scruffy dog photography | best professional pet photographer blog serving Toronto and Ontario header

Monthly Archives: June 2010

Click on the title of the blog post to view the entire entry.


we have a Woofstock winner!

thank you again to all who stopped by the scruffy dog photography booth at Woofstock this past weekend … it was awesome to meet you all.  and thank you for filling out a ballot for our first annual free Regular Rover photo shoot.

with almost 300 ballots in the box, digging for the winning ballot wasn’t an easy task, so i left it to the professional …

draw-13

actually, it wasn’t that easy for matea either … she ended up picking two and i had to ask her to close her eyes and drop one.

draw1

and the winner is … Brody, owned by Amie Loga!!   i think i actually remember this little brown mini-labradoodle … then again, i never forget a dog-face.  and the runner-up, the other ballot matea drew — in case Brody can’t make it — is Molly, owned by Abeed Remtulla of Toronto.

congrats, Brody.  unfortunately your mom didn’t give us her email address so we’ll be in touch the old-fashioned way … no, not string-and-tin-cans, but close.  :)

scruffy dog loves Woofstock

while still wading through the flotsam of our Woofstock booth that slowly drifts in from the garage into the studio, making it difficult for the scruffies to find a place to stretch out these days, i thought i should probably get a few images from the fabulous weekend up on the blog to share.

woofstock-43

due to scheduling commitments in previous years,  this was our first Woofstock experience, and through it i’ve learned a thing or two … the most important is that if i have any hope of getting out to see all the amazing dogs, i have to do so on saturday … leaving the booth in the hands of my trusty staff and take some time to wander.  sunday just gets too crazy with the last minute visitors.  of course, the other thing i learned is that i needn’t have dragged along the folding chairs! with the constant flood of kind admirers there was never a chance to sit down except for a few brief seconds on the top of the cooler.

still, happily bound to the scruffy dog booth and unable to witness the festivities beyond the south-facing vista from our Front Street tent, i loved Woofstock even more than expected … and when we couldn’t get out to the crazy, the crazy came to us.

woofstock-105

my shooting was severely limited by time — often  having only one click per dog — and by the crowds … people barging through your field, or — more often — other pooches vying for their own camera time.

woofstock-86

pom-pocket-diptych

woofstock-31

woofstock-35

amid the sea of snorty, adorable pugs (easily the most popular dog in the Sunday crowd) was a veritable wave of scruffies earlier in the day.  another fact i learned at Woofstock, however,  is that apparently a lot of scruffy dogs can’t read, because — sadly — a surprising number of them passed right on by the scruffy dog booth with barely a turn of the head.   and i have to wonder if this girl — Dixie — might have as well if not for me rushing around my table and out of the booth, practically assaulting her owner/rescuer from Calgary and his other rescue dogs Saturday afternoon and again Sunday when i was finally able to take this photo:

woofstock-101

i’m in love with this girl.  i want this girl.  she is my dream dog.  apparently Dixie’s owners (part of a rescue organization) and their pack are thinking of moving to Ontario, and if they do, i’ve promised Dixie her own shoot.  ulterior motives of course … then i’ll have their address!  ;)   all kidding and purple paws aside, Dixie, you have a scruffy dog shoot coming to you … i just can’t make it all the way to Calgary, even though i do have a place to stay there.

some other great faces i met …

woofstock-81

woofstock-45

and this little chi … obviously so impressed with the events …. not.

woofstock-113

another scruffie i assaulted … or maybe it’s a wookie?

woofstock-23

and a barky-pants who had a lot to say to me while his/her owner was busy looking through some of the scruffy dog photo books … we had a good conversation.

woofstock-94

and this little monkey doing a quick model of the fabulous dog clothes made by Black Baron Kingdom Apparel — my most awesomest tent neighbors from Winnipeg, who make funky animal clothing from used and vintage people clothes. check ‘em out!

woofstock-136

if i’d had merrick with me, i almost certainly would have subjected him to a Black Barron fitting.

just a few more friendly Woofstock faces …

woofstock-109

woofstock-89

and more often than not, the dogs would literally try to come and visit me …

woofstock-137

here’s a quick glimpse of the booth:

woofstock-18

thank you, Woofstock, for a fantastic weekend!  thank you, weather-fairies, for only a little rain.  and thank you to everyone who stopped by with such kind words.  i loved talking to all of you, and loved meeting all of your dogs … even the ones who peed all over our table  cloth.

