Barkelona Day 2: Second Photo Shoot with Forca

I met Forca during our 2nd photo shoot on day 2. After another incredible meal at Casa Felix, we were introduced to 3 more sets of dogs that we would be photographing outdoors, around Casa Felix just before sunset. I can't even describe how beautiful it was around our villa. Some of my favorite photos from my time in Spain were taken during this photo shoot. Because of that, I'm going to walk you through each individual photo shoot.  My group started with Forca. She is a beautiful chocolate lab. This is literally the first photo I took of her.

She is a trained therapy dog and was so calm. Her parents were with her and her mom spoke a little English. You know when you meet certain people and you just like them? That's how I felt about Forca's mom. You could tell she just adored this dog.

As many of you know, I have a chocolate lab named Moose that we rescued 1.5 years ago at the age of 8. Forca made me miss my man Moose although my guy has a much different personality because he wouldn't sit and pose like Forca did for us. She was a great dog and I hated saying goodbye to them.

I love profile shots of dogs. I have two 20x24 photos of my dogs Willow and Buddy hanging in my bedroom are both are profile shots of them that I had taken by a professional photographer back in 2012 before I'd ever even thought of becoming a photographer myself. I like profile shots when the dogs are captured looking up as Forca is in this one. I can see the love and adoration she has in her eyes as she is staring up at her mom. This is my personal favorite image that I took of Forca. I just love it because I know she is looking at her mom and that look in her eye and the happiness in her face just gets me every time.

Project 52 week 18: Use of Diagonal Lines

In week 18 of our 52 week challenge, we are to use diagonal lines in our images to create energy and lead our viewer through the image. As many of you know, I am fairly new to photography so I've been working pretty hard at honing my skills. Part of the process for me has been trying to figure out my style or perhaps I should say develop a style. I have been on a journey (literally to Spain) to help me figure this out and one of my "ah ha" moments was meeting and getting to know Kaylee Greer of Dog Breath Photography. I've seen and admired her work and as I got to know her, it hit me like a ton of bricks that her personality shows through in her photography. She is fun and gregarious and truly one of the most sincere people I've ever met. To me, her photography is fun and gregarious and there is also a sincerity about it. When I look at the images I took in Spain under the direction of the three instructors, the images that are my favorites are the ones that are clean, simple, dreamy, natural and calming. Most of those words are words I would use to describe myself. Perhaps I am onto something here. Progress feels good.

I believe my style doesn't lend itself to a lot of lines in the actual photos. I see images that others create that contain a lot of lines and I like some of them but I generally prefer a more understated image.

I'm cheating a little here because I am posting a photo I took in Spain of a dog named Pepa. (We are supposed to post photos we took this past week, see below for those. :))  It is one of my favorite images that I took on my trip. I like the simplicity of it and the white wall behind the mostly white dog (and the white wall has very subtle leading lines.) In looking at the photo, I noticed today that Pepa is lying on a brick floor with a diagonal pattern. I'm not sure that these diagonal lines add much to this image because they are fairly faint (and perhaps that is why I'm not bothered by them.) In this image, Pepa is lying at an angle to the camera... hence she is the diagonal. :)

I had a photo session at the end of last week and I set the puppy up on some moss growing in between the pavers.  I was hoping to use one of those photos for my diagonal lines shot but in my photos, the puppy is sitting so that the lines are not diagonal at all, they're straight so I needed to come up with another plan.

Enter Howie, Lola and Otis. I was pet sitting for them earlier in the week. They are Malteses (should that have an 's' on the end or no?  Anyone know what the plural of Maltese is?? :)) Otis is the old man of the crew, Howie is the young pup and Lola is the sweet girl that is happy to play or be loved on pretty much all the time!  They have brick pavers in their yard so my thought was to try and get shots of them with the pavers coming towards me on the diagonal and in this first one, Otis is diagonal too.  I know this probably a stretch for this week's assignment (sshhh don't tell anyone!)

Otis doesn't hear well (if at all) so I was lucky to get a shot of him with the brick pavers going the direction I wanted.  Howie is VERY food motivated and sat nicely for a treat while I took his photo. :) I was also able to snatch a few photos of Lola.

This is a blog circle so click here to go to Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area .  If you continue to click the links at the end of each post, you'll end up right back here and you'll get to see some cute furry kids along the way.

