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San Diego Pet Photography Studio: Progress!

Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013

Well, ever since covering the incredible Loews Surf Dog Competition, I’ve been REALLY busy behind the scenes at my new studio! I’m soooo excited to be working on San Diego’s newest pet photography studio & consultation area that it makes all the construction worth it. Because I’m not exactly the kind of person that loves renovation, haha… and there’s been a LOT of construction involved to make this place perfect! Let me show you!

Note: all photos taken with an iPhone. I’m saving my DSLR to take photos of the final, completed product! (It’ll look extra-pretty that way, right? haha!)

Hmmm, I wonder why my phone wanted to make the gray wall look yellow. Regardless, it’s gray! With a few stripes of blue!

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I’m not so good at staying in the lines, apparently, so I used 2 pieces of tape for twice as big of a boundary. I’d be way too nervous painting like this with just one piece!!

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This is one of two MASSIVE tape balls, after I peeled off allllll the tape from the walls. I have to admit, it was really fun to rip it off and see the clean lines underneath!

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Here’s a big peek: one of the finalized walls! I felt a bit weird about painting a door, but when you look at the whole room it really looks great!

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When all the painting was done, I had to do something that really scared me. I cut up the carpet! I’ve never done anything that even comes close to hard-core renovation like this! It’s just so permanent, you know? I guess I don’t really count painting as permanent. I feel like a first-time homeowner without ever having bought a home, haha!

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The day I cut up the carpet was also an infamous day of 3 trips to Home Depot. In the space of about 3 hours. Because what was under the carpet was more than slightly unexpected. Let’s just say… I can laugh about it now! Wasn’t doing much laughing that day, though! :)

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But LOOK! It was soooo worth it! Beautiful laminate hardwood floors!! And these were put in, from beginning to end, singlehandedly by my husband. He is just incredible – he’d never done this before, and they turned out absolutely perfect!

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And last but certainly not least, look what just arrived TODAY! It’s a flashy new MacBook Air, and it’s part of a sweeping new master plan to improve the way I present session images to my clients! What used to be a fun, post-session get-together is about to turn into a grand unveiling! This laptop is only part of the plan, and I can’t wait to show you the rest of the experience. Seeing your session photos is going to be an unforgettable event!

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Thanks for keeping up with the new studio progress – I’m excited to share more with you soon! Hopefully I just have one more blog post of in-progress work to show you, and then I can reveal the completed studio! (eeeek!) Fingers crossed! :)

 

Setting Up My New Studio in San Diego

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

This is probably “Part 1” in a long (well, hopefully not TOO long!) series of blog posts! I’m ridiculously excited about my new studio in San Diego, and I’ve been working REALLY hard to get it set up & ready for business ASAP!

 

(I know, more iPhone photos. Have you EVER seen this many iPhone photo posts from me?? It ok though: the movers brought a bunch of my office supplies, and I’m pretty sure my card reader is in there somewhere!! I promise things will be back to normal soon!)

 

I spent the weekend running from store to store, trying to stock up on supplies & decor. Pictured is just one of, like, 5 Home Depot receipts. Big ones. I’m ready to accept their Customer of the Week award.

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Yesterday (Tuesday) was a big day! We finally got everything (we think) we needed from various stores, and got to start working inside the studio. We went through the first roll of painter’s tape pretty quickly…

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Taping job by yours truly. I may have missed my calling as a light-switch-painter’s-tape-master.

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And then – the most exciting part of Bailey’s morning – the movers came! They delivered all the furniture, supplies, etc. I need for my office and to participate in upcoming dog events! It’s starting to feel more like “my studio” with all my things in it!

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After finishing up with the movers and doing allllllll the taping, we needed a lunch break. We headed a block down the street and found a great place with incredible burgers, which came with fries that Bailey enjoyed very much! (yes, we feed our dog food from the table, I know I know, but she’s okay with it and so are we.) At one point, she missed a fry we dropped down to her and it somehow bounced all the way under the next table – and she was the most pitiful thing! She just stared at it wistfully. My husband took this photo of our sad puppy. What a silly dog.

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 After lunch, it was time to get to painting!

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 Here’s a sneak peek at some of the decor… the bird is my little tribute to my hometown, Portland. Anyone know why? :)

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 And LOOK! Laminate floors!! We’re actually putting nice flooring in a large part of the space, to make sure I can shoot my studio sessions in that area. I’m nervous about the process but we’re told it’s easy to do… I feel like a first-time homebuyer without ever having bought a home. (Is that a good thing?)