thank you to Cheryl at The Barkery in Stratford for the tasty, grainless biscuits for our table.

big thanks to my staff: Angie, especially for her sewing abilities and ingenuity, and Andrea, who deserves the biggest thank-you of all for rocking the booth with her enthusiasm, putting pedal to the medal along the 401 Saturday morning, and schlepping more booth-display crap than one woman should ever have to in a lifetime!

woofstock-140-edit-2

there’s something you should know about Olive …

so this is Olive …

olive-160

and what you should know about Olive is that she’s not a Newfoundlander.

olive-39

even though she does like water.

olive-20

so here’s the story.  Olive here is my first client for whom a session was purchased before she was even born.  but back then, Kristin and Dan were convinced they were destined for a little black newfoundlander fur ball … however, with springer spaniels already in the family, the hunting-dog fever had already begun to fester and, “Olive” became a sprocker.

olive-15

olive-126

oh, and what’s a “sprocker”?  why, a springer/cocker, of course! … a pointing, running, swimming, fetching fool.

olive-252

as per the usual scruffy dog shoots, i strive for a huge variety of settings, light, colour, and texture … so we set off to the conservation area where i never saw such green in my life.  as an exclusively pet-photographer and shooting mostly dogs, i must admit, i get a little sick of green.  any opportunity to shoot anything besides grass is always a thrill for me, but this grass was a green i seriously can’t describe other to say it was the freshest green i’d ever seen and it matched Olive’s collar stunningly.

olive-57

but again, variety for me is the key, so on we marched, throughout the conservation area looking for more interesting textures and colours …

olive-110

olive-315

and – most of all – fun for olive to get into …

olive-77

olive-286

and i should mention that this 8-month-old girl NEVER stopped.  where some of these photos might look like she’s standing still, look more closely … see the tags?  she is a constant, whirling dirvish.

olive-73

moving, moving, moving …

olive-34-bw

even here … not truly still …

olive-117

olive-197

and moving …

olive-170

and to get baby Olive to finally sit still, we had to tie her up.  for those who email me privately to ask, yes, i DO remove leashes and long lines from images, but i do so only with images which go to print.

olive-207

olive-158

other times, for a still shot of Olive, the promise of my “magic” treats was required.

olive-338

and on the way home we simply had to stop by the Gryphon’s stadium wall for a few shots.  i think she was finally just a wee bit tired.

olive-404

of course, at home, greeted by Olive’s housemate, i simply had to catch a few shots of kitty …

olive-430

olive-444

thanks Olive and Kristin and Dan for a very fun shoot and a splendid afternoon.  and thank you so much for your gracious patience as the preparations for Woofstock pushed back the finish-date for your images.  i hope you love Olive’s final images as much as i loved working on them, and i look forward to seeing you both again at the studio consult!  give that girl a snorgle for me!

olive-480-aged

and for those of you who stopped by Woofstock this weekend, you will recognize Olive from our main table-signage …

sdp-sign-20x30

Woofstock, here we come!

i’ve been a dreadfully behind on blog entries and am very grateful for such patient clients who are waiting in the wings for their proofing galleries, understanding that to put a show like Woofstock together can take a little bit of organization.  but with mere hours left, i thought i’d better take a little time out and at least put a heads-up on the blog about this weekend …

blogwheat-header

yeah, the weather-forecast isn’t shaping up to be the best, with st. lawrence market promising to smell like a whole lotta wet dog this weekend.  but hey, time to try out that funky doggy rain gear you spent money on and never really put to use, right?  or better yet, buy some down at Woofstock!

Woofstock grows and grows each year, with tons of vendors.  if you need to be convinced to come on down, check out the Woofstock website and see what it’s all about … something for everydog!!

and if you need even more convincing, how about this?

blog-ballot-box1

and there’s more!  yeah, MORE.  we’re no slouchers!  this Woofstock weekend only, scruffy dog is offering a very special Woofstock package of the usual 2-3 hour Regular Rover shoot and a print/product package that includes a gallery canvas-wrap, coffee-table photo book, too many professional prints to list and more, at a savings of 55% !  but, you’ve got to come down to Woofstock to take advantage of it.

so brave the weather!!  come on by!!  the scruffy dog booth is located down near the intersection of Scott and Front Streets, facing south and the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.

my staff and i will be there to answer all of your questions and meet your wonderful pooches … we have a ton of photos and products on display, and yeah, i’ll have my cameras.

hope to see you there!!!