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Mister Mister, the Shepherd Mix from Encinitas

Sunday, October 15th, 2017

Okay, I know I’m not supposed to have “favorites” – but can I be honest? Awesome, wonderful repeat clients with silly, happy dogs are totally my favorites. And that means I simply could not have been more excited for my photo session with Mister Mister and his mom & dad!!

That’s right, his name is Mister Mister. He’s a handsome shepherd mix who lives in Encinitas with his family, and if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might remember their previous photo session. This time, we decided to let Mister have the spotlight all for himself! He holds a special place in his parents’ hearts, and they wanted a photo session all about him & his sweet personality. (Doesn’t every dog deserve to be the undisputed center of attention once in a while?) So we met at the beach in Del Mar, with plans to photograph the rest of his family (including his new foster-fail sister!!) at some point in the future. But today, it’s all about Mister! :)

 

We started our session with goofiness, smiles and wiggles – I think Mister was delightfully surprised at the prospect of having a beach day all to himself! We ran around a bit and let him acclimate to the spotlight. (Never going too close to the water, of course – this boy is a shepherd mix, not a labrador mix. He’s scared of the ocean. We stayed pretty darn dry for the afternoon – in fact, I think I got wetter than Mister ever did!)

funny shepherd mix dog

 

This photo makes me smile: only Mister would be in such a stately pose in gorgeous, epic surroundings, and yet be making the biggest cheeseball-goofy-smiley face!

shepherd mix at beach

 

Such a handsome boy. He deserves alllllll the beach days.

shepherd mix dog photo

 

Misha and Justin – I had a blast with you, as usual! Can’t wait to see you (and your other two troublemakers) in a few weeks!

 

Olive & Greta, the San Clemente Labradors (Photos)

Saturday, October 14th, 2017

I am so excited to share this photo session with you!! Not only was it a welcome departure from my “usual” locations around San Diego, but it was with a family I simply adore. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to these San Clemente labradors: Greta, and you might remember her older sister, Olive, from her session early last year!

I photographed Olive and her older sister Constance in March of 2016, but unfortunately, Constance is no longer with us today. She’s deeply missed by her parents, and Olive too – she was an incredibly sweet dog and the consummate big sister. So with a house that felt a little bit empty without her presence, their parents made the decision to find a new dog – and they found the most adorable little puppy, Greta! Greta is a black lab, only 5 and a half months old at the time of this photo session. And she has the most interesting personality: she’s a star in obedience class since she’s usually so content to sit around and relax… but when she’s in the right mood, she’ll put on her “little sister” attitude and torment Olive by jumping all over her! Their parents even say Greta is the “dominant” one between them since she’s such a tough cookie and loves to give Olive a hard time! So while Olive may be still getting used to life with Greta (who couldn’t be more different than Constance), something tells me they have a long, happy life of sisterhood ahead of them. Best friends in the making, I’m telling you. :)

 

Here’s puppy Greta! Flying down the beach, just north of Camp Pendleton!

san clemente labrador puppy

 

And yet amidst all the wiggly puppy energy, she’s a thoughtful, beautiful girl.

san clemente labrador puppy

 

Ironically, we kept Olive on the leash during the whole session, and were less concerned about Greta running off by herself – because last week her parents learned that Olive has a penchant for deep-sea swimming!! This girl will go join the surfers if you let her loose! Silly Olive…

san clemente labradors

 

I simply cannot wait to see these two grow up together.

san clemente labradors

 

Vince & Jen, thank you so much for introducing me to your darling new girl! I absolutely loved catching up with you & Olive. See you again soon! :)

 

Penny the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Wednesday, October 11th, 2017

From time to time, I do “surprise” photo sessions. They’re usually for special occasions, in which a friend or relative wants to give their dog-loving recipient something that’s truly personal & special. And those sessions are a lot of fun – but it’s not every day that I get to work with a daughter who wants to surprise her mother! And it’s definitely not every day that that mother comes home early from work and totally interrupts her own surprise gift!! Haha! But that’s exactly what happened with Penny’s family – her “sister” Jemma planned everything perfectly for our session, until her mom got home early and immediately knew something was up. So everyone was in attendance at our session – which, quite frankly, was fine with me, since it meant we had an extra set of hands to help wrangle Penny!

Penny is an adorable Cavalier King Charles spaniel, about 10 years old and ridiculously sweet. Although she’s not accustomed to much obedience training, she did a great job with all the “posing” I asked her to do for me. (Which mostly involved running back and forth, and sitting a few times.) We visited Montevalle Recreation Center for our session, a gorgeous park with eucalyptus trees, lush greenery and even a cute wooden bridge. And even better: it’s only a short walk from Penny’s house! So Penny and her family literally walked over to meet me there. It was the perfect location, and we had a wonderful time together!

