Category Archives: miscellaneous randomness

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what I am up to now

November 19, 2008 – 2:53 am

It has been a long day today. (I still consider it ‘today’ because I haven’t gone to bed yet). Starting with a shoot at 11am, followed by the rest of the day and night spent in the studio working on client orders. Things would have gone fine, except that NOTHING WAS WORKING RIGHT. ‘Nothing’ meaning, software, internet, phone, even simple little image uploaders weren’t working. I am convinced that I have some sort of weird magnetic force field that every so often goes awry, causing all electronic equipment near me to get all freaked out. Either that or mercury is in retrograde or something. Whateve. It’s more than a little irritating. 

I have been toiling away lately. Nearly every day for the last two weeks I have either had a photo shoot, studio consult with a client, phone meeting or other appointment. Christina has been doing an AWESOME job keeping me on track. I think I have something like 42 clients on my boards right now. (Crazy I know). How do I do it? My aforementioned assistant. Let me tell you there is NO WAY I could do all of this without regular help. Christina only works about 15 hours per week but she rocks so hard that every day I grow closer to only doing what I love- taking pictures, working in photoshop and lightroom and designing art. Awesome. Thank you Christina for everything you do for me!

Anyway, I am working my way through my pile of client orders (*finally* made order forms, whoopee!!), and thought I would share with you guys some of the things I worked on today, in case you maybe thought I fell off the planet. 

Yorkies photobooks. Tiggz below. 

Back cover (L). Front cover (R). The front cover was his mom’s idea. Brilliant eh? If you are in a service-based business, I recommend always being open to your client’s suggestions. Often they can be smarter and more creative than you. 

Photobook pages. 

I love the end page. Makes me laugh out loud. 

More yorkies photobooks. Brodie & Taz. Oh, and Roscoe the kitty! Roscoe is the coolest, most laid back, friendliest, most affectionate cat EVER. I love him so much and want to steal him and have him live with me. 

I believe below it’s supposed to say Charles something-or-other. (Brilliant observation Jamie). Sorry, it’s late….

The shot below looks like a poster or something. No, it’s a real photograph and I actually took it. Amazing outfit, eh? Remember the shoes? 

Ok, so that’s one, actually, two orders. The next order is Loodie and Max. They are both getting prints and canvases. The canvases are my favorites. I feel so incredibly honored that they are being hung in their soon-to-be new baby twins nursery. Huge congrats Peter and Hope!!

Then there’s Junepug and Shelby. Just in case anyone is confused, Junepug’s name is actually June, but I have given her the moniker ‘Junepug’ because it seems to fit her so. And Shelby, what can I say about Shelby. She touched my heart from the second I met her, and is the first dog to ever be in the company of a pug that I paid more attention to than said pug. *Especially* a baby pug. I just don’t have words to express my experience with Shelby. I think I am going to stop trying, because I’m not sure that anyone would understand. 

June’s canvas. Her first experience with water. Check out her first time with feet in water. Hee hee. 

Shelby’s prints. I think the shot on the right is my favorite of her. 

June’s print. Weird, what’s up with all of the stripey lines? I swear things look perfect in LR and bridge, and when I upload them they get all wacked out. I need to check my ’save for web’ settings; I have been noticing too many problems lately. Don’t even get me started on the whole sharpening thing. Ugh, technology. :-P

And the last thing I worked on today was a CD for Kaiya. She is another dog I fell in love with. Ok, truth be told, I fall in love with them all! I wish you guys could have seen the fawn doberman I shot today. A christmas gift so it will have to wait. 

I have lots more new dog photos to share, but first need to meet my photobook printer’s deadline which is this Friday! (One more photobook to go!) Thanks everyone for being so patient with me. You guys, my lovely blog readers, rock!!

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Also posted in Behind-the-Scenes | Tagged , , , | Comments (8)

Shelby in memoriam: 1993-2008

November 15, 2008 – 8:00 am

A couple of days before leaving for California I had a studio consult with Shelby and June’s parents. You guys remember the sweet girls I photographed at Greenlake? Their parents informed me that Shelby passed away on September 11th. 

But the good news is she died of old age- living to be 15 years old, after having a very rough start early on in life. She was such a special soul and will be dearly missed by her parents. And I know I will never forget her. 

I want to take this opportunity to encourage everyone who has an elderly dog to get some good pictures taken of them. It doesn’t have to be with a professional- grab your camera, or a friend’s camera, or even commission a photography student, and some yummy treats, and head outside in natural light, and spend an hour with your sweet pooch snapping lots of pictures of them. With dogs there are no second chances, and I can’t tell you how meaningful those images become once your best friend is gone. I promise this is something you will never regret. :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Tagged , | Comments (9)

new telephoto lens- the question

November 13, 2008 – 3:12 pm

A bunch of you have been asking me which lens I ended up buying. To prolong your agony one more day, I am going to make you guess (again). I’ll then post the answer tomorrow. But here are some hints.

Super sharp at 200mm (no sharpening was applied to this image)

Impressive 100% crop 

Nice, soft buttery bokeh

Great images in low-light wide open. (These were taken after the sun went down behind the hills at around 5:30

Leave your guess as a comment below! Tomorrow I’ll post the answer. 

 

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Tagged , | Comments (8)

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' | Tagged , , , | Comments (18)

my trip to the eye doctor

October 16, 2008 – 8:00 am

So I have been needing to have my eyes checked for awhile. A *long* while. 

I am more nervous about the health of my eyesight than anything else. I’d almost rather have a root canal done than wait for the eye doc to give me the final analysis. I’ve been seeing lots of floaters recently and have some problems with nearsightedness, general eye fatigue and vertigo. And don’t even ask me about the time a couple of years ago when suddenly everything turned into a Picasso painting. 

So yesterday afternoon I went to the bank, and there is an eye clinic right next door. I decide to just pop over and find out how the whole thing works. I decide I should probably do my appointment sooner rather than later so as not to prolong the anxiety.

Much to my surprise (and chagrin) they have an appointment available. When? Oh, right now. “OK!” I say nervously, feeling like I either want to run or vomit or both.

So I had the appointment, and tried not to have an anxiety attack as the doc put things on my eyes and flashed lights and dropped weird drops in them. I tried to keep my head from shaking which happens when I get really nervous. 

And you know what the lovely eye doc’s final assessment was? I have “very healthy eyes”. Whoopee!

I have nearly 20-20 vision, and would only need mildly corrective lenses for up-close work, like working close to the computer screen on images. I am not at all opposed to glasses, so may go back next month to pick up a cool funky pair. 

I am shocked! Delighted! Thrilled! I swear that made my whole year.

And the floaters? Apparently they are totally common, especially as one ages (yes, my 36 year-old eyes are ‘aging’). And the eye fatique? Um, try working a little less Jamie. :-)

Ahh, sighing relief right now as I type this. Thank you eye doctor. Thank you eyes. 

P.S. That’s me with Besa, a very dear old friend who is no longer with us. This was my first bio shot taken for my biz. 

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Tagged | Comments (7)