.  Zoe is normally great with small critters.  On this occasion, there was an attempt to make the kitten a snack.  Luckily, Zoe’s mother, Dr. Wallen was holding the kitten and she has very fast reflexes. She quickly commanded Zoe to “leave it”.  The kitten was unharmed and didn’t seem to have a clue about the near miss.

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In addition to the studio sessions, we did some location shooting at a park and at the dog beach.  Here are some of the images from the beach.

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On the right is Sarah, my hard working assistant. (actually she really did work hard despite having the flu.  She’s just taking a much needed rest).

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I love shooting at the beach, especially near sunset when the light is simply gorgeous.  What I hate about it is the light disappears and then it’s time to go home.  As we were packing up, I noticed these two swimmers.  I couldn’t resist.

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Athena - That first one does definitely tug at the heart strings! And the second one is just fabulous. Lovely work. :)December 9, 2009 - 2:51 am

Otis Has His Day at The Beach!

What a fantastic time I had yesterday at the beach!  Autumn is one of my favorite clients and Otis is one of my favorite models.  We’ve had several portrait sessions together.  Autumn is incapable of looking bad in a photo and Otis always hams it up for me!  Yesterday was no exception-perfect weather and perfect subjects make my job seem easy! Can you spot the two photos of Otis in the banner slide show at the top of the blog?

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Autumn and Otis - Hi Laurie! Otis and I had such a great time with you! You always put us at ease during the sessions. I hope you get some great shots out of it. Otis is going for another cover! Thanks for everything! Autumn and OtisOctober 23, 2009 - 7:04 pm

Tara Hiler - What a handsome boy!!! I absolutely LOVE bulldogs!October 26, 2009 - 11:16 am

Colorado Trip-Great Sand Dunes National Park

I’m not sure where to start with this post.  Our recent trip to Colorado was so rich, each and every day, it’s hard to find focus to describe our visit to this gorgeous and magical state.  As I look back, I’m struck not only by the specific destinations we visited but also, and perhaps more impressively, the beauty of the places in-between.  I’m not sure I appreciated this on a prior trip, specifically visiting Rocky Mountain National Park.  I guess I was too focused on the destination.

I guess I’ll start at the beginning.  Upon landing in Denver, we immediately headed towards our first destination, Great Sand Dunes National Park.  I wish I could elaborate on the drive south to the park but I slept through a good part of it.  I didn’t get any sleep before catching our early morning flight.  I was also suffering from nasty cold symptoms that hit with full force in the middle of the flight (thankfully, I was miraculously back to normal by the following morning…must have been the clean Colorado air).  I did manage to wake up and clear my head in time to appreciate the drive through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains which provides a beautiful backdrop for Great Sand Dunes National Park.  It was dusk when we arrived at Great Sand Dunes Lodge, just outside the park.  From there, even in the fading light, I could see the dune field.  I couldn’t wait until morning when I could get out there and get my feet in the sand.

In addition to the incredible dune field, the park boasts other fascinating and beautiful features.  Sitting in front of the dunes is San Luis Valley, the largest valley in Colorado.  Of course, there are the mountains, both imposing and embracing in every direction.  There are even wetlands, providing invaluable resources for the year round inhabitants and migratory birds.  For now, I’m going to focus just on the dunes.  Rising as high as 750 feet from the valley floor, these are the largest dunes in North America.  Renewed by every gust of wind or passing storm, changing mood every minute as sunlight dances across the ridges, it’s a sight to behold.

Here is a link to a sampling of the images from the dunes.

Click Here to View the Slide Show!

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Velvet - Wow! This is gorgeous!October 8, 2009 - 7:11 pm

More Cover Pups!

LMEimages has been on the cover of two recent Popular Dogs Issues.  Beautiful Ruby graces the cover of the Dachshund issue.  She also appears in the Dachshund puppy issue with one of her pups.

