You guys… I can’t get enough of these Puppy Plan sessions!! I wanted to give an update on Molly and Harley since they’ve both have had their second round of photo sessions now. Which means they are officially more than halfway through the year and growing so fast! It’s been so much fun working with them so far. I can’t wait for you to see how much they’ve changed already! I’m definitely looking forward to their 3rd session as fully grown dogs, and we’ll do that when they are a year old. For the meantime, here are some cute photos of the first two portrait sessions where you can already see some major changes happening. The best part? I love that their parents will be able to look back and remember all of the fluffy cuteness from the beginning!
First up is little miss Molly! She’s an adorable mixed breed dog who lives in the Olivenhain neighborhood of Encinitas. I love that we were able to do both photo sessions in her backyard as it keeps the environment consistent and the only thing that changes is Molly. You can really see how she grows because of that!
Just a few months later…
Rest assured, she’s keeping that killer head tilt! :)
Okay, ready for more? This is Harley, a Saint Bernard puppy. I’m so glad I got to meet her when she was just about 10 weeks old. She was so tiny and fluffy! As you can see, she was an absolute doll in the studio. :)
… and this is big, huge Harley at 7 months old! (I know she’s a St. Bernard, but still! She’s sooooo much bigger!) I can’t believe she still has more growing left to do, haha! We visited a totally different location for her second session, and I know her family loved having a new setting to change things up as she grows.
Aren’t these girls gorgeous?! Stay tuned, and I’ll be sharing photos of both Molly and Harley from their next Puppy Plan photo session when they’re each 1 year old!
All of my photo sessions are special to me, but I have to be honest, this one was extra special… because I actually photographed Marley back in 2014!! I feel absolutely honored to have the opportunity to catch up with clients and be invited back to take more photos years later. Plus, since the last time I saw Marley and her mom, they’ve added a new addition to their family: Millie!
Marley is a calm, happy dog who takes pretty much everything in stride. Millie is also a brindle pit bull mix, like her sister, but is quite the opposite when it comes to personality! And even though we met at the pre-session consultation, she was still nervous and on edge when I arrived at their house on the day of the photo session. But after a bit of coaxing & patience, she eventually warmed up to me (allowing us to get some amazing portraits) and towards the end of the photo session she was following me around, asking for more treats & attention! It just goes to show that even with dogs that have “stranger danger” tendencies, we can still have a great photo session together. :)
And after an unfortunate overcast-sky-delay, the second half of our photo session was at La Jolla beach where we had a great time! Marley’s MO was just to meet other people & dogs, walk around and sniff everything. She was a happy girl just doing her thing. Millie, on the other hand, found it necessary to be playing fetch with the ball out into the water. And sprinting around the beach like a madwoman! That girl seriously loves the waves! I know you’ll enjoy this sneak peek of photos from their session – and their moms have plenty more images to see very soon!
Sweet Marley. Gettin’ scratches.
Millie is a puppy compared to Marley – and has the energy level to prove it, haha!
They would be great guard dogs if they weren’t so darn sweet.
What good pups you two are. Gah, those faces!
Sarah & Trish, I’m excited to see you again soon! Give your girls a hug for me in the meantime! :)
Say hello to Gretzky! :) I’ve actually known his parents for a while now, and have photographed their family and a couple of their dogs in the past who unfortunately aren’t with us anymore. This family has a special place in their heart for older dogs; I think they adopted their girl Bullet when she was more than 10 years old – which, for a pittie mix, is getting up there. So imagine my surprise (and probably theirs too) when they recently went to the Humane Society to adopt another senior dog and left with a 4-month-old puppy instead! Haha! I’m so glad they decided to add this spunky little dude to the mix!
They aren’t too sure what mix of breeds Gretzky is, but they’ll be finding out soon via a DNA test. Possibly part pit bull, part Great Dane? (Great Dane is definitely in question!) The mystery is definitely part of the fun of adopting a rescue dog. Either way, he is just adorable and surprisingly calm for a pup his age! He loves treats and my backdrop sparked his curiosity. We were even able to capture a few photos of him with his older siblings, Dozer and Bullet. He clearly adores them and the feeling is mutual… some of the time. ;)
This was his “Puppy Plan” session #1! I’ve been looking forward to it since his mom called me with the announcement of adopting a new puppy. And what a fun way to kick off my first official photo session since coming back from maternity leave! It was a great reintroduction back into the studio, working with past clients on a fresh new project – and I can’t wait to watch Gretzky as he grows up alongside my baby girl! :)
That face!! I might have come back from maternity leave even earlier if I knew Gretzky’s big brown eyes were waiting for me…
Gretzky would like to take this time to remind you that he’s 100% puppy.
