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Monthly Archives: October 2008

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if bulldogs would rain from the sky …

31 October 2008 – 12:01 pm

… they’d simply have to fall in the yard of Joan and Jamie Weston.  in fact, i think they might already have.   it’s hard to know where to start in describing this shoot, or how to choose which images to share with you — there are simply far too many.  with five bulldogs and three pugs, it was six hours of non-stop shooting …

… and don’t let the hang-dog expressions of Phoof and Spike fool you.  they might look down-for-the-count, but those nestled chins were totally posed!  if you actually think bulldogs are low-key, you’d be very wrong.  they were go, go, go the entire time, especially wee, wrinkly Captain Danger, untying my laces from the moment i arrived. 

you might even recognize some of these characters from the very popular Eukanuba Superdogs show, performing across North America, and in particular this weekend at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto.   trainer and behaviorist Joan Weston has been an active participant in Superdogs with her guys for some time and the bulldogs are always a huge hit … super-athlete and clown Raisin is a true crowd-pleaser.

as i said, it was difficult to narrow down the selection of photos to post to the blog … there were so many images from this shoot, with so many irresitable subjects, but here is just a small sampling …

 

Phoof is a free spirit … very much her own girl.  when shooting her i simply had to take what i could get, but she was definitely a doll.

and although i can’t really pick favorites, Sea Monster was a true pleasure to shoot.  getting his attention was always relatively easy, and he was just so deliciously massive.

and then of course, the puppy…  you just wanted to scream: “weeee!!!!” everytime you saw him, and squishy, saccharine-sweet, embarrasing baby-talk names would spill out of your mouth.

with so many bullsubjects, i figure i’ll leave the pugs for another day; they deserve their own blog entry.  thanks for the great shoot, Joan and Jamie, and thank you for your patience as i worked through the 200+ finished images of your crew.  i hope to have your gallery up later today.

thanks again!

By illona | Posted in clients & sneak peeks | Comments (6)

saying goodbye

26 October 2008 – 11:38 am

most shoots are fun. some are wild. others are downright zany (stay tuned for the crazy bulldogs and pugs photos coming soon!).

but there are other shoots that i know will stay with me forever … the dog i will never forget, no matter how many wild, zany, fun or scruffy faces i meet every week as a dog photographer.  Beowulf — a.k.a. Woofie —  is, indeed, one of those incredible and utterly unforgettable souls. 

Woofie’s owner called me after her boy was diagnosed with heart disease … anxious to get photos of the big guy, as well as some shots of the two of them together.  in the three hours i spent with Alma and Woofie in their back yard and on a short but splendid afternoon walk through the neighborhood, the bond these two shared was amply evident as they moved around each other with a fluidity only a married couple of many years eventually finds.

shooting Woofie was an incredible honour, but at the same time not an easy task.  i admit i cried a little on the drive down, knowing what i was getting myself into, but i managed to contain myself during the shoot.  i learned through the loss of my own boy murph that tears weren’t an option until he was gone.  besides, Beowulf was all about nobility and i was determined to capture that, to not let any sadness creep into my approach as i was working.

most of all, Woofie was a dog who reminded me of why i do what i do … the very reason i started scruffy dog photography — to capture for owners those visual memories that i don’t have of my murph.  i hope i have done justice to Woofie … that i have captured his noble spirit and his magnificence..

i received word this morning that Woofie passed peacefully in Alma’s arms at 1 a.m. this morning.  this magnificent, gentle boy was taken far too soon.  my heart goes out to Alma today … the bond between her and Woofie was extraordinarily evident and they shared a deep and tender history.

although he is gone, i still can’t speak of him in past tense.  like my murph and so many dogs before him, i can’t think of Beowulf as gone.  surely their spirits are still with us.  for me, i see murph’s spirit every day in matea and morley.  i hope one day Alma will see Woofie’s in another …

i had full intentions of seeing Woofie again — his vets originally giving him another couple of months– i’d imagined scratching that scruffy chin again, and putting my arms around that deep chest one more time.   this world is certainly far less without this wonderful creature in it, and i know that Alma’s world is definitely much emptier.  Alma, my thoughts are with you on this day, and many more days to come.

