Monthly Archives: November 2008

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Sonoma Valley sneak-peek: Max the Bernese

November 7, 2008 – 8:40 pm

Meet Max. Max was photographed at the peak of midday sunshine- in very hot weather, but he was a trooper and even though we were photographing in mixed shade and sun (a black and white dog no less!) he gave me some really funny looks that resulted in some funny shots. I laughed out loud when I went through his images for the first time and they still make me giggle.

We did Max’s shoot on this cool road path thing through the vineyards and countryside in Santa Rosa. Thanks Daniella for helping with the location! 

Tell me Max doesn’t look like a big bear in this next shot. It’s blurry but I still love it. 

Close (L). Closer (R).

Puppy teeth!! I LOVE his teeth and little lip in this shot. 

I have one more California client to share- Ruby the sleek supermodel greyhound and her brother Buster Brown the basset hound. I will post them tomorrow (sorry, running behind already!). Also, all of the Sonoma/Napa galleries will be going online tomorrow for my CA clients, whoopee!

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Private client shoots, Travel shoots | Tagged , , , | Comments (13)

Sonoma Valley sneak-peek: Sanger

November 5, 2008 – 10:19 am

And this darling girl is Sanger. Photographed at Spring Lake Park in Santa Rosa. It reminds me of Greenlake in Seattle only much, much prettier. It was a photographer’s dream.

The water really was that dark navy blue color, reflecting the color of the sky. It was stunning. 

I have had a lot of clients request shots of them and their dogs together lately. I am happy to oblige as long as they aren’t the cheesy ‘pose and smile’ shots (blech). This one definitely qualifies as a sweet, candid moment between mom and furry daughter. I don’t know if you can tell but Sarah is kissing Sanger on her head in this shot, and Sanger is loving every minute of it, just curled into her. Awww…

There was this incredible dock at Spring Lake. I of course had to get a shot of them on it. 

I’m not really sure why, but I love this next pair of shots.

How cute is Sanger? 

Tomorrow’s posts will be Max the Bernese Mountain Dog in Sonoma and Ruby and Buster Brown in Napa Valley.

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Private client shoots, Travel shoots | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (10)

Sonoma Valley sneak-peek: Heaven

November 5, 2008 – 10:00 am

First off, I want to say that I am so happy today- filled with hope and dreams and great, positive expectations for the future. I will spare you all with my personal troubles over the past 8+ years, but let me say it has been a long hard road for many reasons. I see light at the end of the tunnel for the first time in a long time.

With that said, I am thrilled to *finally* share with you guys some of the images I took in California of Sonoma dogs. You have asked, you have begged, you have pleaded, and they are finally here. I am going to do two sneak-peeks per day for the next two days, which will cover my 4 clients in Sonoma and Napa Valleys.

This is Heaven. She lives on her very own vineyard. Heaven is a wolf-lab mix and her world revolves around food. 

Heaven gets in trouble because she eats the grapes right off the vine.

I tried to capture the olive tree behind her on the right. They were everywhere in Sonoma Valley.

Heaven is crazy for carrots.

There is this cool old red barn on Heaven’s property that her mom suggested we get shots of. I was so glad she did- they ended up being some of my favorites from our session.

This next shot was taken with my new 70-200mm telephoto zoom lens. Anyone care to guess which one I bought?

Here is the same shot at 100% crop.

The ‘waiting for food’ face. :-)

Such a sweet moment between the two of them. 

A huge thanks to my Sonoma and Napa Valley clients for having me down! I had a blast and hope you love the images! :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Private client shoots, Travel shoots | Tagged , , , , | Comments (9)

home, sweet home + pet photographers

November 1, 2008 – 7:09 pm

I am back from Sonoma/Napa Valleys and feeling happy to be back in my home city. Every time I go away from Seattle, whether it’s a plane ride away or a simple car trip out to the burbs, I always get a big smile on my face when I drive up to the city and see downtown and Elliott Bay. I have tried to leave this place so many times, and think I have finally succumbed to it’s charms for good. It doesn’t mean that I don’t love to travel (I do!), but it does make the returns that much sweeter. And that I have the world’s sweetest most sensitive dog to come home to makes it that much sweeter. :-)

Here she is with her new toys from the wine country- a squeaky wine bottle that says ‘Kennel-Relaxin Chardonnay’ and a cackly witch.  She loved both. Ah, that’s my girl- the boozehound.