Barkelona Day 2, 1st Photo Shoot

Our Barkelona workshop included a combination of classroom and on location photo sessions. In the morning both Nicole and Sam led classroom talks. Day 2 of Barkelona had 2 photo sessions. We did one inside the villa we were staying in and then in the evening we photographed several dogs outside and around the villa.  I don't have the right words to describe how beautiful is was. There I met Forca, a chocolate lab. She is a trained therapy dog and she made me miss my man Moose. However unlike Moose, she posed perfectly for her portraits... but I'm getting ahead of myself. More on her in a bit! For the indoor photo session, my group started with Taila, a golden retriever / cocker spaniel mix. She was a little unsure of all of the attention she was getting but she posed beautifully. Even when we put her in the chair and in front of a chess set! She must've thought we were crazy. And we are: crazy dog photographer people. All of us!!

This 2nd photo is the amazing Kaylee Greer of Dog Breath Photography and a little behind the scenes of her setting up the shot of Taila.  Ingrid is Taila's dog trainer giving her some instructions too.

Our next model was a dog that caught my attention when she arrived.  Her name is Pepa and she's an English Bulldog.  In all my years of dog walking, I've never met a bulldog until April 16, 2016 and I had to go all the way to Spain to do it!  Pepa was a great model and even tolerated more of our crazy dog photographer antics... see below!

We then moved outside and photographed a jack russell terrier.  I hate to say this but there were two JRTs and I'm not sure if this is Elsa or Teo.

We took a short break after photographing all these cuties and then we had more classroom work.  After an early dinner, 4 dogs came to our villa to be photographed during our student led shoot.  That's where I met Forca.  Stayed tuned for the next blog post....

Point of View: Control Your Lines - Project 52 Week 17

This week our assignment was to consider our point of view in order to control your lines.  Leading lines are something photographers consider when taking photographs.  Leading lines 'lead' your eye to the subject in a photograph.  Changing your point of view as the photographer will change where those lines lead. Most of the time when I think about leading lines, I think about lines on the ground (roads, sidewalk lines, brick paths, etc) but I used a different tactic this week. I was recently taking photos of dogs in front of doors and many of the doors had a lot of detail and lines on them.  In looking back at the photos, my point of view certainly affected the images and how I feel about them.

This is Louie.  A dachshund from NJ that now lives in Barcelona.  This first image is edited and the second photo is the exact same image straight out of the camera.  You can see I removed his leash, I cropped the photo and I actually extended the door behind him.  I didn't care for the wall on the left side.  In the photo, the lines on the wall distracted me.  If I would've changed my point of view when I was taking the photo, I could've eliminated having the wall on the left in the photo at all.  Lucky for me, this type of editing is pretty easy to do.

For anyone on Instagram, Louie has his own page: Rocco_Louie.  He's famous!  Gotta love that!

In this next photo, there are all kinds of lines on the door that affect the image.  I have several of this pup Bimbo in front of this door.  (Bimbo is 6 months old.  Look at his HUGE paws!)  By changing my point of view, the photos change dramatically.  In the 2nd photo, I am not positioned directly in front of Bimbo so the perspective or point of view of the photo changes.  I definitely prefer being directly in front of my subject when there are a lot of leading lines in my images particularly when the lines are behind my subject.

I have also learned this about myself as a photographer: I rarely take a straight picture.  Luckily there are options in Lightroom and Photoshop to straighten them and those are tools I use frequently although the photo of Louie above was actually pretty straight!

Next up is Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area.  I'm sure the other photographers will have very different examples of their leading lines.

Olivella Spain: Day 1

I'm writing about day 1 of Barkelona. I traveled to Spain to attend a dog photography workshop that lasted for 4 days. I wish it would've lasted longer. The days were jammed packed full of learning. Last night, someone asked me what my favorite part of the trip was and I answered the photo shoots. Thinking back, my answer should have been: the whole trip. I struggle to find the right words to describe the experience. It was just that: an experience. It was memorable. Amazing. Challenging. Wonderful.

When it was over, leaving was hard.  However I feel so fortunate because in the moments of being there, I was really there.  I soaked in each moment, realizing how special it was.  I remember on my last night, standing alone overlooking the pool and thinking how blessed I am to have just had this experience. The experience meeting other like-minded crazy dog people. We are all equally crazy about photography and wanting to learn and soak it all up too. I made some amazing bonds with the wonderful people who were there and my world became a lot richer because of them. Here is the beginning of my story:

I arrived in Barcelona (albeit without my checked luggage) on a Tuesday morning. I explored the city until Thursday at 6pm when I left for the workshop. I met up with many of the workshop participants in Barcelona so many of us had a chance to get to know each other prior to the workshop starting.