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My copy of the Bulldog Puppy issue just arrived today.  I was so pleased to finally see the issue.  I had an especially fun time shooting for this one.  The puppies were absolutely adorable.  My thanks to Ryan for bringing them in!  Not only do Ryan’s pups grace the cover, they are plastered throughout the issue.  Otis, one of my very favorite dog models also made an appearance.  I’ll be doing a portrait session with him at the beach in the next week or two!  The icing on the cake was seeing how Nikon, my very own canine assistant and model,  is earning his keep with a double truck (two page spread).

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Playing With a New Gadget

I recently bought a new light modifier.  It’s an 86″ silver parabolic umbrella. I thought I’d take advantage of a visit from Nikon’s cousin to try it out.  The endless photo-ops these two provide when they’re playing just couldn’t be passed up. Click the slide show link below to see more.

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Here’s a slideshow with more “lighting experiments”.

Some Recent Stuff

I’ve been back from our Colorado trip for about a week but haven’t had a chance to edit the images from the trip.  There is always so much catching up to do after a vacation.  I’ll be posting photos from the trip soon (Colorado is incredibly beautiful).  In the meantime, I thought I’d post some other recent images.

Last night we celebrated two family birthdays.  Nikon had a chance to play with his new cousin Mare.  The two of them played non-stop for hours.  They provided the entertainment for the evening.

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Nikon also managed some time with the guys watching the football game.  The verdict is out on whether or not he was happy with the birthday hat.

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I recently shot a submission for a Popular Dogs magazine issue on Huskies.  I had a great time with these dogs.  They are simply beautiful!  My thanks to all the wonderful Husky models who posed for me.

This one might be my favorite.  I love the dog sneaking into the frame on the left.

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husky-portraitAfter regular studio portrait sessions, I often take advantage of having everything set up to do some personal work.  After the recent session with Dollar (the beautiful Husky above), We decided to shoot a few photos of a little rescue kitten being fostered by my assistant Sarah.  He’s was still being bottle fed when we made this photo, as evidenced by the dried milk around his mouth.

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I also took advantage of the opportunity to photograph Sarah.  She had been telling me how awful she looks in photos.  I thought I’d prove her wrong.

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Where Has The Summer Gone?

Time seems to keep moving faster and faster.  Perhaps that’s why I’m always so far behind on blog entries.  When I get this far behind, I’m never sure where to start.  I have photos to post from our recent Vermont trip, several visits to the beach to shoot the surf, and quite a few portrait sessions.  I have a few more magazine covers to scan and post as well.

For now, I’ll just post a few recent favorites.  I’ll make it a goal to catch up with all the news by the end of the week.

I had the great pleasure of meeting a new family member last week.  My brother and his family have adopted the most adorable little puppy.  They have named her Mare (pronounced Maree…I couldn’t get the accent thingy to work when typing in Wordpress).  They brought her for a photo session.  Of course, Nikon had to join in the fun as well.  The two pups hit it off right away.  I look forward to photographing Mare as she grows up!

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We had a crazy fun time recently photographing Paddy the Golden Retriever and his housemate Chloe.  Their personalities were so very different yet perfectly compatible.  One of the challenges with shooting two dogs at once is it seems one is always butting in the photographs of the other.  I used to get frustrated by this until it dawned on me that it’s the way it should be.  With housemates, they are always near each other.  They share everything else.  They should share the frame as well.

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Nikon was the very proud recipient of a thoughtful Gator gift from Gator.   Many thanks to Gator and his mom Cindy for the wonderful collar and leash.  It was such a wonderful surprise! Nikon and I BOTH love it.  My hand no longer has abrasions from that other awful leash! (Gator is the adorable Dalmation pup featured in the prior blog entry from the fire station)

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Doris & Don - Hi. I love the photos of the Pups. Mare is soooo cute. Iam so glad they got another Dog. So sad what happend to Shyan. Your other Pups are cute to. Greetings , Doris & DonSeptember 2, 2009 - 11:16 am

Making Friends with the Wildlife

A few days ago, I went down to the beach thinking I would photograph the late day light on the surf.  As I was waiting for just the right light, this Snowy Egret decided to wait with me.  Of course, I turned my camera on the bird and never did get around to photographing the surf.

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Snowy Egret and Great Blue Heron

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