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Molly, the Rescue Puppy from Olivenhain!

Tuesday, March 26th, 2019

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!

rescue puppy


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?!

rescue puppy photo


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! :)

Dakota, Firefly & Bella Rose! (Horse Photography in Rancho Santa Fe)

Thursday, June 29th, 2017

Oh my goodness – I am SO excited to share this sneak peek with you!! I don’t get to photograph horses every day, so this session was an absolute treat for me – and hopefully the photos are a nice treat for you, too!

Dakota and Firely are incredibly gorgeous horses – my eyes basically popped out of my head when I met them the other day after Gemma’s photo session (she’s their feline sister!). So I recently headed back to give them my full attention, and we had a spectacular time together! The boys are both slightly jumpy, so we kept the pace nice & easy, and I did my best to get their attention in a way that was interesting but not scary – and those of you who’ve heard the funny noises I make to get a pet’s attention know exactly what I’m talking about! But their handlers were a huge help, so with a bit of teamwork I think we were able to create some gorgeous images.

Not to be overlooked (literally or figuratively), Bella Rose the miniature horse joined us as well! She kept us laughing the whole time with her adorable antics, since she’s got enough attitude for a full-size horse, that’s for sure!

 

This is Dakota – I can’t get enough of his warm brown fur against the rich green grass. LOVE him.

horse photography

 

This is Firefly! I adore his unique patches and so-dark-it’s-almost-black fur. He’s a big fan of carrots.

horse photography image

 

Of course, this is Bella Rose! She was looking fresh for her portraits – that mane has volume, haha!

miniature horse

 

We have several images of the horses together, but most of them are going to require a significant amount of retouching… so for now, I’ll just share this peaceful moment of the horses enjoying their chance to munch on the soft grass.

horse photo

 

 

Tanya, I’m so excited to get together with you soon!! Emily and Sue, these photos certainly wouldn’t have come together without you – so thank you for being willing to work with me! :)

 

Gemma the Gorgeous Calico Cat (from Rancho Santa Fe)

Monday, June 19th, 2017

I’m so excited to introduce you to Gemma! She’s a gorgeous 2-year-old calico cat, and ever since her parents adopted her from Rancho Coastal, she’s been showering them with gifts to express her gratitude. You know the type of “gifts” cats give their owners, right? Mice and small lizards are pretty common, but Gemma is no common cat. She’s so athletic that she gets to give her parents exceptionally rare finds, like rats (!) and even a hummingbird (!!!) – not to mention she gets pretty creative with exactly where in the house she delivers those gifts! So although her parents might prefer a different way to show her appreciation, suffice to say that Gemma won the adoption lottery when she found such loving, wonderful parents – and she knows it.

When you arrive at Gemma & her family’s house, it’s hard not to be impressed. Gemma has a stunningly beautiful, custom-built home with plenty of sunny patches of light on the hardwood floors that are simply perfect for sunning oneself. Not to mention a yard with grass & flowers to go hunting in, and even a koi pond full of “roommates”! At the beginning of our session, Gemma shyly gave me a tour of her territory, preferring not to pose for my camera quite yet. So I followed her around the expansive living room, crawling on the hardwood floors and making plenty of silly (and rather embarrassing) sounds to get her fleeting attention… honestly, something tells me Gemma just wanted to see me work for it, haha! So eventually she decided I was worth her consideration, and she opened up and posed for the camera like a total pro. That’s what I’ve learned from photographing cats over the years – you’re on their schedule, not the other way around! But I’m so glad I had the chance to meet Gemma, and that she (slowly) came around to the idea of a photo session… the images we ended up with made crawling around on the ground totally worth it!  :)

 

This is Gemma – isn’t she gorgeous?!

calico cat

 

Before modeling, you have to stretch! :)

calico cat photo

We went outside to the garden in the heavenly evening light, and Gemma obligingly looked my way (while simultaneously monitoring the grounds for critters, of course).

calico cat picture

 

Tanya, thank you so much for introducing me to your beautiful kitty! I’m so excited to share the rest of our images with you soon! :)

 

Rancho Santa Fe Horse Photography, with Trea!

