Slice of Nice

Duncan, at rest

I’m sure “Let sleeping dogs lie” has a whole other meaning than what I’m thinking for this post, but you all know that one.  One of my favorite things to do as a dog photographer is to photograph a sleeping dog.  I’m just enthralled with it.  One of my favorite subjects to do this with was Duncan.  And he was good at it, sleeping that is.  But after having the camera inches from his face for a 1/2 hour, he would often open one eye, stare at me and turn his head completely away as if to say, if you haven’t got the perfect shot by now, it ain’t happenin’ lady.

Here’s some dogs, at rest…

Casey and Duncan, Yin and Yang dogs

Dunkie

It's all in the eyes

One of my favs

And the look....'you're done'

As we prepare for our first born child, not a fur kid, I have renewed an interest in doing some books.  When ever we have brought a new puppy into the house it has been so much fun watching them explore their world.  When Emma came along, I thought she was the most mischievous puppy I had ever seen.  As she explored, well, as she tore around her new world, I started writing her story in my head as I pulled my camera out to catch her exploits.  Now, I’ve run across her puppy pictures again and find myself writing that story all over again, only not just with her in mind, but also with Dylan in mind.

So, right now I’m experimenting with taking the actual pictures and making them into something that looks like drawings.  Let me know what you think….these are about the fifth try and so far Gary hasn’t liked them much.  And if I don’t find something that suits the look of drawing, I think I will just go with the pictures themselves.  So, please weigh in on what you really think about the difference between the actual picture and the drawing look.

Quite the look don't you think?

Just layin' around, no wild puppy here

where's the wild child?

So, what do you think?

In the interest in getting back into the swing of things, I’m going to do a series on my favorite pictures.  Get back in the swing of things you say, why are you out of the swing?  A little over a year ago we moved from Scottsdale, AZ to Longview, TX.  At the time it seemed like a logical move, because my Mom needed some help as she was being moved into assisted living at age 62.  However, the move to Longview has created such a culture shock for us, moving from a big resort town to a very small East Texas town, I got lost. I became caught up in family and moving and figuring out where exactly we had moved to.  I’m just now starting to come out of this fog and getting back to what I really love to do, while adding a few new skills and oh yes, we are adding a new family member, a baby this time, not a puppy.

So, here’s the first one that came from a photo shoot of Gail’s Border Collie’s, all of which came from Arizona Border Collie Rescue.

Profile of some gorgeous BC's

Tessa's eyes are captivating

In November of 2009 we added another new member of the family, one of a completely different color!  We have supported Arizona Border Collie Rescue for a long time, but had never owned a Border Collie.  We were a Golden Retriever family.  So, why support BC Rescue?  Simply stated, they needed me.  They needed and wanted a photographer who would help them to raise funds and Golden rescue had more than enough help. That is how doing their calendar came about and how eventually I would talk my husband into saying yes to a BC.

Actually, I can’t really take credit for Finn coming into our family.  It was all her.  I knew I would have a sales job if I wanted a BC and I never could find the right selling point for Gary.  But one day, at a show where I was working the NCCF booth and ABCR was there, I brought over one of their puppies to play with during our time there.  As I went to help a customer, I handed the pup to Gary and walked away.  When I turned to take her back, he was gone.  I saw him in the distance on his way back to the ABCR booth.  Of course, I thought he was taking her back to them, but when he re-appeared, he was still holding her and she was staring at me.  He said, if you want her, she is yours.  I was in shock.  Did my husband just say yes to a BC and I didn’t even ask?

It turns out that when I handed her to him, with her little speckled legs and big ears, she looked directly at him and then licked his nose.  She made him cry.  That was it, it was that simple.  He fell in love with her and voila, Finn was ours.  That is how we came across our first real rescue.

She loves to curl up with Armani:

And she will play ‘fetch’ endlessly:

And Romeo make 5, months that is!  I’m working on the 2010 Arizona Border Collie Rescue calendar.  I first met Romeo when he was a puppy at Travel Hounds USA.  Romeo’s Mom is my friend, Layne, who owns Travel Hounds.  Ever since I’ve know Romeo, he’s been a very shy border collie and only warms up to you if you are worthy.  I was delighted to take pics of Mr. Romeo when he was a pup and this is one of my favorite pics and probably will show you his personality more than I can describe.

