Moose and the dog sitter

I am a dog sitter and when we go on vacation to Hilton Head like we did last week and take Moose and Willow with us, we have to hire a dog sitter. No joke! This dog sitter hires a dog sitter WHEN the dogs are on vacation WITH US! And that's because of our crazy Moose.

We were hoping that his separation anxiety would be better this trip but no, he didn't like being left in the house alone. He isn't destructive but it stresses him out. I'd love to have a doggie cam set up to see what he does but actually when I think about it, that might break my heart to seem him stressed.

So, Moose didn't get left alone very much in the house. Luckily (or not so luckily for me), I'd planned to do quite a bit of work while we were on vacation. I have a ton of back office type of work that I need to catch up on so I'd planned to knock some of it out on vacation... and I did. Moose was happy to have me around.

We did plan to go out to dinner a couple of nights while we were there so the dog sitter came and stayed with him. He's a funny dog. As soon as she got there and we'd go to leave, he followed her back into the house, perfectly content that we were leaving as long as someone was there with him.

Yay for the dog sitter and for her helping us and The Moose while we were on vacation! Do your dogs require special attention or treatment when you're on vacation?

See Spot Run Dog Walking & Pet Sitting

To all my dog walking and pet sitting clients, I have exciting news: I've launched my BARKography website and you can click the link to check it out.  If you do, please let me know what you think. This means several things. I no longer have to share my dog walking and pet sitting website with my photography site. Because I've spent a lot of time marketing the new dog photography business, it was taking over the See Spot Run site. No more. :) The dog photography piece is still really important but so is the dog walking and pet sitting. It always has been. So now I get to blog about dog walking and pet sitting things here and I can blog about the photography side of the business on the BARKography site. If there is a downside, it is that I now have 2 blogs. Yikes..... :)

I recently saw a post from a friend on my facebook page that was an article she shared about a pet sitter leaving a dog in a car and the dog died. The pet sitter was found through an online site. Here are my recommendations for finding a pet sitter:

1. Ask your friends and family for a referral. If you have friends who have dogs, ask them who they use as a dog walker or pet sitter. Contact that person and see if she (he) covers your area. If she doesn't, ask her for a referral. I get a lot of referrals and sometimes the person lives outside of my service area. I will always refer them to someone else. If it is someone I know well, I will tell them that. If the person has pet sat for me before, I will tell them. If I don't know the person well, I will tell them that too.
2. Ask your vet for the front desk staff at your vet's office for a referral. Ask them how they know the person.
3. Interview the pet sitter. Seriously interview them! (I would interview them as if you were hiring someone to care for your child. My dogs are my children and they are treated as such.)
4. Check the pet sitter's references. Really call them. Really check them out. Ask questions like: how long have you known her, how many times has she pet sat for you, were there any problems, how did she correspond with you while she was pet sitting for you, how frequently did she correspond with you, etc. Ask questions. Lots of them.

As a pet sitter, it breaks my heart to read the stories like what I read this morning. It breaks my heart for the family of the dog. I don't like the black mark it leaves on my industry either. There are good pet sitters out there. Do your research and find them. You'll have to plan ahead as this process will take time. Your dogs are worth it, right? Trust me if you find the right pet sitter, she'll appreciate your efforts and your dog will too.

Pet Photography Project 52, week 32: Lens Flare

For this week's pet photography project 52 week challenge, we are examining lens flare. I'm so glad this is the assignment for this week because I have an image and I would really like some honest feedback on it. I took this 3 weeks ago. My mom was looking at all of the images from this photo session and she saw this one and audibly gasped. Now, she is certainly biased when it comes to the photos I take. I like this image but something doesn't seem quite right and I don't mean the fact that her front paw is cut off although maybe that is part of my issue. Does this image work? What would make it better? If you took this at a session, would you show it to the client?