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It’s coming along!! I hope you enjoyed these “before” photos, haha! More are on their way… let’s hope everything keeps going as smoothly as it has up till now! :)  Thanks for reading!

 

San Diego’s Newest Pet Photography Studio!

Saturday, June 15th, 2013

Well, it’s official! I wanted to keep it under-wraps until the papers were signed and the keys were in my hand… and now, it’s true: I’m the owner of San Diego’s newest pet photography studio! Yay!!! This is sooooo exciting!!

 

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I’m not going to show you any photos of the space yet, because honestly, they’re “before” photos. And what good is a “before” without an “after”? I promise, they’re coming! But right now, you’ll have to imagine the possibilities through these photos (taken with my iPhone, because I still haven’t found my card reader in our moving boxes yet… gah).

 

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I’m feeling a lot of different emotions right now – probably what every photographer that’s opened a studio goes through. I’m scared the space won’t live up to the ideas I have in my head if I can’t decorate it well enough. I’m scared for my upcoming bill at Home Depot. I’m scared that the investment will start to weigh on me. I’m scared of a break-in. But at the same time, I’m so excited to have a space in the community where I can invite people, clients & dogs over! I’m excited to be able to simply say, yes, I have a studio! I’m excited to decorate & design it, and I’m excited to have a place that can do everything I need it for: client meetings, shoots, ordering sessions, etc. Honestly, I’m a little bit excited to separate my business life from my personal life, because – not gonna lie – my time-management skills could use a bit of work (coughfacebookcough) and I think having limited access to my files at home might be just the push I need to be as productive as possible while working.

So in the meantime, I’m accepting any & all suggestions on decorating & maintaining a brick & mortar studio. Ken and I are about to head to Home Depot now… and I’m praying the employees there have plenty of patience! We are first-timers, after all! :)

Thanks for reading – and stay tuned for more updates as I do my best to make this studio perfect! :)

 

A Few Overdue Photos

Friday, June 7th, 2013

In all the craziness last month of learning that my family would be moving to San Diego – and then making the move incredibly quickly after that – I had to do a few things differently than normal. Part of that included staying up WAY late to finish edits & submitting client orders, and another part was packing up our house for the movers to come. (moving a house = not easy; moving a house + business = akfhjdsamvfdknsd!!!) I even photographed sessions mere DAYS before literally driving away from our house for the last time… so, needless to say, all the meticulous editing I do for every client would simply have to wait until I could breathe again!

Now that I’m finally here & beginning to settle in San Diego, I have time (and not at 3 am!) to give these clients’ photos the attention they deserve. So this blog post is kind of like a second sneak peek for each of these families; they’ve been incredibly patient with me at this crazy time in my life, and I can’t wait to show them their entire galleries! They’ll be done very soon, but in the meantime, I thought another couple of photos would be fun to share!

 

Here’s Areli, striking a pose on the beach – just minutes after his parents got engaged!

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Ghost, handsome as ever.

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Here’s Monty, tearing after his ball!

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… eventually we let him take a breather on the dock. He earned it!

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Like I said, I can’t wait to release your galleries – very soon! Thanks again for your patience – I think the photos will be worth the wait! :)

 

We Made It to San Diego!

Thursday, May 30th, 2013

As many of you know, I announced that my family would be moving to San Diego, California not too long ago. Well, it’s been a whirlwind, but we safely made it out here! And in way less time than I would have thought possible!

(Are you ready for a blog post full of iPhone photos? Try not to cringe – you know I don’t do this to you very often!!)

 

We packed our car FULL and set off on the open road… Bailey was excited to go!

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Of course, after a while, the excitement faded. (for all of us, haha!)

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We drove over several state lines… this one was the first…

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 We spent parts of three different days in Texas. This was my breakfast for the last day, and it wasn’t even at a Texas-themed restaurant. We had a basic hotel continental breakfast… but state pride runs deep.

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And then… finally… we made it!! Practically our first stop was the Del Mar dog beach! Bailey was THRILLED to get the heck out of the car. I posted another photo on the Facebook page that shows a bit more of the dog beach… she LOVED it there! There are more dog beaches to explore, but we’re definitely coming back to this one!

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We also took a trip the next day to the Rancho Penasquitos dog park, which is located right near where we’re temporarily staying (before we find a more permanent house).  Apparently the “panorama” feature on iPhones turns moving dogs into 8-legged monsters, haha!

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I’m sure I’ll have MUCH more to tell you as I explore San Diego with Bailey. And prettier, non-iPhone photos, too! This is the start of something great, I can just feel it. Thanks for reading & stay tuned! :)

 

 

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