Welcome to the “Puppy Plan” family, Gretzky! I bet you’re going to be a big boy (especially if the Great Dane part is true!) and I can’t wait to see how much you’ve grown in a few months from now…
I’m so excited to introduce you to Molly! Not only because she’s one of the most adorable pups around, but she is also one of my first official “Puppy Plan” participants! Molly is a 2 month old Great Pyrenees, labrador, and (supposedly) Bassett hound mix who gives the cutest little head tilts for the camera. She is definitely in the puppy phase where everything needs to go in her mouth. Toys, food, leashes, collars, pant legs, shoes, my camera bag… nothing is safe from those puppy teeth!
We held her photo session at her parents’ gorgeous home in the Olivenhain neighborhood of Encinitas/Rancho Santa Fe. Her mom and dad have a beautiful setup in their backyard where we were able to get amazing portraits with plenty of natural light coming through the trees. A photographer’s dream! Molly had a lot of energy, so I think she had a pretty great time playing and posing for me. And get this: whenever she needed to take a break from all of her running around, she decided to quench her thirst by drinking the dew off of the grass! She reminded me of a little lawnmower as she cruised around, head down & searching out the wettest blades of grass, haha! She was too cute!
I’ll be seeing Molly and her parents again when she’s about 6-7 months old for the next stage of her Puppy Plan. I cannot wait to see how much she has changed by then! I bet she’ll have grown by leaps and bounds (especially if that Great Pyrenees in her heritage has any say in the matter). Which means even then, and for the rest of Molly’s life, these photos from when she’s only 2 months old will be awww-inspiring keepsakes. :)
Don’t be fooled by that cute head tilt. There’s a silly, rambunctious, mischievous puppy behind that innocent face!
Ohhh that early morning light… I love it! And can you see the dew on Molly’s face that came from drinking the water off the grass?!
Marilyn & Stan, I am so excited to capture Molly’s first year as a puppy with you! I look forward to seeing you again soon! :)
You may have seen the update on my Facebook page, or perhaps you subscribe to The Monthly Bark and heard the news in your inbox. But if you’re hearing this for the first time… surprise! I’m pregnant! :)
At the moment I’m 32 weeks along, which means I’ve successfully survived about 7 months of pregnancy with only 2 to go. (I hear they’re the hardest 2, but hey, after having made it through 7 I’m feeling pretty good!) Our little nugget is a girl (yay!!) and she’s due on May 11th!
I’ve been married to Mr. Shamrell for 9 years now, and although we didn’t always feel ready to have kids – or not both of us at the same time, at least – now we do and our little girl couldn’t have better timing. I have to say that I’ve REALLY enjoyed being married without kids for this long, but we are both very excited & looking forward to this HUGE change in our lives and have nothing but happy anticipation for the future! (Okay, a bit of nervousness too… but it’s all good nerves!) Those 9 years I’ve spent being a dog mom, and loving it – and I believe that our dog Bailey taught me some of the most important skills of how to be a good mother (to any species) that I’ll be able to bring with me into this crazy new adventure. So in the meantime, I’m just trying to brace myself for adapting to a daughter that won’t be potty-trained in a matter of weeks – and can’t be left alone for a few hours at a time – and won’t be able to walk for the next year, haha!
Before getting pregnant, I was never one of those women obsessed with babies/pregnancy/etc. I was never the first volunteer to hold a friend’s baby (I was nervous that I’d drop the poor kid!) and didn’t know anything about what it’s like to be pregnant. So let’s just say it’s been a STEEP learning curve! For example, I’ve learned that the first trimester is 100% sucky (all the crazy symptoms, none of the belly to show for it), the second trimester is relatively easy, and the third trimester is kinda like the first (except now you have a belly). My biggest symptom by far has been fatigue; turns out it’s pretty tiring to make a human being! But beyond that, I’ve been very lucky not to experience any morning sickness, crazy mood swings, swelling/pain in my limbs… and my food cravings have been very mild ever since the first trimester ended. (The only strong cravings I had were for fruit and Taco Bell. Go figure!) So I don’t want to jinx it, but I’ve got a lot to be thankful for… thanks Mom! (And all the other awesome women in my family who handed down their easy-pregnancy genes!)
