Cowbelly Pet Photography Seattle Blog

ANNOUNCEMENT 6/7/08: NEW Cowbelly Pet Photography 3-day intensive workshops for start-up pet photographers. Check out the workshops website for more information, and/or the workshops page of this blog for current updates!

Samson & Cooper sneak peek

August 20, 2008 – 9:00 am

There is nothing funnier than a big, lumbery, happy black lab IMO. And Samson totally fits the bill. This is Sam with his little buddy Cooper, who was just lucky enough to be staying over with Sam for a few days. When I saw Cooper’s face I had to get him in on the photography action. Sam didn’t mind at all. In fact, Sam doesn’t seem to mind much. He is the epitome of laid-back.

That’s Cooper there on the right. See how I couldn’t resist snapping some photos of him? Oh just you wait….

Some of you may recognize Sam from my old blog. Sam’s mom received a birthday gift from her super sweet boyfriend in 2007, and they invited me to go ice skating with them at that time. They were going skating and then for food + drinks. I had to say no because I had a ton of work to do. This time they invited me to go lawn bowling with them after our shoot. Again, too much work to do. Next time I WON’T say no- there is nothing more fun than drinking and lawn bowling, IMO! (ok, I’ve never been lawn bowling but it sounds like a blast. Sheena what’s the haps with the team??).

Heyyy, how’d SHE get in there? Rarity of rarities, I brought Fergie to this photo shoot. I am in love with Sam, and I thought Fergie would be too, and I just had to get the two of them together. I hoped that Sam’s mom would be ok with it, and felt confident that I could do my job well with Fergie there, so I decided to go for it.

I don’t know if it was love at first sight, but Sam DID pull a Junepug and start walking Fergie around by her leash, which I was so surpised by it I forgot to take pictures of it. Well, except for this one. Notice the leash wrapped around the Fergs’ right foot? hee hee. Right after this we took the leashes off and they went nuts. Yep, they definitely love each other. I think a date at the dog park is in order.

Now you tell me- how could you NOT photograph this little guy if you were there?

Seriously….

I can give you proof that I am a nice person. While we were at this fountain, a man who was exercising by jumping on and off the edge of the fountain, actually FELL IN. Everyone around us grabbed their cameras and starting taking pictures of the poor guy while he struggled to get out, clearly mortified by what just happened. Did I lift up my camera and start snapping away? No way. My parents always taught me to ‘do unto others’ and my heart went out to him (talk about embarrasing), so of course I wasn’t going to take advantage of him for my own photography kicks. I admit I would make a terrible photojournalist. I like dogs more anyway. They don’t get embarrassed. Fergie gets shy when she is pooping sometimes though. I digress.

Check out the ’sugar string’ drool from Samson.

Ahhh, the lovely Puget Sound. I can practically smell the low tide.

Fergie (L). Samson (R). Stick- the same.

I don’t know if you can tell, but this photo below was massively processed. From time to time there are situations I find myself in photographically that I just don’t know how to capture. Well, in the window of time that I have anyway. Like this shot in the late evening with a still bright sky but a very dark, black dog, half lit by the sun, and half in shadow. Increasing the exposure to get the detail in the dog loses the blue in the sky, yet exposing for the sky loses the shadow detail in the dog. I had it on manual, used spot metering and metered off the midtones in the ground, then recomposed and focused on Cooper. I didn’t even have time to change the aperture (which was set on f/8.0- ok but could have used wider), because I saw that there were dogs walking toward him on my right and I had about 1.5 seconds to fire off a few shots before he moved. A neutral density filter would have helped but not exactly in the way I wanted. Fill flash would have also helped, or even a stationary light, but alas I didn’t have my flash on my camera because I didn’t think I’d need it. But even if I did, this shot was also taken at 70mm, and then also cropped way down, because I was pretty far away from Cooper when I took it. I don’t know my flash well enough yet to know if I could have gotten the lighting effect I wanted at that distance. Plus I knew if I crept in closer he would move, so I did the best I could with what I had available at the time, which is really, the best that you can do when shooting dogs on location outside! You have to be ready for anything that happens and do the best that you can. See below for the original image.

Doctored in Lightroom and Photoshop:

Original, unmodified file. Would have been perfect had it been a profile shot. I would have just darkened the blacks and increased the contrast. I may have one of him like this in profile- I’ll have to look.

