I spent a little time with Zori after a regular portrait session last night.  She’s is staying at Pinellas Animal Hospital, awaiting the perfect home.  I must admit, I was a little skeptical when it came to Zori.  At first glance, she seemed a bit wild and nutty.  However, after a few minutes of play and attention she settled right down.  She is an absolute lover.  She wants to play, cuddle, and please.  She has the most beautiful eyes and expressive ears.  She was an absolute joy to photograph.

Now, I won’t sugar coat things.  Zori will need the right home.  She is probably a little too energetic for small kids but would  be great with bigger kids.  If other pets are in the home, careful introductions would need to be made.  She will require structure and guidance at first which is typical for dogs being introduced to a regular home situation.

The wonderful team at Pet Peeves has been teaching her all the basic commands and she nailed each and every one during our photo session.  She loves playing fetch, played beautifully with toys, and displayed great manners when being offered treats.  I’m sure Wendy and the Pet Peeves staff would be happy to speak with any prospective adopters who want to know if Zori would be a good fit with their family.

If you’re interested in finding out more about this wonderful dog, please call Pinellas Animal Hospital at 727-546-0005.

Did I mention I love her ears?

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.

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

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.

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.

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).

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.

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!

Dante has the most incredible face!

Courtney and her two lovable pups were a joy!

This was my second shoot with Ruby.  Her mug is on the 2009 puppy calendar published by Dog Fancy.  Here she is all grown up and still just as adorable as ever.

A few nights ago, I did an editorial shoot with FOUR English Bulldog pups.  OMG! those pups were adorable…so chubby and cuddly. We had a great time!  My thanks to Ryan for bringing them in!

My father forwarded a link to a video on Youtube.  He doesn’t use e-mail very often and to my knowledge doesn’t surf Youtube very much either.  So, I had to check it out.  Since my father is a composer and musician, the subject of the video was no surprise.  The video itself is remarkable, so is the project behind it.  It’s a great reminder that despite our differences, we all share so much in common, especially hope.  Art, is the perfect bridge to highlight the fact that we are more alike than different.

I thought this would be a great thought to hold onto as we begin a new year.

Here’s the Youtube video

Playing for Change-Stand By Me

Check out the Playing for Change website!

Laurie