Before I got pregnant, I was super curious how Bailey would do with the experience. One of my clients told me of her two dogs, “One of them totally knew I was pregnant and got very clingy & gentle, and the other one just thought I was getting fat.” Ha! Our experience has been somewhat closer to the latter; Bailey has never been a snuggler, nor has she ever experienced any real separation anxiety, and her personality/habits don’t seem to have changed in any way these days. But she knows I’m pregnant; we’ve been telling her about our doctors’ visits and she’s seen our second bedroom slowly morph into a nursery. She’s a smart dog… I know she knows. (Plus there’s been a couple of days when she just couldn’t stop smelling me; my scent must be changing along with my body & hormones!)
I’ve read up on how to prepare Bailey for her new little sister, and all the best resources say very similar things. First: start with a basic foundation of obedience. The more Bailey knows & is willing to comply with requests like “off”, “down” and “no” the better. Pretty obvious, right? It’s also a good idea to acclimate her to “life with baby” as much as possible – which means I should be playing YouTube videos of babies crying to get her used to that sound, and going for walks with the empty stroller so it’s an easy transition to walking with a baby in the stroller. (It’s a separate discussion of whether I’ll actually follow through with these “good ideas” – I mean, won’t we hear enough crying once the baby is actually here? And how awkward will it be to walk around the neighborhood with an empty stroller?!) Terri Steuben told us that it’s a good idea to talk to Bailey every step of the way, to explain what all the new things are for (in basic terms) and set her up with a bed and water bowl in the nursery so she doesn’t feel like she’s excluded from this new part of our lives. And most importantly, we’ll need to teach the baby to respect Bailey’s personal space once she’s mobile, since then she’ll be crawling around and reaching for anything she finds interesting! Beyond that, we’ll just take things slowly and make sure Bailey is still getting plenty of love & attention so she never feels like the baby has taken her place – after all, she is our first “baby”. ;)
I’ve gotten plenty of questions about what’s happening to my business (arguably my other baby!) with this impending change. So forgive me as I answer those questions here:
~ Of course I’m coming back!!! I have NO intention of closing up shop; I haven’t worked this hard for 8+ years to pack it in now. That’s not even up for discussion. Now, I’ve stopped doing photo sessions at this point in my pregnancy because my sessions are very physical, and it’s hard to get on the ground at a dog’s level with a big pregnant belly in the way, haha! But I’ll be back in action as soon as I feel comfortable, safe and capable of doing so. To be honest, I don’t know exactly when I’ll come back – remember, I’ve never done this before! – but I expect to have a camera back in my hands in mid-to-late summer.
~ During my “maternity leave” I won’t be doing any photo sessions, but I will be reachable by email to book sessions for after I’m back in the studio. I expect that my schedule in the late summer and fall will book up quickly – after all, the last few months of the year have always been my busy season, and all the sessions I would normally book in the spring & early summer will have to wait until after I’m back from maternity leave… so it’s likely to be a packed rest of the year! (Which means you should get in touch with me NOW if you’re thinking of booking a session this year! Visit my main website and fill out that contact form at the bottom ASAP, since I’ll be giving priority to the earliest inquiries!)
~ Attention past clients: with all the downtime of maternity leave, something tells me I’ll get a little bored. And you know what I do when I have nothing else on my plate? I plan promotions & sales! So keep your eyes peeled on your inboxes for something fun & exclusive, just for you. :)
~ Attention commercial clients: ditto the previous comment! Although I won’t be out there shooting, I have THOUSANDS of stock images in my archives that would love to find a new home on your website/social media/product packaging.
A few more thoughts on the personal side of things:
~ Just laying on the couch and feeling her kick is my new favorite thing.
~ I don’t drink coffee or eat sushi, so a lot of the typical “hard to give up” foods don’t actually bother me. I’m feeling much more deprived for wine & beer, as well as cookie dough and caesar salad (both of which have raw eggs, boooo.)
~ Any hesitations I used to have about eating whatever food & snacks I want? Gone! Poof! I could get used to this… pass the Ben & Jerry’s please!
~ No, we haven’t thought of a name for her yet – still working on it!
~ I never thought I’d say this, but it’s actually been kinda fun to watch my midsection grow to the size of a basketball! Haha!
So thank you for all your support – and an extra thank you to the amazing people who have sent me cards and/or gifts!! I often refer to “the Allison Shamrell Photography family”, and you’re proving (again) that it’s not just a saying. Here’s to that family, as it grows this year by one very special little girl!