This is funny. I decided it would be cute to try and get a group shot of all three dogs together. Not an easy feat mind you, but the outtakes that came from trying this were totally worth the challenge. Funny stuff.

And lastly, the piece de resistance, the shot that had tears streaming down my face from laughing the first time I saw it. Ah, dogs are so funny.

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Private client shoots, sneak-peek | Tagged before and after, black lab, blue sky shot, cooper, funny dogs, samson, seattle dog photographer, seattle waterfront, sneak-peek | no comments No Comments | Add a Comment

Waiting list update + holiday schedule

August 20, 2008 – 7:30 am

I am now booked solid for photo shoots through the 18th of September. That is for both weekend AND weekday shoots of any length, in any location. This does NOT apply to the folks we are already in communications with, have indicated they would like to do a shoot, but that we have yet to set a firm date with for the first two weeks in September, OR anyone we may need to reschedule with this week due to the weather (grrrr…).

I am also booked up for new art commissions until early October. (That doesn’t include the two people on the waiting list we have promised to start with the 3rd week in September!). I am planning on a November 10th cutoff date for start dates for holiday art commissions this year. That means if you’d like to order a custom art piece for a holiday gift, you need to contact me NO LATER THAN November 7th, and plan to get your images to me NO LATER THAN November 10th. Sorry to be so firm but you wouldn’t believe how many people contact me to request a custom commissioned art piece within the week or two before Christmas!

FYI: photography + prints can be done up to 14 days prior to Christmas (specialty products can take up to 6 weeks). But really, for both of our sanity, please don’t wait that long.

So, the NEXT free dates are:

Photo shoots:

first open weekdays: Weds. 9/17 + Thurs. 9/18;

first open weekend: Sat 9/27 and Sun 9/28

Decopaw art start dates:

earliest date: Thurs. 10/2-Fri 10/3-ish. Will be updated as things change.

Also, depending on how my upcoming studio shoots go (a handful of doggie models planned for the last Sunday of this month), I *may* decide to offer short studio shoots this fall as an adjunct to my location shoots, for those who would really like to give a gift for the holidays. This remains to be seen and depends largely on a) the studio schedule, b) my lighting situation, c) how good my studio shots end up being (they might be terrible, who knows!) and d) how many regular location shoots I end up scheduling, and e) how full my art commission plate is.

I can’t believe I am already talking about the holidays, but given how fast time goes by, and how busy my schedule usually gets starting in September (as if THIS isn’t busy, lol!), I need to start planning in advance.

To the workshops folks who have contacted me, I am in the process of catching up with everyone, and intend to reply to every email within the next 2 days. There are 23 people on my list to contact so it will take some time but I promise to get back to everyone! There is still plenty of room in the October workshop, so never fear if you’d like to register! I know folks want to get good rates on airfare, so I will do my very best to get back to you asap! Also, if you have requested to be placed on the waiting list for the September workshop, you are on it, I promise!

Lastly, I haven’t taken a vacation since the fall of 2005, so at the very first possible chance I am going to split town for a week. This will most likely be during the 2nd week in October, which is not the most ideal time of year for me to try and pull away from the biz but I just have to. I won’t be able to survive the holidays without a break between now and then.

Thank you sincerely for being so patient with me! It is the best gift I could receive right now.

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Studio Stuff, miscellaneous randomness | Tagged decopaw art commissions, holiday 2008 schedule, studio work, wait list update, waiting list | no comments No Comments | Add a Comment

Dogs Rule Fatbook- I’ve got photos- lots of photos!

August 19, 2008 – 5:11 pm

I can’t let another day go by without posting on this amazing book. Those who follow my blogroll may have already discovered that I was recently involved in a collaborative art project in the form of one-of-a-kind dog art books, called the Dogs Rule Fatbook, created by 13 different artists around the country- a group of women who are also known as ‘The Sisterhood of Pet Portrait Artists’ (moniker by Kathy Weller).

The rules for each artist were simple: create and design 14 unique 8×10 pages of your signature dog art (mine being Decopaw), with the theme ‘Dogs Rule’, embellish the pages somehow, include your business name and contact information on the back of each page, then send them to the organizer Jill Beninato (more on Jill later), who would then bind the pages into 14 unique books (called ‘fatbooks’); one for each artist to keep + one very special book to save for a very special purpose (more on that later).