Owning a store full of agility equipment, you would think that Layne would have an agility dog - and as I see it - she finally took a step to the dark side and was going to try out her BC agility dog.  However, Romeo had different ideas.  There was something about agility that he wasn’t really keen on, so one day, Layne does what every BC owner seems to do at one time or another - she went herding with her Romeo. Most of those who run off to herd fall in love with the sport.  I think it’s something about watching your dog do what they were bred to do.

As a photographer, it’s really hard to capture the herding shots you think you should be taking.  For instance - the dog working the sheep.  I have always wanted the shot with the herd in the forefront and the BC coming around them.  But, alas, sheep and herding dogs don’t go where photographers want them to go.  So, I go for one of my other favorites - the BC watching his sheep.

I also love to focus on the sheep - because they seem to be talking in some of the shots.  Or they just look plain vacant.  I would title this one “Sheep Talk”:

As a dog lover, I really enjoy watching the border collies herd.  It is just fascinating that they know this stuff to the core of their being.  Watching Romeo herd was especially fun because I have known him since a puppy and Layne’s struggles with his shyness and finding something that he likes to do.  Romeo, the herding dog, is COMPLETELY different from the Romeo I’ve met.  He is full of confidence and walks with a completely different air about him.  I have no doubt that the calendar picture we pick for him will be of this new Romeo on his way to being a herding dog extraordinare!

The Arizona Border Collie Rescue 2010 Calendar should be available for purchase in September 2009.  Keep an eye here for ordering information!

Yes, we were in the ‘Windy City’ as the Chicago Cubs started their tradition playoff downfall.  But, we didn’t have tickets to that event, we were at the HH Backer Pet Trade Show launching the Slice of Nice Greeting Cards.

Slice of Nice Greeting Card Booth at the Pet Trade Show

There were two entire floors of pet product to wade through.  I truthfully don’t know how all the buyers are able to process that much information during the three day show!  As a pet parent, I was in the mode of “I need that, Emma needs this, Casey would LOVE that”.  I told Gary that it wouldn’t do for me to own a pet store of any kind.  Thankfully, that’s not what we are doing!

Anyway, we met alot of nice people and some good dogs as well.  I think the dogs got the better end of the deal at the show, as most of them had strollers to ride around in and each booth had a cookie for them to try.   We were across from Paws Fur Ever, which were selling these plastic paw boxes.  I had his sales speech down within the first day.  And as a lovely parting gift, we now have a set of four coasters.  I could also demo the Ultimate Leash for you as well, since they were across the aisle from us too.  I actually took two of these home for the Slice of Nice models.

But I think the most fun product that came our way at the booth were something called Kitty Boinks.  This kid was being towed around the show with his parents and he was entertaining himself with one of these KB’s.  Of course I was watching him facinated because I am a big kid at heart.  He spotted me and came over and shot me with it.  After much instruction and goofy trial and error (picture a 35 yr old woman in business casual dress contorting her body around in an effort to master a cat toy) I was finally able to master the toy.  I felt quite accomplished.  The boy, who I swear will grow up to be a sales man, disappeared.  However, he did reappear later bearing a Kitty Boink just for me.  So, I spent the rest of that day playing with my KB during the lulls in traffic and came to realize that while entertaining myself with it, it helped my sales technique.  Not only had it put a smile on my face while my feet were trying to remind me how much they hurt, my antics interested countless trade show attendees enough to come over into the booth and we struck up a conversation.

All in all it was a nice convention, a great launch, and a great learning experience.  People who do trade shows on a regular basis, just like dog handlers, have this fortitude for greuling travel schedules, long hours, and gypsy living.

Check out some of the favorite cards at the trade show:  Dog Sympathy, Christmas and New Puppy.

Here are a couple more booth pictures:

Emma

Here is the shelving we used to display the cards.