Monthly Archives: August 2008

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Loodie & Max sneak peek

Some of the best light I have photographed in. Ever. 

Loodie- left- girl- extrovert. Max- right- boy- introvert.

Loodie has the coolest spotted purple tongue!!

Max is painfully shy, but just the sweetest boy. He and Loodie couldn’t be more opposite, but they are the very best of friends. 

I LOVE this next pair. Looking at these transports me back to the sights and smells and feeling of that time, and is the closest example I could find of how beautiful the light was that evening.

Loodie gives GREAT smile. 

Random cute doggie we met during our shoot. She was soooo sweet. 

Hunting for rats on the Seattle waterfront. Hey- it may be pretty but it’s still a city!

The whole family. I loved how Loodie’s leash matched her mom’s shirt, so as they were walking toward me I had to fire off a shot. These guys parents are two of the nicest people you will ever meet and I felt lucky to work with them. The location, the light, the dogs, the people- everything amounted to a darn near perfect session. This goes near the top of the list of favorite sessions ever. :-)

And one last time, Loodie’s megawatt smile, in my new favorite pano crop. 

Thank you Peter and Hope for being such wonderful people, and having such wonderful dogs! Oh, and for being so patient with me- you guys are the best. :-) More images soon I promise!

my dream camera

I want to preface this post by saying I’m not trying to knock my Canon EOS 5D, which is really a wonderful camera that takes terrific photographs.

The 5D pictured below- the camera that so many pros use these days. (Wow, I just noticed the little blurb on the right about the new 24-105L IS! That is going on my ‘need to buy’ list. Oh wait- no- it’s only f/4- not fast enough. Bummer.).

Like I said, it’s a lovely camera.

BUT, I have a few issues with it.

When I am shooting a lot like I have been recently, I find myself having the same frustrations over and over again. So during recent shoots I have been building my dream camera in my mind. Now keep in mind I shoot animals- dogs mainly. My style and needs may differ wildly from what others need. My dream camera may not be right for everybody, but if you are shooting dogs on location, primarily outside in varying conditions in natural light, you may like my dream camera too.

DISCLAIMER- this is a DREAM camera folks, and is in no way based on what I think could be realistically achieved- at least-not anytime in the near future (if ever for some functions). Some of these things are downright goofy, but I would use them all. If you don’t read this disclaimer and then tell me I am silly then shame on you. Go read a book or something.

Jamie’s dream camera:

Canon (or Nikon, or Fuji) 

Full frame (of course- once you go FF you will never go back)

14 MP or higher. Heck, why not throw a medium-format sensor in the body while we are at it. I’d be all over that! Can you imagine 32+ MP in the 5D??

Fast burst rate shooting in RAW. Oh I don’t know- 5 shots per second? 

The ability to set custom contrast and color tones while shooting RAW

High ISO settings that produce NO noise. I want to shoot a kitty indoors on a very dark stairwell at 1600 ISO, f/4.5 and have it turn out not looking ‘acceptable’, but ‘awesome!’.

Super light weight with the lens on. Also very low in the ‘bulk’ department. This will become immediately clear to anyone who takes a workshop from me. A Mark II just won’t do because of the weight. This is also true of any medium format DSLR or medium format back on the market.

Total aside: one of the (many) benefits of being in my new studio is meeting sales reps that come in to meet with the other photographers here. I have the opportunity to have a Leaf medium-format camera shipped to me to play with. BUT, although the idea of supreme IQ is very appealing, I just don’t know if it would be practical for what I do. I may just try it out to see- I’d love to see what it does in the studio. I’ll let y’all know. 

Back to weight. I want to be able to shoot for several hours without my shoulders, or wrists, or arm muscles getting sore. Unless it’s due to wrestling with dogs. 

Integrated wrist/hand strap. Maybe something that recoils back into the body of the camera. Made like the Camera Armor Tough Strap, with an integrated slash-proof cable running through it like theirs does, and soft, mesh padding on the inside of the strap. Maybe even in a pale pink color, or a funky zebra with red piping (yeah!). My strap would have an easy-pull tightening system so that when I wanted to just hang it off my wrist I would just pull a cord or wire with my left hand like I do with my treat bag and it would tighten. Then to release you’d have to type in a secret code, or it would have a fingerprint recognizing system. Kidding. (sort of)

Programmable noisemaker. I would have push-button play capabilities for all kinds of noises animals respond to: a puppy whimpering, a dog barking, a kitten meowing, a bird chirping, a squeaky toy squeaking, etc, etc. The noise would come from behind the lens of course. :-)

A giant LCD screen that looks great in direct sun. With a Hoodman screen loupe that pops out of the camera at the push of a button. 

A sensor that cleans itself. At the push of a button. During a shoot. An on-camera chart that tells you how dirty the sensor is so you can get rid of tiny specks you can’t see with the naked eye. 

ISO dial. I want to be able to change ISO settings on the fly. Meaning- with a super quick turn of a dial, I go up or down, without having to push a series of buttons. I still haven’t gotten used to the buttons on the 5D- some of which I find downright illogical. 