The results? Stunning.

Participating artist list + binding detail. Also see links to each artist’s website at end of post.

Each artist’s page had a tab with their name on it, and a clear page separating their page from the previous, and following pages. The clear divider page held a photo and quote from each artist. Gee, who do you think that is on the right below?

Jamie Pflughoeft, Decopaw Design + Cowbelly Pet Photography: Seattle, WA

Linda O’Niell, Abby Creek Studios: Boulder, CO

Melissa Langer: Pug Notes: Louisville, CO

Jill Beninato- the organizer: Sit.Stay.Smile Photography: Virginia Beach, VA

Kathy Weller: Wellerwishes + Kathy Weller Pet Portraiture: Cambridge, MA

Rebecca Landsdown: ArtPaw: Dallas, TX

Ann Leuck Feldhaus: Pet Portraits: Chicago, IL

Leigh Jackson: Noisy Dog Studio: Gig Harbor, WA

Manon Doyle: Hoochie Poochie Studios: Columbus, OH

Nicole Mlakar-Livingston: Pet Photography: Austin, TX

Moira McLaughlin: Dog Art Today: Los Angeles, CA

Bernie Berlin: A Place To Bark: Portland, TN

Wendy Crumbley: 2 Dog Studio: Florida

The final page. That’s Wendy’s photograph there on the left. Jill’s back inside cover on the right.

Here is the backstory on the book:

Back in May of this year, I received an email, along with the other participating artists, from my dear dog artist/photographer friend Jill Beninato. Jill is a master scrapbook maker and does incredible things with her dog art and pet photography.

Jill had the idea for all of us dog artists to create the book that you see in this post. Not being a crafter (at all) I couldn’t really picture it but had a rough idea of what the project would look like, from reading Jill’s detailed instructions and also being familiar with her work on her blog.

So we all had until July 5th to get our pages in (as many things are with me mine were late- hey I was moving the week they were due!!), and after we mailed our pages to her, Jill got busy (very busy) assembling them all and creating covers and backs for every single book (yes, every single one), and then shipping them off to each of us. I know it was a huge amount of work, and I don’t think I can ever express my gratitude to Jill for this amazing project. I feel so incredibly lucky to be part of this group of dog artists- some of the most talented in the country, IMO. Don’t believe me? Just check their websites and Bark magazine- these are the gals whose ads you see, who are all successful, highly visible artists.

And not only are these women incredibly creative and talented, but also super nice and supportive, and positive happy people. Oh, and beautiful- did I mention beautiful? Both on the outside and inside! Ok, I could go on forever.

How about some more pictures of the book?

The details on the pages are just incredible. I did my best to get some close-ups to show y’all. Pictures just can’t do this book justice. Manon Doyle’s embellished page on the left with beeswax, Mellissa Langer’s page with an adorable pug tag and the prettiest aqua blue with gold paper.

Linda O’Niell’s boxer- one of my very favorites of hers. Linda was the very first dog artist I met online early in 2007, and introduced me to many other super talented women, many of whom are in this book. I consider Linda to be my Pisces soul-sister (we miss you Linda!) and can’t wait for the day we can meet in person. Fergie’s page on the right below has metal ’studs’ and a silver heart tag that says ‘love’.

Bernie Berlin’s quote on the left, which resonated not only with me, but many of the other artists involved in the project. The sewing you see behind it is the backside of Rebecca’s very unique sewn giclee art. On the right is a close-up of Jill Beninato’s page- which is even more amazing in person.

The backside of Anne Lueck Feldhaus’s page on the left. I love that I got a painting of a ball happy dog! I seem to be attracting them lately. The backside of Nicole Mlakar-Livingston’s page on the right- one of my favorite photographs of hers- every time I see it I crack up. That’s a sock monkey tied around her pooch’s neck, hee hee.

Kathy Weller’s backpage on the left. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at each picture and every detail. Kathy excels at detail, which is pretty astonishing considering she works in watercolor. A close-up of Leigh Jackson’s canvas on the right below. She hand-painted details on the giclee prints- something that must have taken forever but that I cherish more than she will know. ‘Wow” was all I kept saying.