We started our photo session with treats! Is there anything this little Cavalier loves better than treats and food (especially wet food)?

cavalier king charles spaniel

 

Oh my gosh, those ears. I can’t handle it.

cavalier spaniel photo

 

I just love to see this sweet girl smile.

cavalier king charles spaniel smiling

 

 

Jemma, I’m sorry about your well-planned surprise – but I think it actually worked out perfectly in the end! (And Gary, I’m glad you could make it too!) I can’t wait to see you all again soon…  :)

 

Ava & Lacey, Black Dogs from San Diego

Friday, September 29th, 2017

I absolutely loved my photo session with Ava & Lacey – I’m so excited to introduce them to you! :)

Ava & Lacey are black dogs who live in Santee with their mom. Ava is the older sister and Lacey is definitely the puppy of the family; they have very different personalities but I can’t think of them any other way than as the perfect pair. Ava is a sweet, slow-moving girl with fluffy soft fur and the most gorgeous brown eyes. (Her name is pronounced “aw-vuh” like “avocado” – because she was found in a field of avocado trees as a puppy!) And when her mom was ready to bring another dog home, believe it or not, Ava picked out Lacey as a sister! Their mom made sure Ava had just as much voice as she did in picking out a younger sister from the shelter – and Lacey was Ava’s first choice. (I know, it’s the cutest thing you’ve EVER heard. It was for me, at least!) Lacey is a shorthaired labrador mix with matching jet-black fur, several years younger than Ava but just as loving & happy. They’re very different dogs, but they both love the same things: trips to the park, tennis balls, and of course their mom. We had so much fun during their photo session!

One of their mom’s priorities for our session was to capture some “black on black” images. Photographing black dogs on a black studio backdrop can be tricky – but I love how these portraits turned out! This is Ava, posing like a total pro already.

black dogs studio

 

Lacey has pretty much mastered the head tilt for treats. (And it was so cute – every time I’d take a few photos, she would get up from whatever pose she was in and run around the studio excitedly, as if to say “yay we took more photos!” I called it her victory lap, haha – she did it a dozen times, it was adorable!)

black dogs black background

 

For the second part of our session – for a bit of COLOR – we headed to Old Poway Park and ran around in the sunlight together!

black dogs san diego

 

This bright red railway car against the gorgeous fur of these black dogs? Yes please!

black dogs photo

 

Puja, thank you so much for introducing me to your girls! I can’t wait to show you the rest of our photos soon! :)

 

Casey & Brittany’s Photo Session at Balboa Park!

Monday, September 25th, 2017

I’m not especially proud to admit this… but at the end of my photo session with Casey & Brittany, I threatened to commit a crime. No kidding. I did so loud and clear, and I know their parents heard me, as well as any passers-by that were in the vicinity.

What crime, you ask? Kidnapping. (Although I suppose dog-napping is the correct term.)

Yep. True story. I would like to dog-nap Casey and Brittany because I am completely smitten with these two sweethearts!!!

Haha – I’m so excited to introduce you to these gorgeous girls! Casey and Brittany are two golden retrievers with happy smiles and loving parents; we met at Balboa Park for our photo session and had a lovely afternoon together. I was really impressed at how well they did with all of the distractions/people/dogs that were constantly swirling around us; their parents have done an incredible job at socialization & training to ensure that Casey & Brittany would turn out to be happy, social, confident dogs. And they truly are! The girls also have fabulous obedience skills, which means I was completely spoiled with all the sitting and staying (and generally doing anything I asked). But don’t worry, we let them let loose, too – both of these girls love to play fetch! In fact, they make it a team sport; when we let Casey play with the ball on her own, so I could capture some solo portraits, she kept bringing the ball back to Brittany as if to say “come on, we always play together, let’s go!” It was soooo cute, and made all of us laugh every time she wandered back over to her sister. And that playful attitude was actually the key to ending up with dozens of gorgeous images!

 

This is Brittany, the beautiful younger sister who always keeps her eye on the ball. (Literally.) She’s always ready to play!

balboa park picture

 

And this is Casey, the older sister who became my shadow by the end of our session. I have to admit, I certainly didn’t mind – because how could you resist that face?!

balboa park dog photo

 

In all honesty, this photo (below) was originally a candid test shot. We were getting situated in-between poses, and at the moment I didn’t even realize that I’d captured a sweet moment between Casey and her mom, while Brittany scanned the horizon for her next adventure (or possibly a stray ball). But I love the real-ness of this image when no one knew I was pressing the shutter.

golden retrievers in Balboa Park

 

See what I mean about great obedience?! These girls were happy to pose anywhere I asked, and I simply adore their smiling faces amongst all the vibrant color in Balboa Park.

dogs in balboa park

 

 

Rene & Miles, thank you so much for introducing me to your sweet girls! I absolutely loved our session, and I can’t wait to see you again soon! :)

 

 

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