Ostrich and Ostrich Egg

New in the shop today:

Geese are LOUD

I photographed a flock of Geese last week (beautiful and funny creatures). They were LOUD. This is an audio video my digital tech took during the maddness - We were all very amused even though our ears hurt!

Make sure your volume isn't too high:

The Bachelor

The Bachelor is my all time favorite reality show, and I don't apologize for it (although maybe I should). I've blogged about it for the last few seasons. And oh what GREAT seasons they were! Topped of course by Brad Womack's shocker of picking no one in what my husband still refers to as the greatest single moment in Reality Television history. I agree.

So of course, I had been counting down the months, weeks, and then days for the new Season to start, especialy since Jason was to be the next Bachelor. I still can't believe Deanna let him get down on one knee. Poor guy. 

But I gotta say, I wasn't feeling the premiere on Monday night (actually, I watched it last night on the DVR as I was sitting at a Blackjack table in Vegas on Monday night and Vegas trumps TV). I mean let's not get crazy here, I'll still watch the show with baited breath. Jason is very sweet and you can clearly see he has spent every single day since being asked to be the next Bachelor in the gym - But I don't know. Maybe it'll get better; maybe Jason will slap Deanna across the face upon her return; maybe Brad will come back for Deanna; maybe Grant will show up too. But seriously, if these girls don't start showing up, my money is on Deanna (cautiously).

We shall see.

Happy New Year Peeps!

Happy Holidays

The Best Gift Bag Ever

One of my peeps sent over a lovley gift all wrapped up in this super rad little tote from The International Center of Photograhy. If you are into photo, you should have this tote:

Scoutie Girl Interview

I'm pretty shy when it comes to talking about myself - But I was happy to answer a few questions for the lovely girls at Scoutie Girl, Check it out here!

Ditto

I'm super swamped and simply could not have said it better myself – So check out Marisa's posting about our weekend at the Good Magazine/Etsy Fair here.  And a shout-out to all my girls!!!

Puppy Therapy

Shop Update : New Animals!

New in the shop are an Alligator, a Cockatoo, Lemurs, Prairie Dogs, a Pigmy Goat, a Deer, and a couple close-ups.

My Mini-Me's

My friend Leanna is an instructor for a very cool program called Photopiece. Photopiece is a photography program that invites teenagers to get in touch with the stories they have to tell, and encourages them to do so through photography. Starting in 2001 in downtown Los Angeles with special education kids from Latino immigrant families, Photopiece has since expanded to rural Oregon, Mexico, and Ecuador. 

In addition to teaching the basics of photography, Leanna brings her students to museums and brings in working photographers to talk with the kids about photography as a career. Last year I went with a slideshow and did a Q&A, but this year I wanted to REALLY show them what I do and give them a chance to try it out themseves.

So we packed up the lights, the camera bags, and our dog Squeak. We set up a backdrop and rigged the lighting set-up for them. I talked to them about how to photograph a dog, how to compose shots, how to find the light, etc. and then I handed them the camera! At first, they were a little "too cool for school, " but once one of them got up to do it, they were all in (I had to pry the camera out of one kid's hands). It was incredibly gratifying and a lot of fun – Some of them really listened to me and got some pretty incredible shots. 

Here are a few highlights shot by my Mini-Me's (and a shot of Squeak and his new handler – This kid certainly has a future as an animal trainer – he worked Squeak for all his classmates and did an excellent job!):

Twins

I was shooting a kids job all last week - Had to share these beautiful twins. They are represented by Jet Set Kids.

Springer Spaniel Puppies

Grass

Dogs Magazine

My favorite dog magazine is a German publication called Dogs. Even though I cannot read a word of it (it is in German), it is impeccably designed and the photography is so good, it is humbling. I'm always honored when they come knocking on my door for images – which I am happy they do regularly. This month they ran my headshot and tail work as a quiz. Super cool. I had to share.

Halloween Haunt 2008

This past Saturday was our neighborhood's Halloween Haunt. Every year we run the photo booth and this year's kids were as adorable as ever. Check out the second image down of the little boy dressed up as Joel from Risky Business. When he walked into the booth, I almost peed my pants from laughing so hard.

Cute

Dalmation

Squeak is a Poodle?

We heard about this breed test a while back to determine what your mutt is comprised of. Since we are suckers for anything fun to do with Squeak, we swabbed his cheek and sent it in. We are pretty sure he is a mix of Dachshund, Chihuahua, and maybe some other breeds. Turns out he's a Poodle? We're glad we did it becuase we are getting a lot of mileage out of the results. The new nicknames alone are worth the cost of the test.

Jumping Out of Frame