Close-up #1 of the front of Nicole’s page, which has buttons ’sewn’ on, and little birdies, and of course the cutest little dog in an airplane. (Nicole is that your dog??). Talk about creative!

A close-up of a quote that Wendy wrote in pencil on her adorable dog art page. Ditto to that!! Check out the darling chocolate brown fetch tag.

A close-up of Bernie Berlin’s absolutely beautiful art page. I sat speechless in my office late the night I finally had the chance to look at the book. Amazing job Bernie. More on Bernie later.

Ann Leuck Feldhaus’ page put mine to shame- she hand-painted hers!! I was so thrilled to have an original Ann Leuk Feldhaus. AND, it looks like Fergie!! I still can’t believe it. Thank you Ann!!

Manon Doyle’s multimedia collage, which I don’t even have words for it is so cool. You all know that I like to talk (or at least write) a lot, and very rarely am I speechless. Here I was, and still am, speechless. I don’t even know what to say- it’s that amazing. By the way- you can’t really tell from the photos- but the page on the right is 3-dimensional.

The backside of Jill’s page. Buddy, a Costa Rican dog that I think we have all fallen in love with. I teared up when I read what Jill wrote. It is so special, and life-affirming.

More detail of Nicole’s page. How cute are those little birdies?! I think they are made out of mother-of-pearl.

The back cover of the book, designed by Jill. The little cat is a holograph (?)- is that what you call it? When you turn the book up and down the cat moves. So cute.

Melissa’s hilarious pug peeking out of an envelope. I showed this to Charlie and Seymour’s mom last week and she totally cracked up. The backside of my page below, which, sadly lost some of the sparkly thingies (sorry if they fell off ladies!). No big surprise here considering I bought 3 different kinds of glue and really had no idea which one(s) to use. Crafty I am not, but I think my pages turned out ok. BTW: which artist ended up with the dogs with the feathers coming out of their heads? I was getting loopy at that point, hee hee.

The book seen from the side. FYI: these shots were taken in my new studio. What you see there is the late afternoon reflection through the western-facing windows onto the ginormous cyclorama wall, which is about, oh, 50 feet wide. I think you could fit my entire apartment into just the studio portion of the space. I promise (!) I WILL post photos one of these days- I just have a couple more things left to do in my office before I can take pictures. I have my first studio shoot tomorrow morning. Excited but nervous.

And again, front and back. Dogs really do rule.

Remember earlier in this post when I said there was a 14th book? Well guess what- it could be yours!!

The 14th copy of this book, the most special copy, with the most embellished pages, is going up for auction on Ebay on November 15th, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Bernie Berlin’s A Place to Bark, an amazing rescue organization in Tennessee run by an equally amazing woman who has devoted her life to saving animals.

The book will also be getting some press in the upcoming fall issue of Bark magazine. Our collective hope is that with the Bark’s help and through the grassroots efforts of our blogs, we can garner lots of visibility for the book so we can raise as much money as possible through the auction. Here’s to saving (and adopting!) needy animals!

Here are all of the artists websites and blogs.

Manon Doyle of Hoochie Poochie Studios , blog
Jill Beninato of Sit Stay Smile Photography, blog
Jamie Pflughoeft of Cowbelly Photography,
Leigh Jackson of Noisy Dog Studio, blog
Moira McLaughlin of Dream Dogs Art, blog
Melissa Langer of Pug Notes, blog
Linda O’Neill of Abby Creek Studios, blog
Rebecca Lansdowne of Art Paw, blog
Nicole Mlakar-Livingston of Nicole Mlakar-Livingston Photography, blog
Wendy Crumbley of 2 Dog Studio, blog
Bernie Berlin from A Place To Bark, blog
Anne Leuck Feldhaus of Anne Leuck Feldhaus Studio Ltd., blog
Kathy Weller Wellerwishes Pet Portraiture, blog

I will post more on the book when the article comes out in Bark, and also before it goes up on Ebay.

Remember that adopting dogs saves lives!

