Have you ever wished you were a model? That everyone was clamoring to get your autograph or put your poster up in their room? Or are you more of a stop and smell the roses kind of person? Morgan was only 8 weeks old when we started doing photo shoots with her. At this age, she wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to be when she grew up. She truly loves to model, but she has a lot to explore and do, so she felt it was time to stop and smell the fake flowers! Never mind that there was a photographer (namely me) on the other side of the camera, throwing monkeys, making kitty noises and in general making a complete fool of herself trying to get the attention of an 8 week old puppy.
A few pictures later, I’d lost her attention again and she decided it was time for a break. You know models have the right to break, it’s in their contract. It says, that when the photographer isn’t being creative enough or if they’ve lost the ‘moment’ they can take time to regain their focus so that they can give their best.
As a photographer working with models, you really have to know how to motivate your models. You have to get inside their heads and speak their language, stroke their egos. Obviously, I’m not speaking the right language as I snap this beauty.
Finally! A moment later and my young 8 week old pup is sitting tall, putting on some good expression and enjoying the screaming of the monkeys as they are thrown! Working with models is always a challenge, but a rewarding and fun one. So, remember, stop and smell the fake roses every once and awhile!
Click on the last picture if you would like to order this Slice of Nice card for your Valentine!
I spent the weekend at the Contact Zonies agility trial doing Valentine’s pictures. Well, ok, I spent Saturday there, because it was rained out on Sunday. So, I made a slide show of all the pictures from this year and last. Everyone I shoot is a potential Slice of Nice model, let me know if you see a star!
As I was going through all the Valentine’s pictures, this one immediately made me think of an old married couple. Casey (left) is just sitting there waiting and Ashby (right) has that curled lip of frustration, such as a husband who has said the wrong thing again. How many times has this happened to you on Valentine’s Day guys? It’s because you forgot the roses right or maybe you took your wife to the sports bar down the road?
Let’s go on to our next picture, because Ashby’s outlook is much better as a husband or boyfriend! To me he has this “I just got lucky” look on his face. All the romantic guys out there would say - “I got lucky the day I met you honey.” Casey looks rather happy in the picture also.
A lot of people say that Valentine’s Day is a commercial holiday and they just don’t want to participate. And while that might be a true statement, there are some good reasons to participate in Valentine’s day. Number one reason - You don’t want to end up in the dog house! But really, relationships are hard and we are supposed to work on them every day and give 100% and for those of you who do, good for you. But for the rest of us, Valentine’s Day is a nice day to say to some one you love, “I Love You.” The simple gestures of a card or dinner or flowers are part of the little things that just make your partner smile! You might see a smile you’ve not seen in a long time.
Valentine’s Day is not just for couples either! So many people can get down or discouraged on VDay, but think back to those days in grade school where everyone got a Valentine and the teacher got the carnation. So, sending a card to a friend, flowers to your parents, or buying your dogs that extra special doggy treat is a great celebration! Enjoy Valentine’s Day! Make it special in your own way!
Don’t forget that Slice of Nice has Valentine’s Cards! Click here to order yours now! We’ll even send it for you!
Get this card in our store for Valentine's Day! Click on shop.
It’s a great sign isn’t it? I found it at Michael’s one year and Duncan was kind enough to model it for me. I wanted to do this picture because I’ve always seen all those videos where they are holding up signs instead of speaking. I thought it was great that Duncan could finally “speak” with words. I Love You is definitely what Duncan wanted to say, well, that and “do you have any cookies”, but I couldn’t find that sign.
So, this picture became one of Slice of Nice’s Valentine’s cards for this year! The inside reads: Be Mine. You can pick it up in the Slice of Nice store here. We can send it out for you or send it to you so you can give it to your Valentine! And remember if you use this as part of your Valentine’s experience you will be supporting the National Canine Cancer Foundation also!
Alot of people that I talk to about what I do are always amazed that I find dogs easier to take pictures of than people. We always have a great working relationship, but we do have our fair share of out takes. So, between now and Valentine’s Day, I’m going to share several of the potential shots for our V-Day line up and some of the out takes for your fun and enjoyment! We’ll start with the prep shot for this card. This one was taken right when I brought the sign home, as you can see, Duncan wasn’t quite in the modeling mood at the time…
Prep Shot for the VDay card
You can also see the patch of hair that is missing on his leg, this was for an IV. In January 2007 he had his spleen removed because he was diagnosed with Hemangiosarcoma. We were hoping to get it all out by doing the removal, but Hemangiosarcoma Cancer is very aggressive and it had already spread. Duncan’s last formal photo shoot was this Valentine’s one. He fought the disease as long as he could and we lost him March 2007. This is one of the reasons that we feel very strongly about supporting the National Canine Cancer Foundation. A Cancer diagnosis is a very devastating one because most owners don’t know that dogs fall victim to it. Duncan was our third Canine Cancer diagnosis and while we knew who to turn to and what to do, we still lost in the end. If you have any questions about a Cancer diagnosis, please feel free to contact me. While I am only a photographer, I can point you in the right direction of questions to ask your vet, how to find out some good information and things like that.
Poor Riggs, he loves his balls. As he patiently waits for the girls to finish their make overs so we can play ball, the hair just keeps piling up. So much so that he rolls his slobber soaked balls into the hair and can’t get it off! And so it goes, the Hazard of Hanging Around the Grooming Table too long!
To finish my grooming discussion we are going to look at the most noticeable piece of grooming on Emma. I just don’t understand all these people who own Goldens who LOVE to have their dog’s ear hair LONG. In the conformation ring, you are supposed to be able to see how the ears are set on the head and just how big (or not) they are. When you have excess ear hair, you can’t see a thing and only have nightmares of mats behind the ears! Ok, well, maybe that’s just me.
Pam is a perfect example of someone who LOVES Golden ear hair. Her heart dog was Grinnin’ Gilbert. Pam is one of the hard working Golden rescue people in this city and she fell in love with this rescue boy. She felt his trademark was his hairy ears! It’s even immortalized on a hand painted blue jean jacket! Anyway, one day several of my conformation friends and I got together and did a grooming fund raiser. We met several Goldens that day of all shapes and sizes. And Pam brought Gilbert for us to do. Arlene and I agreed that he had way too much ear hair and we really needed to do something about that. It was when she picked up Gilbert that I found out that she LOVED the ear hair. I felt really bad about, even as I was admiring what a good job I had done. Thankfully Pam is one of those people who says, oh well, it will grow back, instead of never talking to me again.
So, I guess what I am saying is that it is personal preference, but my preference is nicely trimmed ears!
Emma has a TON of hair on her ears. In the picture above, the one on the right is finished and the left still needs to be worked on. Here is just how MUCH hair I took off Em:
This is off just ONE of her ears! I told you there was alot! She took me so much time to get the ears and feet done that I didn’t get to Wiggly Wrigley today.
Tomorrow, the hazards of hanging around the grooming table too long!