Beowulf, i know you are greatly and forever missed on this earth.

By illona | Posted in clients & sneak peeks | Comments (14)

sweet, blind fox

15 October 2008 – 3:50 pm

meet fox …

… a thirteen-year-old jack russell firecracker who divides his time between guelph and georgian bay.  formerly a wild little man, his recent blindness has slowed him down somewhat and perhaps given him a fraction more sense, but certainly not put a damper on this little guy’s spirit.

he negotiates the obstacles of his new loft condo with great skill, moving with much more caution than your typical JRT for sure, but at least not slamming into walls full force.  … and always looking to dad for direction.

it was an honour to spend some time with this brave little guy and experience the deep love and respect his owners have for him.

thanks for everything you do for this super terrier, Denis and Rachel.

By illona | Posted in clients & sneak peeks | Comments (4)

making clients happy … two dogs at a time

13 October 2008 – 9:35 pm

sometimes it’s much more than tear-staining or eye goobers that need tending to in the digital darkroom … and sometimes it’s more than dealing with the results of back lighting or cluttered venues and homes, stray bystanders or errant coffee cups.  sometimes it’s just an issue of architecture that simply won’t cooperate.

whatever the situation, i’m always happy to oblige and go the extra distance if it means making a scruffy dog client happy.  today it was the owners of Reese and Rio — two of my favorite brown dogs –  as they labor to narrow down their choices for enlargements and their photobook.

from the start i had a vision for the empty wall behind their exquisite, but little-used white leather couch.  and i say “little-used” because if it’s not got dog hair on it, well … we all know what that means, folks: it’s not a real couch!

the owners weren’t keen on the architecture going on behind the dogs, so a little ‘remodeling’ was required in the ‘digital darkroom’ … and since i had a little extra fun with it, i thought i’d share.  for the record, i rather like the left-handed heaviness of the frame due to the wall extension, but i’m not the one who will be living with the print.

so … i needed to take out the jut, however, that left the baseboard still to contend with.  so i had to bring over the side table from the righthand side.  and because this is going to be a large print, the job had to be seamless.  then, of course, i couldn’t stop there … i just had to have a little more fun with it.

(of course, the “framed photo” isn’t staying … it was just for fun).

thanks again, guys, for letting me put your brown dogs all over your lovely couch.  :)

By illona | Posted in about us, clients & sneak peeks | Comments (3)

when the scruffy dogs take a little time off

8 October 2008 – 9:58 am

with absolutely no summer vacation this year, and not a single trip up north for our traditional forays to my childhood Georgian Bay, it was time to take a few days and let loose with the scruffies.  last week i deliberately booked no sessions (even though i could still be found at my desk tending to plenty of scruffy dog business) and took a few day trips with matea and morley to kick up our heels … hit the old logging trails that i used to ride my horses on years ago, riding for whole days along the escarpment. 

i admit, however, that my plan was a little scruffy dog’ish and built around an ulterior motive.  having added a new action lens AND a new camera body to the SDP arsenal, it was time for some heavy-duty equipment testing.  and there’s no better model on which to test an action lens than my crazy wirehaired, mud-loving matea.

from Georgian Bay, we headed over to Kettle Point, Grand Bend way.  there’s nothing like the sun reflected off the sand to give a photographer some optimal lighting situations.  and as an added bonus, i could have never anticipated morley’s joy on the sand.  i’ve never had this old man — adopted at 9 years of age — on a sand beach.  usually misery-on-four-paws when we’re at the rocky shores of Georgian Bay, on the sand he was pure joy.

we absolutely must go again.  as for matea, she has a blast no matter wherever we go …

… so we stayed as long as we could, catching some of the warm, late afternoon sun that i always encourage clients to book for.

all in all, a good and productive vacation.  the scruffies don’t realize theirs was a working-vacation … as long as they come home with dirt between their toes and dreams of bunnies (or in this case dead, beached fish) in their heads, every day is a vacation to them.

By illona | Posted in about us | Comments (5)