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Books, Personal Projects, Studio Stuff | Tagged bark magazine, dog artist scrapbook, dogs rule fatbook, ebay dog art book, photos of dogs rule book, sisterhood of pet portrait artists | 16 comments Hide Comments | Add a Comment

nicole -

WOW - these are awesome photos of the book. Yes, that is my dog Ella flying the plane and zooming over the squirrels in the mountains.
manon doyle -

Wow! Jamie….. I haven’t blogged the book yet and after reading your post I’d like to copy the whole thing and paste it on my blog! LOL! Seriously, you’ve said everything I couldn’t put into words. I love to show my book to everyone. It was so great to be involved with this project!
Jamie 'Cowbelly' -

Hey Manon- feel free to copy it to your blog if it saves you time! I know this post took me for-ev-er to get online, and I also know you are very busy with the big white mosaic guy (my name for him, hee hee), so really- feel free! You too Nicole!
Jill Beninato -

WOW Jamie….what an amazing job you did with this post. Thank you for taking the time to document the project in such a wonderful way…Dog Rule and so do the sisters…
Melissa -

hi jamie
what an amazing post! you are very a very special artist and friend.
xo
melissa
Grace -

SO COOL. What an amazing collaboration of fabulous and talented artists!
Anne Leuck Feldhaus -

Fabulous post Jamie! It’s on my to do list…I’ll definitely be linking and maybe sharing a page or two if it’s okay. As for the Fergie art…you have to give the thanks to Jill - I had to pull this thing together at the last minute and just painted whatever came through the brush, no special orders…(or maybe just Sisterhood of Pet Portrait Artists subconscious ones) Glad she found her way to you!
lin -

What a great idea! Beautiful book Jamie and great shots!
lin -

Jamie, I’d like to link to this post as well. Can I link to your photos as well?
Jamie 'Cowbelly' -

lin- absolutely- link away! In fact, everyone link! Feel free to copy the images off this post and use them on your blog (please link back to this post when doing so, so the reader can get the full scoop).
lin -

Thanks so much Jamie! Absolutely link back.
Linda O'Neill -

Hello, my dear Pisces soul sister…I miss you too!

Super fabulous post on the book…really shows what a treasure Jill put together. Thanks for taking the time to do it and photograph it so beautifully.

Love and kissies to you and Fergs!
Victoria -

Jamie those pictures are amazing! shows so much of the detail of the book, but yet you still have to see it… it just takes your breath away. teeheehee… and that pug…. i’m giggling in my cube right now…. and the airplane… i do have to say the airplane may beat out the pug (for once!)
Jill -

this is so amazing!! what a great project!

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By Dogs Rule Fatbook- I’ve got photos- lots of photos! : blog edvdbox on August 19, 2008 at 5:39 pm

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Christina’s favorite

August 19, 2008 – 12:13 am

An image of Rupert I barely noticed is, according to Christina “hilarious”. Given that I trust Christina’s judgement, I am sharing it with you here. This goes out to all of the kitty lovers like Christina. Enjoy!

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Private client shoots | Tagged funny kitty photos, rupert, seattle cat photography | 3 comments Hide Comments | Add a Comment

Tracy -

Thank you for making me laugh today! I needed it! : )
Jill -

It looks like he’s trying to have a conversation with you…it is pretty hilarious!! And the red toenails add to the picture for sure!
leesia -

christina’s right, this is awesome! :p

dog’s eye view

August 18, 2008 – 8:00 am

One final shot of her cuteness. Me- running through the grass, camera held down in front of her, finger on shutter. No idea what I’d get. A true ‘dog’s eye view’.

Kyah. comin and goin.

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in miscellaneous randomness | Tagged comin and goin, dog's eye view, german shepherd puppy in tall grass, kyah | 3 comments Hide Comments | Add a Comment

Melissa -

LOVE Kyah! These are great.
lin -

OMG what a cute tail/butt shot!
Tracy -

Yay! LOVE these!!
How do you focus with the camera down by your side?

Well hello there!

ANNOUNCEMENT 6/7/08: NEW Cowbelly Pet Photography 3-day intensive workshops for start-up pet photographers. Check out the workshops website for more information, and/or the workshops page of this blog for current updates!

Samson & Cooper sneak peek

Waiting list update + holiday schedule

Dogs Rule Fatbook- I’ve got photos- lots of photos!

2 Trackbacks

Christina’s favorite

dog’s eye view

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