Monthly Archives: March 2009

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borrowlenses.com contest: win a free one-week rental!

March 30, 2009 – 2:22 pm

NOTE: THE CONTEST ENDS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT PST, *NOT* TUESDAY NIGHT LIKE I FIRST NOTED. MIDNIGHT APRIL 1ST IS THE DEADLINE!

logoOur awesome friends over at Borrowlenses.com have been kind enough to make available a free week long lens rental (excluding super telephoto lenses) to be given away here on the Cowbelly blog.

If you enter you can stand to win a free one week rental of any lens. So my photo snap happy friends, read the post below to figure out how to sign yourself up. You have nothing to lose and may just win a rental of that sweet tilt-shift lens you have been coveting.

BUT DON’T DALLY! The contest ends WEDNESDAY night at midnight PST.

In order to be eligible you need to:

  • Contest open to only those in the US. Lens rentals cannot be shipped to other countries.
  • Be located in the United States.
  • The lucky winner will place the order online at BorrowLenses.com and they request a credit card number to cover the risk of a no-return. They will not charge your credit card. BorrowLenses.com is a reputable business but if you don’t feel comfortable with this condition, please don’t enter.
  • Be able to place an order online with a credit card. No charges will be made, this is merely a technicality. (Don’t fret over this- I read the terms and it’s no biggie at all. It’s just their way of protecting themselves should the contest winner run off with their fancy new Canon telephoto.) 
  • The offer excludes super telephoto lenses and pro camera bodies.

HOW TO ENTER

  1. Check out Borrowlenses.com to find something you’d be interested to rent. Let me know what lens you hope to rent. I won’t hold you to this if you win. I’m just curious. I know my pet photog friends have been wanting to try the tilt-shift lenses since seeing Claire’s amazing work. 
    Note: Available lenses are for Nikon and Canon cameras. Not a Nikon or Canon user consider their lighting and tripod equipment.
  2. Add a comment to this post with the item you’d be most interested to rent. Please leave your email address if your name does not link back to a website. 
    Note: Your blog comment is worth one entry to the raffle. 

Deadline: April 1st at Midnight PST

The winner will be randomly chosen and announced April 2nd.

Thanks for taking part and good luck! (And thank you Max!)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Contests, miscellaneous randomness | Tagged , , , | Comments (54)

Happy spring!

March 26, 2009 – 10:00 pm

I just discovered that we are in spring (finally, that was a long winter). Yes, I know I am a little bit late, ha. But in honor of spring, I wanted to wish you all a good one! I hope y’all are as happy about this as I am. Now go get out there and smell some flowers, or enjoy this inspirational quote on photography, and very ’springlike’ shot of Skylark in the flowers.

“We make photographs with our mind and with our heart, cameras are just tools.” -Arnold Newman

skylark18copy

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in miscellaneous randomness, seattle dog photography | Tagged , , , , | Comments (10)

Charlotte Reeves’ sad loss

March 24, 2009 – 5:35 pm

I’m fighting back tears right now, thinking about Charlotte Reeves, an incredibly talented dog photographer on the Gold Coast of Australia. She lost her sweet great dane Kaya on Sunday to aggressive, fast moving mouth cancer that was diagnosed just last week. Charlotte posted some images on her blog today of Kaya’s last days. Kaya was just 2-years young, a vibrant girl who clearly loved life, and was the subject of her own blog with her sister Luna. Take a minute to go to Charlotte’s blog and send your sympathies. I’m sure at a time like this, every little word helps. And please remember that pets are only given a short time on earth, and they can be taken from you at any time (at any age), so love them up *every* chance you get.

Kaya, Charlotte’s beautiful dane. Rest in peace sweet girl, rest in peace.

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By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in miscellaneous randomness | Tagged , , , | Comments (8)

high-key natural light studio dog photography (yes, really!)

March 23, 2009 – 10:22 pm

Upon doing some more experimenting in the studio for a recent Decopaw sitting, I discovered, much to my delight, that it is possible to do high-key photography using exclusively natural light.

I should provide a disclaimer here: although I didn’t use any auxiliary light, only what was coming in the west windows of the studio, I *did* do processing in LR2 to get the final look (see the notes on the image below). The next time I do this I’ll be sure to start a little earlier than 2:30pm on a cloudy winter day, lol.

This is Missy. Missy was an awesome subject, and super expressive, and even given the MacGuyver-ish nature of my setup, and her penchant for jumping after her ball, the backdrop didn’t get knocked down once. I can’t wait to try this again!

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The shot below is unedited, so you guys can see the raw materials I was working with.

missyexplained

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missy5

missy2

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Good gracious she is cute.

missytrip

My tire. Mine.

missy8

Uhhh missy….   you’ve got a little somethin there….

missy4

missy1

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Private client shoots, Studio Stuff, for photographers, seattle dog photography | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (25)

amazing pet hair remover- the ‘Sweepa’

March 23, 2009 – 6:14 pm

I have never endorsed a product on my blog before, because I’m not normally in the business of promoting other’s products (this being a blog to market and promote my *own* business), but I just have to break my own rules in this case and tell you guys about this.

A few months ago I bought a pet hair cleaner/remover thingy from Bed Bath & Beyond. I thought “it probably won’t work, like all of the other 12,000 things I have bought promising to remove pet hair, but what the hell, I’ll give it a try”. So last week I finally had time to clean out my car, which has cloth upholstered seats and OMG (!!) this thing is *amazing*!

This is what it looks like:
sweepa2
(pardon my terrible product photos but you get the idea). True to its name, the Sweepa has little rubber ‘bristles’, and functions much like a little broom. You just ’sweep’ the pet hair off of the fabric. It is astonishing and kind of gross how much hair you can get off your chairs/couch/car.

You can look for it on the sweepa website www.sweepa.com (although I haven’t been able to find it on there) or call the Bed Bath & Beyond store near you and see if they carry them. Or do a google search and see if you can find it. I have the flattish blue one, pictured here.

Hopefully it will work as well for you as it does for me!

(P.S. Please don’t email us asking us to promote your product or business on the blog! I get at least 1-2 emails of this kind every day and they all go in the trash!).

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in miscellaneous randomness | Comments (3)