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In-Home Del Mar Pet Photography Session with Buffy the Yellow Labrador

Thursday, December 19th, 2013

This pet photography session is the result of a bit of networking, as it turns out! I don’t exactly expect to meet future clients when I attend Chamber of Commerce meetings, but recently I met someone who wanted to give the gift of a pet photography session to his parents & their dog for Christmas this year! So I suppose you could say this session came about because of Buffy’s “brother”!

I met Buffy & her parents at their gorgeous home in Del Mar, CA. Let me tell you, their house was a photographer’s dream: they have a beautiful yard of well-maintained grass, plenty of surrounding foliage (for pretty backgrounds), and plenty of room to run around! And while Buffy doesn’t do much running these days – she’s 11 years old – she worked up enough energy to play fetch a few times for us! Buffy is a total sweetheart, and was really great to work with – but once we mentioned the word “car”, she didn’t leave the car’s trunk for the rest of the session! Haha!

This photo is literally the first frame out of my camera. Buffy decided that no pet photography session should happen without a few belly-rubs… and why not start with one?

del mar pet photography

 

 

Here’s Buffy with her “sisters”… aren’t they all gorgeous?! I love this family!

del mar pet family photography

del mar dog photography labrador

 

 

Buffy, it was wonderful to meet you! I can’t wait to show your parents all the beautiful family photos from our session… see you in the new year! :)

 

San Diego Pet Photography Sessions by Allison Shamrell – Introductory Promotion

Tuesday, July 30th, 2013

I’m thrilled to announce my grand opening promotion for San Diego pet photography sessions! I promised I’d reveal the special once my Facebook page hit 1,000 fans, and it’s already soared past that number in just a few days! So without further ado, here it is:

 

I’m experienced & skilled at pet photography, but I’m not familiar with San Diego, having just moved here a few short weeks ago.

So to see & experience the best of San Diego while re-launching my business, I’m introducing a limited-time offer:

the first client to book a session in each of the following locations will receive a complimentary 20×30 canvas gallery wrap!

~   BALBOA PARK

~   CORONADO

~   DOWNTOWN

~   FIESTA ISLAND

~   POINT LOMA HARBOR

~   TORREY PINES STATE RESERVE

san diego pet photography locations

Can you just imagine how great a dog will look, gazing serenely into the distance over the rough landscape of Torrey Pines State Reserve? Laying contentedly in the grass in Balboa Park? Or catapulting himself through the sapphire-blue water at Fiesta Island? Each of these places offers incredible diversity & beauty, and I would adore meeting an adventure-prone dog amidst the sailing boats in the harbor, or San Diego’s most social pup strolling through the Gaslamp District, saying hello to all the tourists.

 Each of these places are scenic locations I’m just itching to visit – and I have a feeling they might become “regular” spots for sessions in the future.

The truth is, they may follow hundreds of Florida families, but I’m about to photograph my very first California clients. As a thank-you for kick-starting the relaunch of Allison Shamrell Pet Photography in San Diego, I’m happy to reward my first clients that are willing to visit one of these places in their session with my most popular size of canvas gallery wrap!

These products are worth over $300 each – that means I’ll be giving away more than $1800 of canvas gallery wraps in total! I wanted to go above & beyond for these families, and 20″x30″ is definitely not small – in fact, it can fill up a wall!

If you’ve never seen a canvas gallery wrap before, check out these close-ups:

canvas gallery wraps promotion

Canvas gallery wraps are one of my most popular products, and for good reason: they’re fabulously modern and incredibly well-constructed. Everyone loves them!

 

(Can I make a suggestion? These locations don’t have to be the only places we visit during our session. I think it would be marvelously fun for my clients to choose The Dalmatian Package and start at one of these locations for some beautiful scenic vistas, then head back to their house for a few super-personal photos in the place where their dog spends the most time, and then finish up at my studio for some clean, modern images and a totally different look!)