Here is another photo from this same session. I found the raw file while searching for the image above and just edited it now. I didn't edit it before because I didn't think it was good enough. Your thoughts? (Seriously, honesty is what I want. :))

Here is another of The Moose.

Be sure to check back next week for some super exciting news!! :) This is a blog circle. Click the link at the bottom of each post and you'll see the other photographer's take on "lens flare." Next up is About A Dog Photography in St. Cloud MN.

Pet Photography Project 52, week 31: Damn Trees

The theme of our 52 week challenge this week is actually silhouettes not damn trees however this week, my challenge revolved more around the damn trees than silhouettes hence the title! Let me set the scene. Grab a cup of coffee or if it's later in the day, your favorite beverage. You may be here for awhile. :o

First of all, I love silhouettes. I always have. The first time I ever took one was in April when I was at Barkelona, the dog photography workshop I attended. We'd talked about how to take them during one of our classroom sessions and that night while out walking with 2 of the other attendees just before sunset, we crested a hill with an amazing view of the sunset so we took them of each other. We had a lot of fun but I'd not taken another one until this week. Finding a place to take them has been my challenge.... because of all the trees in Charlotte NC.

A few weeks ago a client hired me to photograph his two dogs. He selected the location which was a park about 30 minutes from my house. I'd seen the location in photos but had never been myself so I was excited. I loved the location with its wide open spaces and hills. I knew I wanted to go back to this location so when I saw this week's theme was silhouettes, I knew where to go.

I asked my 13 year photography assistant if she was available (she said yes!) and we grabbed Moose (remember him?) Have I mentioned that every time I get my camera bag out now, Moose thinks that means he gets to go on an adventure? If Moose is involved, it is an adventure.  We hadn't even made it out of the neighborhood before he'd unzipped my backpack/camera bag with his nose and grabbed my memory card wallet out and thought that meant they were his and he didn't need to give them back.  Moooooose!

Some of you may remember that last week I said many times with these challenges in particular, I have an image in mind but it doesn't necessarily work out that way. That happened this time too although it was because my memory stinks. Those wide open spaces and hills... they weren't as vast and plentiful as I'd remembered because they were surrounded by those damn trees.

We walked to the spot I had in mind and the location didn't work at all.Those stinkin' trees were in the way. Ugh. :(

We walked around and had Moose stand in any open area we could find. The resulting photos are below. Just as we were leaving, we walked up on a picnic area. I believe my photography assistant and my model were ready to leave but I thought... I need Moose up on that picnic table, then those dang trees won't be in the way. Guess what, they were still in the way. We had to hurry, the park closes at sunset and I had my dog on a picnic table taking photos of him. Others were exiting the park and I didn't want to get in trouble for having my dog on the picnic table and and dark clouds were rolling in so that was even more motivation to try and get some quick snaps.

The bottom line: My search to find a great spot to take silhouettes around Charlotte continues....

For more silhouette photography, head to  Pet Love Photography, serving Greater Cincinnati and the San Francisco Bay Area. Remember this is a blog circle and if you continue to click the links at the bottom of each post, you'll end up right back here. I can't wait to see what everyone else does... and I'm trying to remember if anyone lives near the beach. Photos on the beach would be amazing.... and guess where I'm going to be in a a few weeks? :) :)

3 Dogs and a Trainer

I met Bella, Berkeley and Fisher's mom last October at Barktoberfest. It was my first time photographing at an event and I had a blast. I had no idea that spending a few hours at this event would have such an impact on my photography career. This was one of the first steps that helped me get to where I am today. I owe a debt of gratitude to Berkeley pictured below.

Berkeley's mom loved this picture of her. She told me recently that it's still one of her favorites of him. If you follow me on Instagram you've seen photos of Berkeley already. (btw if you don't follow me, click that link and please do! I tend to post most on Instagram these days.) Berkeley was sitting on a bale of hay in the shot and I got low so the cloudy sky was in the background. There are things I would do differently if I had the chance to take this shot again but I believe it is because of this photo that I got to know Berkeley's mom.