On Thursday evening, the 12 of us loaded down with our camera gear and all of our luggage (with the exception of my luggage which was apparently floating around London (!) and Barcelona) and headed to Casa Felix the villa that would house all of us during the workshop. I had all of my camera equipment so I was okay! I've included a link to the gallery of the house. The photos don't do it justice. I loved this house and my room with its huge windows and super comfy bed. I slept better there than I've slept in a really long time. :)

On Friday morning (day 1), I awoke to find Connie a chef originally from England in the kitchen making us breakfast. I should've done a better job of photographing the food she made for us. It was all wonderful. After breakfast, we were rewarded with an inspirational talk from Kaylee. She asked us questions like: who are you as an artist? One of my favorite quotes she shared is "Be Fearless in the Pursuit of What Sets your Soul on Fire." She is an amazing woman full of inspiration and love for what she does and it exudes from her. Dog photography is part of her soul and it's obvious. To be around her felt like being in the presence of greatness. Her company is Dog Breath Photography. You should check our her work. Even if her style isn't your taste, she is a genius. AND I GOT TO MEET HER!

Our next session was about lighting with Charlotte Reeves. Charlotte is based out of Brisbane Australia and gave us a ton of tips for shooting in various types of lighting conditions some of which I got to try for the first time on this trip.  She also talked about photography theory. Learning from her was a dream come true. It is wonderful to meet an artist whose work will take my breath away. That is Charlotte.

We also met a local dog trainer, Ingrid and her two dogs Blat and Etna.  They stayed in the house with us and Ingrid coordinated all of the dogs that we'd be photographing over the next 4 days.

We had our first photo session on day 1 and it was in the village of Olivella and we photographed 3 sets of dogs: Blat, Ney and Luc and Ovi.

Blat is a lab/pit mix and she loves her tennis ball.  We started by practicing action shots with her and she was a perfect model. Then we worked on some back lighting shots of her.  Next up was Ney and then Luc and Ovi.  My previous two posts featured Luc and Ovi, Spanish Galgos.

Project 52 - week 16: Try it in Black & White

For week 16 of Project 52, Try it in Black & White, I am in Spain!!!  I found out last year about a dog photography workshop called 'Barkelona' to be held just outside of Barcelona and I am here.  It is amazing - truly a pinch myself moment.   I don't have the words to describe how beautiful it is and literally as I'm typing this the church bells in the village of Olivella which is just below our villa have started to ring.  Today, it is my heaven. I am here with 14 other ladies from all over the world (America, England, Ireland and Australia) and the 3 instructors for the event:  Kaylee Greer of Dog Breath Photography,  (the color inspiration is for Kaylee and if this doesn't make sense, go to her page and read her bio), Charlotte of Charlotte Reeves Photography  and Nicole of Nicole Begley Photography.   A Barcelona based trainer Ingrid Ramon is staying here with us too AND she brought her dogs, Edna a rottie and Blat a yellow lab.  (Blat means wheat in Spanish.)   Ingrid has lined up all of the dogs that we'll be photographing over the next several days.  It's going to be a jammed packed, exciting, memorable time!

The village in Olivella is gorgeous.  The stone work, the old buildings, the wildflowers and the surrounding hills are a perfect setting for photographing.  We photographed 3 different sets of dogs last night.  One of the dogs we photographed was a puppy named Luc.  Since the theme for this week is try it in black & white, I thought Luc and his story would be appropriate for black & white photos.

Luc is a Galgo or Spanish Greyhound.  I learned about these dogs and the breed's history during my stay in Spain.  My heart broke when I learned more about these dogs' plight. For reasons I cannot understand, this breed originally brought to Spain by noblemen and held in high esteem, is now deemed worthless.  They are used for hunting hare each season and then as part of the tradition, they are killed after the hunt.  I couldn't bear to hear about their history and the torture they endure.

There are rescue groups across the world involved in improving the outlook for these dogs. We were fortunate and thrilled to meet Luc and his brother Ovi who were recently adopted. Yay for them!!

I didn't really get to know Luc but I believe this last photo probably sums him up.  Just look at those bright eyes, nun ears and silly grin!  Good for you Luc.  Enjoy your life sweet pup!

Next up in the blog circle is Little White Dog Pet Photography - Sioux Falls, SD   Be sure to click the link at the bottom of each post and you'll end up here when you are done.

PS  If you'd like to see these two images in color, look at my blog post dated 4/21/16!