shine pet photos | modern pet photography

If you’ve never heard of Photopreneur, I highly recommend you check it out! The blog is exactly what it sounds like — info on how to be an entrepreneur and photographer. It’s a wealth of knowledge about how to make money selling your photographs with a photography business.

Today’s blog post is about *surprise suprise* pet photography! Thanks Photopreneur for the great interview and article.

1 gorgeous Labor Day weekend

+ 1 handsome rescue Lab/Shepherd mix

+ 1 ADORABLE 5 month old pug puppy

=1 really fun shoot!

I had such a great photo session with Jeffrey the older brother, and Juno his (semi) new little 5 month old sister. They were both quite the characters. Jeffrey was the ever patient brother, while Juno was the pesky and feisty little sister who doesn’t quite care that she’s 1/4th the size of him. And I’ve never had a shoot with a pug puppy up on my lens 90% of the time. Juno was like a little wind up toy that never stopped moving. I wanted to try to get some photos of her resting/sleeping at the end of our shoot for a project I was approached for, and it just didn’t happen. She would have NONE OF IT! I guess life is too fun when you’re awake, especially when there’s a treat dispenser (aka ME) hanging around.

(Click on small photos to enlarge)

(The above is one of my favorite family portraits of all time — the coffee cup, the hands in pocket, the matching shoes. I love it!)

Thank you Liza for such a fabulous photo shoot! I’m so glad you found me on Anne’s blog : )

While many spend Labor Day enjoying the last weekend of summer,I actually ended up laboring quite a bit! My session with Michael and his adorable rescue dog Dexter was my second shoot of the weekend. (Stay tuned for photos from my third photo shoot with a pair of really adorable dogs.)

This session was a bit challenging at first because Dexter was so scared of my camera. There was a lot of stop and go with this one to make sure he didn’t get totally freaked out. But I’m really happy with the way things turned out. Michael and Dexter have such an amazing bond and I hope it’s evident in these photos.

By the way — a lot of people ask me if I can shoot owners with their dogs. The answer is always YES! The reason you don’t see them often on my blog or website is purely because some of my clients are a bit camera (and blog) shy. But I’m glad Michael isn’t because I think he and Dexter are both quite the handsome gentlemen, don’t you?

(Click on small images to enlarge. Trust me, you’ll want to see these bigger!)

Thanks for an amazing photo shoot Michael! Can’t wait for you to see your photo book.

The 2008 LA County Fair is starting this FRIDAY! I’ve never been to one of these, but the radio commercials and posters I keep seeing everywhere are getting me really excited about going. I’m looking forward to eating some deep fried foods and attempting to win some cheesy stuffed animals.

The curator of the PawPrints Photo contest I judged last month was kind enough to offer me some of my own gallery space so I could feature some photos of the Paw’d Squad Rescue Dogs. Below are the photos that will be exhibited until the fair ends September 28th.

PS: I’m so incredibly behind on emails! If any clients or friends are reading this, I’m SO SORRY. I’ll be sending responses hopefully by today.

(Click to enlarge and press NEXT to see entire gallery)

I’ve been having these weird psychic moments lately.

I’ll say to myself, “Hmm, it would be really great if I could shoot a (insert cute dog breed here).”

And then a day or two later, a client will contact me with that kind of dog. It’s really strange, but so far it’s happened FOUR TIMES! (I should wish for something like winning the lottery and see what happens)

So my most recent wish was for a cute Pomeranian with a summer Lion cut. And lo and behold, I ended up having the most AMAZING photo shoot with Preston Casanova — truly the cutest Pom out there!

If you recognize Preston, it’s because he and his owner Laura were on the hit reality show The Greatest American Dog. It was so much fun hanging out with Laura and Preston on Saturday morning. I’ve never hung out with a celebrity dog before — and you would not believe how much attention this little man got! So many people recognized him from the show. And his owner Laura is one of the nicest people I’ve met. I could go on and on about all the incredible things about her that make me admire and respect her so much. But then I’d end up with a novel. So how about I show you some photos instead?

(Click on small photos to enlarge)

Preston on lifeguard duty:

“Don’t worry surfers, you’re safe under my watch!”

These 2 guys were kind enough to stop and pose with Preston and his skateboard:

Preston enjoying his morning paper:

Preston enjoying his morning coffee:

It’s pretty obvious why Preston’s middle name is CASANOVA when you see these shots:

I’ve worked with dogs on commercial shoots before (as the art director, not the photographer) and those dogs are IMPECCABLY trained. The trainer gets the dog to pose and do their thing, while the photographer just snaps away. On my typical client shoots, I’m usually the one guiding the dog’s behavior and eyeline. But this time Laura did all the work — Preston is so well trained he’d pose and look wherever we asked him to. This was probably the easiest shoot I’ve done to date!

Laura and Preston make such an amazing pair and I really thought they’d make it to the end of the show. They actually got eliminated in Week 6, but with all the amazing projects they have going on I’m positive this won’t be the last we see of these two.

If you want to see more of Preston, check out his website!