Tag Archives: napa valley pet photography

Napa Valley dogs: Ruby and Buster Brown

November 13, 2008 – 1:23 pm

First off, wow, sorry this post is 5 days overdue! I am deep in the swing of photo shoots, art commissions, print orders and studio consults with clients. The holiday work has officially began, and like every year at this time, I am very very busy! Christina has her work cut out for her today with emails. :-)

My final California pooches I want to share with y’all are the sleek and gorgeous supermodel Ruby and her adorable ‘little’ brother Buster Brown. I photographed them at boutique winery David Fulton in St. Helena and we had a fantastic time. 

Ruby greyhound- retired racer.

Ruby and her little brother Buster the basset in front of the David Fulton Winery. Their parents drove them all the way up to Napa Valley from Orange County for our shoot. I felt so deeply honored!

It’s hard to believe but Buster was in a shelter near his southern California home for 4 MONTHS before he was adopted by his parents. He is a lucky boy now as they love him dearly. He is a daddy’s boy and 100% lovebug.

For those who don’t know, retired racing greyhounds make the very best pets. Believe it or not, most greyhounds are total couch potatoes, preferring to laze their days away in various reclined positions. They are the sweetest companions out there, and Ruby is no exception to this. 

We held a couple of races in the vineyards. Who do you think won? hee hee 

I love these shots of Buster (and the one above). He makes me so happy. 

Winery kitty (name unknown). Winery dog- Tucker. Tucker is awesome. 

Hope you enjoyed Ruby and Buster’s images as much as I enjoyed taking them!

I have lots more new dogs to share with you guys. Hopefully sometime this week I can get those new images online. Happy Thursday! :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Posted in Private client shoots, Travel shoots | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (7)

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 | Also 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 | Also tagged , , , | Comments (9)

Sonoma/Napa Valleys sneak-peek II

October 28, 2008 – 4:24 pm

Photography continued over the weekend on Sunday with a lovely sunny trip up to Healdsburg and my final shoot over in St Helena in Napa Valley. I LOVE St. Helena!

I’m still not ready to give a proper sneak-peek of the dog photos because uh, my apologies, but I am on vacation now and I’d rather focus on drinking wine and relaxing in the sun, than punching buttons on the laptop, lol. (Sorry Sarah, Daniella, Janelle and Tristan- you gals will have to wait! sniff…). But I will share a few environmental shots today to whet your whistle for more to come.

Post-tasting. Sacked out Healdsburg pooch in background.

St. Helena vineyards.

The boutique David Fulton Winery. The winery is pictured below, and the surrounding property is where we did my final dog shoot. On the side of the winery is a very large deck overlooking the vineryards and Napa Valley. A bunch of us (my client, her husband, the winery owner down the street, his wife, David and his wife, their son-in-law, gee, who am I forgetting? oh! the dogs- yes, 3 dogs!) sat out on the deck and drank wine and chatted about all kinds of things late into the evening. It was one of the best nights I have had in a long time, and reminds me of my time in southern France. MaryLee offered a place to stay for myself and my dad the next time we are in St Helena and you can bet we will be taking her up on it! I will definitely be back. A huge thank you to everyone there for making that night so special! And for the incredible bottles of wine you sent with us. We even took home a bottle so fresh that it didn’t even have a label yet! Wow, thank you thank you. :-)

It wouldn’t be California without palm trees. :-)

After we said our tearful goodbyes and left the David Fulton Winery we went over to Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen restaurant and had a fantastic dinner. I highly recommend to anyone who goes to the Napa Valley to check out Cindy’s. You will not regret it!

Last night we also stumbled on one of the best sushi places I have ever been to- Sushi to Dai For in old town Santa Rosa. We devoured our food like it was the last meal on earth, and the asparagus will forever hold a special place in my heart. I read mixed reviews on the place today but honestly those people must have been high, the food was SO good. 

We are currently staying at the gorgeous Vintner’s Inn, surrounded by vineyards. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever stayed. I promise to share more images when I have more time! I’m off to head back out on the vineyard-facing balcony to do some relaxing in the late afternoon sun. Please don’t hate me! I have worked sooo hard for this little reward. :-)

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week! I promise to drink a glass of wine for you! 

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