BTW- Christina and my mom took turns staying with Fergie at my place while I was gone. The Fergs had an *awesome* time with two of her favorite people. Christina even took her swimming, whoopee! 

First things first, I wanted to announce the winners of the Evening Magazine ‘Best Of’ contest. The first place position of ‘best pet photography’ in Western Washington goes to Kirkland Washington’s own talented dog photographer Erin Vey, who has been doing great work over on the Eastside for the past couple of years. Erin has become well-known on social networking websites like flickr and facebook for her high-end fine art baby, child, and human portraits and most recently dog portraits. 

Then second place goes to yours-truly, of Seattle (Queen Anne Yo!). For those who are new you can read more about me and Cowbelly on my newly updated ‘about‘ page of this blog (BTW for those who DO know me, you may still want to check out the new page- I included some things I think nobody knows). Back to the contest, I don’t have words to express the feelings I get when reading the detailed and heartfelt comments left by my clients. I sometimes feel like I fall short of my goals when it comes to making people happy, and to have those testimonials from people I have worked with is the most affirming gift I could receive. Thank you to everyone who voted, and most especially- left those sweet sweet comments. I am truly humbled.

Third place goes to my dear friend and colleague Nichole Smith of Dane + Dane Studios over in West Seattle. For those who don’t live in this area, West Seattle IS a part of Seattle, for those who DO live here, yes I too believe that West Seattle IS Seattle. Go West Seattle!! Anyhoo, Nichole has been doing really beautiful work with pets and people since 2005- both in her studio and outdoors on locations from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest. She also shoots pet-friendly weddings and provides graphic design work to pet-related businesses. This woman is a one-woman army! Actually, Nichole has an army of people working for her- including the talented dog and wedding photographer Amy Soper. 

Speaking of talented pet/dog photographers, I *finally* want to share with you guys some blog-links to a few of the really great photographers who attended my workshops this year. Go check out their blogs, comment, get to know them, and take a gander at their beautiful work. In no particular order we have:

Pam Biasotti- Pam Biasotti Photography- East Bay San Francisco, CA

http://pambiasotti.com/blog/

Tracy Auckerman- Furrie Fotography - Jacksonville, FLA

http://furriefotographie.blogspot.com/

Jaime Rowe- Green Paws Photography-Morrison CO

http://greenpawsphotography.blogspot.com/

Angie Wojciechowska- Off Leash Photography- Vancouver BC

http://off-leash.ca/blog/

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

http://www.sitstaysmile.com/blog/

Bev Hollis- Bev Hollis Photography- Leesburg, VA

http://www.bevhollisphoto.com/blog/

Beth Andrews- Hound and Hoof Pet Photography- Louisville KY

http://houndandhoofblog.com/

Stephanie Smith- Pawsitively Pictures- Tampa, FLA

http://pawsitivelypictures.blogspot.com/

Maria Carey- Charlotte Carey Pet Photography- Nantucket, MA

http://charlottecareypets.blogspot.com/

Debbie Dunne- Debbie Z. Dunne Photography- North Plains OR

http://debbiezdunne.com/blog/

This is by no means a comprehensive list of all of the attendees, and for the gals not on this list, please email me and let me know if/when you are ready for me to show you to the world! Also, I will be adding the photographers from the workshops to my blogroll once I am caught up on some client work. 

Hope everyone is having a terrific weekend and had a safe and happy Halloween!

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in for photographers, miscellaneous randomness | Tagged , , , | Comments (18)
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