Berkeley's mom is Courtney and she is a dog trainer with Off Leash Dog Training. In November she hired me to take photos of Berkeley and her 2nd dog Bella, a pit mix. At the time, I was just getting started in the complex and difficult dog photography world. I'd discovered how hard dog photography was. I loved it but translating that into quality images was challenging. Getting the opportunity to photograph a dog trainer's dogs was truly a gift. I was able to work on my craft with dogs that sat still. That is by no means a requirement for me to photograph your dogs but when I was new to dog photography, that was certainly a huge bonus.

Here are two of the better photographs from that first session.

I got a text from Courtney late winter/early spring that she was getting a puppy and she wanted me to photograph him once she got him. At this point I knew I was headed to Barkelona, the dog photography workshop so I scheduled the photo session for right after I got back. I knew I'd learn so much at the workshop, I wanted to be able to use that knowledge the 2nd time I did photos for her.

I met Fisher when he was just 8 weeks old.  Courtney commented that I seemed much more confident at the this  photo session and she was right, I was.

Confession - choosing just a few photos here was hard! I actually have a sample photo album I show to clients and they are all of Fisher from this photo session! A couple of weeks after our photo session. I got together with Courtney to reveal all of the photos to her. At the end she looked at me and said, I want you to take photos of Bella and Berkeley again. I can see improvement in your work and I'd like more photos of them.

We scheduled our session the day after Berkeley was going to the salon. :) What resulted were some of my favorite photos to date. There are still things that I would do differently if I got the chance to do this again. One of them would be to use a different lens. I've developed a love/hate (and actually more on the hate side) with my 24-70mm lens. Unfortunately when I got it, I was so new to photography I thought the problems I was having with it were my fault. Some of them probably were but after sending it back to the manufacturer for repairs because it wasn't focusing accurately, I've recently gotten it back and it is still soft. It is the generic Tamron lens, not the Nikon and if I had to do it over again, I would definitely get the Nikon. I know other people that love this Tamron lens, I am not one of them.

Courtney recently told me she is getting another dog.... yay me! I get to photograph another member of her family when that happens. I'm not sure where my photography business would be without Courtney, Bella, Berkeley and Fisher. I do know that I appreciate them more than you'll ever know. Life is Good.

Pet Photography Project 52: week 29: Reflections

For anyone who is wondering... you are on the right site and this blog post is about reflections! I have a new logo and I'm in the process of making some tweaks to my website. :) I wrote about that on my last post because I wasn't planning on getting a new logo for See Spot Run so there is definitely a story behind the new one. Back to week 29 and project 52. Some time ago, I took a few photos of dog I was walking because his ears were throwing these great shadows on the ground. (The dog's ears are great!) I don't love those images though so I wanted to try and recreate something similar for this week. However my attempts this week didn't turn out so great either.

My first attempt was at midday and the sun was directly overhead so the shadow was pretty much directly under the dog. My 2nd attempt was around 7pm later that same day with my choc lab Moose (remember him?) Well it was a blazing 100° outside so we weren't out for very long. Moose couldn't figure out that I wanted him to stand still and we were both hot so I gave up after just a few attempts. Now that I've read the assignment for next week.... looks like I'll be trying this again and I hope I have someone else who can hold the leash! That will help a lot!! BTW - now every time I get my camera out, Moose thinks he is either going for a walk or a ride in the car. He's been used a lot lately as my model! Poor guy - he doesn't get to go EVERY time. :)

While editing this photo from a session this week, I noticed the reflection in Murphy's eyes. If you're on your phone and can zoom in, you can see me, the white garage to the right and the trees behind us.

This is another one of those assignments that I'd like to try again. This is what I'd like to create: an image of a dog standing near water and seeing his reflection in the water. Next up in the blog circle is Cahlean of About A Dog Photography in St. Cloud MN.  See ya'll next week!