Wednesday, August 5th, 2015

Oh my goodness – I cannot POSSIBLY tell you how excited I’ve been for this photo session, and how long we’ve waited for it to happen! Jen (Trea & Bailey’s mom) is a friend of Tate & Skyler‘s mom, and she booked her session immediately after seeing their photos – so you’d think it wouldn’t have taken more than two months to finally get together! But the severity of May Gray & June Gloom interfered, and we were left waiting for a sunny (or at least not a rainy!) day. And finally, the morning we met up at Trea’s stable in Rancho Santa Fe, the weather was near-perfect: a bright sun coming through a thin layer of overcast clouds. I love that kind of weather; it’s enough light to capture high-speed action photos, while not creating any harsh shadows. Simply wonderful! :)

 

This is Trea (short for Mr. Bailey’s Treasure), a downright gorgeous American quarter horse. We took him on a walk through the neighborhood, stopping at the bougainvillea bushes along the way.

rancho santa fe horse photography

 

I don’t get the chance to work with horses too often, but gosh I love having the opportunity! He is so regal! This Rancho Santa Fe horse photography session was definitely one for the books.

rancho santa fe horse photography

 

Jen, I hope you don’t mind me including a photo of you in this sneak peek… I just love this moment with you two! :)

rancho santa fe horse photography

 

And after our fun with Trea, we came back to Jen’s house for the second half of our session – photos with Bailey the German shepherd! Now you KNOW I love dogs named Bailey – since that’s my dog’s name too – and this happy, loving boy was a delight to work with!

rancho santa fe pet photography

 

We also visited Encinitas Community Park, where we ran around the grass and barked at a few other dogs. What a sweet boy Bailey is… how could you ever say no to that face?! (But who knows… maybe he’s just happy remembering that box of a dozen donuts that he ate all by himself recently! Haha!)

rancho santa fe photography

 

Jen, I can’t thank you enough for your patience with my weather pickiness… the good news is that I know for a fact our waiting paid off! I’m so excited to see you (and the whole gang) again soon! :)

 

Kendall & Raven: Rancho Santa Fe Dog Photography

Friday, September 12th, 2014

I absolutely loved this Rancho Santa Fe dog photography session! These beautiful sisters are Kendall & Raven, and they visited the studio before showing me around their home & backyard for their photo session! These girls are complete opposites – Kendall has been a part of the family for many years, whereas Raven is an 8-month-old puppy. Kendall is content to lay by the stairs of the pool and drink a bit of water, but for Kendall, it’s not an afternoon at the pool unless she’s jumped in after her tennis ball and gotten completely soaking wet – and then laid on the outdoor furniture right afterwards, to make it sure became just as wet. Of course. Kendall doesn’t move very fast anymore (she’s the slow but steady type), but Raven is about as fast-moving and wiggly as you can possibly imagine!

But these dogs have plenty in common, too – most of all, both of them are complete sweethearts. They couldn’t be happier pups, and I know their family loves them so, so much. So it was an honor to meet these beautiful sisters, and spend the afternoon playing in the studio and in their pool together!

 

Raven is the black lab on the left, and Kendall is the yellow lab on the right. In this photo they’re looking up at their mom; don’t you love the sweetness in their eyes? :)

rancho santa fe dog photographer

 

This is Kendall’s favorite spot in their house! Her mom opens up the front doors and Kendall lays here, soaking up the sun, and keeping watch over everything just inside the doors. Have you ever seen a more welcoming face?!

rancho santa fe dog photography

 

Some dogs have me laughing for our entire session – and Raven was one of those dogs! She was hilarious from the moment she stepped into the studio and had to be slowly convinced that the backdrop wasn’t a painful terrible thing (we eventually convinced her)… to the moment we posed her next to a few flowers, she decided to “stop and smell the roses”, and the next thing we knew she coughed out dozens of petals! Haha! This little cutie is almost too much to handle…

rancho santa fe dog photography

 

 

Deb & Kit, thank you for an absolutely fabulous afternoon. I simply couldn’t be more excited about our photos! I’ll see you again soon, but please give your girls a hug for me in the meantime! :)

 

 

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