A warning light or alarm for stupid user errors. This would indicate when you are shooting at a small jpeg file size, or in bright sun at 1200 ISO, or any other silly thing you may be inclined to do accidentally from time to time. Or even a voice like the ones you can get for your GPS (Mr. T anyone?) that says “Hey- you are shooting at 1600 in full sun you dummy!”. Wouldn’t that be awesome? 

An AF/MF switch that can’t change itself on it’s own while in my camera bag. grrr….. Woops- that is a lens issue, not a camera issue. Ok, so I’d add this to the warning alarm above: “The camera is not focusing  with that little button because you are in manual focus, einstein”. (Note: I do use manual focus from time to time, but have it set on autofocus 95% of the time. Don’t ask me why- the answer is depressing.).  

Selectable 16-point autofocus system. I need to be able to select multiple autofocus points, instead of just one or all. So like three on the lower right corner, or four in the middle heading up to the left. Or all of the ones on the right half of the frame. Or all of them, or just one of them. You get my drift. 

Water, sand, snow, cold and doggie-snot-resistant. Nuff said. 

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head! If and when I remember anything else (and I will, trust me), I will update this list. 

While we are on the topic of cameras, I might as well list my dream lenses too.

Jamie’s dream lenses:

#1 on my list: 20-85mm f/2.8 L series IS (image stabilization). This would be my workhorse lens.

#2: 18mm f/1.4L prime

#3: 14-35mm f/1.8L Actually, THIS would probably be on my camera 85% of the time. I am positively enamored with wide-angle dog shots. They make me go “ahhhhh” and smile. 

And those are all I can think of off the top of my head.

If you can think of anything I should add to my dream camera, (or dream lenses), leave your ideas as a comment on this post and I will do an update post soon with all of the comments included. No idea is too off the wall- remember this is a DREAM camera. Fun stuff. 

I know some of these things are way out there but hey- a girl can dream! My motto in life and business is: “If you are going to dream- dream big.” :-)

Henri Bean

Henri’s mom’s last name is Bean, and I think it is the cutest full name for a dog, so now I just call him ‘Henri Bean’. His mom calls him ‘H’ for short- it’s his movie star title. It’s totally fitting because this boy poses like an old Hollywood film star. :-)

This is two different shots below, but I just realized it almost looks like it could be the same one. If Henri Bean was a contortionist, lol. 

How cute is H? 

Henri Bean is just as sweet as he looks. And one of the most well-behaved dogs I have ever worked with. 

Color-correcting all of the images above was a challenge (I’d like to use another word here but I’m trying to keep my ‘G’ rating on this blog). The sun was so beautiful, and so low in the sky, and cast this gorgeous intense golden-orange glow on everything it touched. That’s not so great for a dog who already has reddish-orange fur. BUT, I decided to use the light to my advantage for the last few shots. I only wish I had taken more. :-)

That’s Puget Sound below, the body of water that downtown Seattle sits on. Beyond the sound you see the Olympic Mountain range. Talk about a gorgeous night. I wish everyone reading this could join me for a stroll through the park. It’s breathtaking. 

Some of you may wonder if I am tiring of doing shoots at the Olympic Sculpture Park. Not at all! I am acutely aware of the fact that soon that gorgeous golden glow, the bright green grass, the vivid blue skies and white fluffy clouds will be gone. I am milking this summer for all that it’s worth while it’s still here. With such a gorgeous setting just blocks from my studio, and clients wanting to shoot there, as long as the weather holds, it will be near the top of my ‘favorite locations’ list for Seattle dog photography. :-)

THANK YOU CONNIE!!

You will never believe what I found in my mailbox last week. 

Yes, that’s right! That’s Connie Townsend’s painting of Fergie that she did recently titled “Happily Ever After”, hanging on the wall in my new office! You may recall that I blogged about the painting after Connie sent me a photo of it. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would end up owning this amazing and deeply meaningful art piece. When I opened the box I sat on the floor and cried tears of joy. I just don’t have words…

Happily Ever After takes an esteemed position as the very first art piece on my art wall in my new office. The art wall will be added to shortly but for now I am enjoying just having Connie’s painting being the sole art piece. It deserves to have the limelight for awhile. My desk is to the right of the wall and every time I look over at it I smile. Oh, and here’s a sneak peek of my new office. I do promise to post more photos soon!

The details in the painting are fantastic. I could sit and stare at it for hours. 

Check out the colors. Amazing! Connie is not only an incredibly talented artist (she painted the adorable Barkalounger piece if you recall), but also an incredibly nice, and generous, and sharp, supportive human being! I am so glad to have met her virtually. Hey Connie, care to join the Sisterhood of Pet Portrait artists?? :-)

A couple of random weird shots of Fergie in front of her new painting. The shot on the right below is a trip, eh? She looks so cute in a weird, alien kind of way. 

Connie captured Fergie’s personality so well it’s uncanny. I love this painting more than I have words to express.

This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, and still touches me so deeply I get teared up when I think about it. Connie’s painting ‘Happily Ever After’ is now on my short list of things I would rescue if my house office was on fire. (Fergie being the very first of course!).

Thank you sincerely Connie. I can never, I just don’t, I, I, I’m at a loss for words….

Thank you. :-)  

 

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