Slice of Nice

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!

 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.  

Visit the Slice of Nice store and get your Valentine’s Day cards!!