 

So there you have it! I couldn’t possibly be more excited to re-start my business here in San Diego. It’s a funny thing, you know, building a business and establishing yourself in the market, only to move across the country and (in many ways) start all over again. But I’m not starting from scratch; I know I can provide an incredible (yes, I said incredible) experience, and create beautiful images for the families that choose to meet this Florida-grown photographer. :)

 

Do you know someone who might be interested in this special? I encourage you to share this post with them. You can also share my Facebook post about it. I appreciate you helping me spread the word!

 

So check out my portfolio, then take a look at session pricing and (most importantly) get in touch! I can’t WAIT to meet you!

 

 

Okay okay, the disclaimers:

  1. First come first serve for each location. 
  2. One canvas per client; no combining locations for multiple canvases.
  3. Clients may choose any length of session; regular session fees apply.
  4. Clients may choose to upgrade their canvas gallery wrap to a different size by paying the a la carte difference.
  5. Guess what: I don’t pretend to know all the most photogenic spots in San Diego. If you want to have a session at a different public place (that’s just as scenic as the ones I listed), contact me and make your pitch! I’ll entertain all ideas, and just might extend this promotion to a couple more locations!

 

UPDATE – 7/1/13: Three locations have been booked! Balboa Park, Torrey Pines State Park & Fiesta Island have been spoken for. As of right now, the other three locations are still up for grabs!

Image sources: http://onecoolthingeveryweekend.com/2012/11/21/picture-tour-of-the-san-diego-balboa-park/http://www.sandiegodigitalphotos.com/San_Diego_photos/Coronado_Centennial_Park.htmlhttp://101thingstodosw.com/san-diego/family-time-on-a-budget/http://www.billcaid.com/2012/BalboaParkandMissionBay20121208/BalboaParkandMissionBay20121208.htmhttp://www.bcre.com/gaslamp-district-downtown-san-diego.phphttps://www.facebook.com/harborislandwestmarina

Hillcrest, San Diego Pride Party with Dogs at Fido & Co. Canine Country Club

Thursday, July 18th, 2013

The Pride of Hillcrest is something I’d never been to before, but I learned quickly: it’s one big party! This yearly festival & parade is held in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, and I absolutely loved the happy, joyous atmosphere of the whole weekend!

Fido & Co., Hilcrest’s “canine country club”, invited me to photograph the event, and I’m so glad they did! It was so much fun to hang out with their members and enjoy the festivities! On Friday night, the band D’Nile took the stage in front of Fido & Co. and played long into the night – and you should have seen all the people that came up and started dancing! Saturday morning was the parade, and my gosh, people flocked to Fido & Co. to watch it all. (I suppose it could have had something to do with the bottomless mimosas they were serving…)

Take a look!

They decked out the whole building for the event! 

dog boarding gay pride party

 

The event was a perfect opportunity to collect proceeds for charity, and the recipient was Ferdinand’s Familia, San Diego’s only all-species rescue! I was talking to one of the volunteers, and they said they got a call a couple of weeks ago for a stray llama in Chula Vista. Um… what??? Ferdinand’s Familia has stables & facilities in Imperial City and they rescue everything from cats & dogs to goats & horses! What a great choice for a charity to support.

band fundraiser charity

 

D’Nile was awesome!

band playing for dogs

 

Soooo much dancing…

dog pride event dancing

 

san diego music dog event

How cute is Gabi (the pug) joining the fun?!

dogs and people dancing

 

I decided to bring out my fisheye lens for a few photos, too…

san diego dog event

Saturday morning! This picture is misleading, because I took it before FIdo & Co. got PACKED! There were easily 3-4 times as many people there by the time the parade started.

dog boarding event party

Karla & Lisa, the owners of Fido & Co., pose in front of the big peace flag in the lobby! (love these two!)

dog boutique owners

Dogs attended the festivities… obviously! :) That’s Gabi the pug & Ruby the yorkie.

people and dogs gay pride

 

Gabi donned a pink tutu for Saturday… so. perfect. Who doesn’t love pugs & tutus? You can see how everyone was loving her in the photo on the left!

pug in a pink tutu

More love for sweet Gabi…

dog attention san diego

 

These boys got plenty of attention too! I don’t know their names, but aren’t they handsome?

dogs in canine country club

 

Haha! Everyone laughed when this dog used his brother as a head-rest! And this is Patrick the Boston terrier, who loved the camera…

dogs in san diego's boarding facility

And then the parade began!

san diego pride dog-friendly

 

Sadly, I couldn’t stay for the parade – some extended family came into town –  but if it was anything like the pre=parade party, I’m sure it was a BALL!

 

Thank you, Fido & Co., for inviting me to the event! I had a great time and I’m already excited for next year. :)

 

San Diego Pet Photographer Featured Internationally

Thursday, July 11th, 2013

Hello, lovely blog-readers! Some pretty exciting things have happened lately with a few of my photos, and if you’re not already a fan of the Facebook page, you might have missed hearing about it – and that’s no fun! So here’s the big news: my photos have been featured internationally!

Itty Bitty & Fluffy is a British-based blog about pet style & photography. They showcase the latest & greatest products in the pet industry, whether they’re from upscale boutiques or handmade by artisans. They’re also a storehouse of fantastic pet photography by artists around the globe. So when they notified me that they’d be featuring my session with Socrates the labradoodle, I was thrilled! Not only that – they took a dip into my blog archives and specifically asked to feature Gus’s session from last year as well! So those photos will be featured soon too! Check out a few screenshots of their post here, or click here to see the whole article on their site.

 

san diego featured pet photographer


san diego featured pet photographer

 

san diego featured pet photographer

 

Exciting stuff, right?! I’m still pinching myself over being featured (soon-to-be-twice!) in a blog with such high standards, and a such a reputation in the pet industry for only showing truly outstanding work. YAY!

 

Now, there’s a difference between being featured for stylized pet portraiture and being featured for national event coverage… so I’m equally thrilled (just in a different way!) to say that my photos from the Loews Dog Surfing Competition were requested & published by the UK Daily Mail! (Looks like I haven’t lost my journalism touch… shooting for a paper was actually how I got started in photography, and let me tell you, it’s not always easy to capture photos that stand out from alllllll the other photographers’ at the event!) The Daily Mail is one of the UK’s most popular news sources with millions of readers, and they published an article the day after the event, detailing the competitors & atmosphere of the day. The article is here on their site, or you can just take a quick look below:

 (This first photo actually isn’t mine; it was taken years ago and is just a stock photo showing Tillman.)

san diego honored pet photographer

 

 There’s Ricochet the SURF-ice Dog, and a couple more competitors!

san diego honored pet photographer

 

(To be completely honest, I think they lost a bit of saturation in the photos’ colors, which slightly disappointed me… but hey, I’m a perfectionist! haha!)

 

So it’s been a big week, I suppose! :)  And I think a few more good things are coming soon… you can keep up with all the updates by scrolling down to the bottom of this page and entering your email address under “subscribe”. You’ll get a cute little one-liner email whenever I publish a new post here! That way you won’t miss any of the exciting news. I may have just arrived in San Diego, but I have a feeling there are PLENTY of good things on their way! :)

 

San Diego Dog Photography Portfolio Video

Friday, July 5th, 2013

Amidst all the surfing dogs and studio renovations, I’ve been working on several behind-the-scenes ways to introduce my business (and myself) to the San Diego area lately. I thought about how I’ve been showing photos from big events lately, and posting iPhone-quality studio construction photos… not exactly the kinds of things I normally like to share! I mean, it’s fun for a change, but I usually like to control every aspect of my photos: the setting, the light, the colors, the atmosphere, etc. And honestly, I haven’t had that kind of control since my last session. So I could just post more photos from my past sessions… but I thought of something much more FUN!

I made a video of my portfolio! These are some of my absolute-favorite photos I’ve ever taken! Not all my favorites are here, of course – I couldn’t fit something from every session into one song, and I just like too many photos, haha! But this is a great taste of my natural, playful & soulful pet photography style, and the song it’s set to is SUPER fun! So, without further ado… enjoy!  :)

 

 
I told you the song is excellent!  :)  In case you’d like to share this with anyone you know, or even just post it to your Facebook page, you can find the original video here or share my post about it here. (Or, to take a slower look at my portfolio, see my portrait galleries on my main website.) Thanks for watching, and happy sharing!

 

 

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