i say it at the beginning of every blog post — if you want to see the latest images from here at scruffy dog headquarters, client sneak peeks and all the latest news — you need to be following the scruffy dog facebook page. i’ve just not been able to keep up with the blog as much as i would hope, with countless scruffy dog clients from last year not even making it on the blog with proper entries. oh but to have more hours in a day.
but here’s something a little different …
i don’t often have the opportunity or time to share the commercial and editorial work that SDP is involved with, but when the Picture Editor of dogs magazine, from Germany, emailed me the .pdfs of the latest SDP images used in their absolutely gorgeous, extra-sized publication, i figured i’d share. seriously, dogs is like Vogue, only it’s dogs! big, rich, glossy, top quality publication. there’s nothing like dogs, and i love it … well, i’m sure i’d love it a whole lot more if i remembered even half of the german i studied in school!
so here you go … a few pages, starting with none other than the goober …
and my main girl, matea…
what i love about working with European editors and agencies, is that European style … they’re always choosing some of my favorite images from the SDP portfolio.
i’ll share more as i have time.
have a great weekend, everyone! now walk your dogs!
if you’re on facebook, you’ll either already have the new Timeline format or will probably be forced to switch soon. even business pages will be forced into the new Timeline format as of the end of March. don’t worry, you’ll see us there soon! for those interested, here’s a great Q&A article about the new format from PC magazine on the new format.
if and when you are finally using the Timeline format, you’ll know that the main attraction to this format is the banner photo across the top. some users incorporate their own photo, while others download photos already sized for the Timeline banner.
by popular demand, scruffy dog is offering a handful of images for public use. these images are being provided as a courtesy for our scruffy dog followers and should be used in no other manner than your Timeline banner. images should not be cropped or altered, and the copyright/credit must not be obscured or removed in any way.
you’ll notice that a lot of these are weighted more to the right … that’s to make room for your profile pic in the lower left corner …
and yes, a cat too! that’s our resident, scraggly cat Aslan.
so how do you use these banner photos? well, in the Photos section on the SDP facebook page you will find the folder for Timeline banner pics. once there, simply right click on the image you want to use, and download it … then upload it to your own FB page and use it for your banner. and then …
… drop us a line and share, so we can see it!
if there are any other SDP images that you would like to see as a facebook Timeline banner, drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do.
yes, it’s true … i’ll never catch up with blogging the fall sessions. there were simply far too many for me to even hope to ever get them all posted onto the blog. but i can share the client sneak peeks, before-and-afters, and the general frivolity and celebration of “dog” that goes on on the scruffy dog facebook page. if you haven’t already joined the SDP page by clicking the “like”, you might consider doing so, as you will be the first to see the latest goings on here at scruffy headquarters.
with a little bit of snow on the ground – finally – we had a lovely session with three sweet girls.
Penny is a 13-year-old lady …
i was told that this lovely girl was losing some of her giddy-up, requiring a lot of rests while on walks, but at our session there was a new pep in Penny’s step and almost no slowing her down.
Penny’s sister Lucy was a sweetheart as well … i’ll need to post more of this gorgeous, long-legged girl …
and then there was little tiny Pyper … and i do mean tiny. this wee girl weighs less than even one of the SDP cameras.
Penny, of course, needed a little nap time in between her get-up-and-go …
then there was Bettis …
this big guy was a wild boy …
and when i say “big”, i mean B.I.G. at only 22 months old this Dane/Mastiff cross hasn’t even started to fill out, but with the legs of a Dane, well, he’s a monster. and i should note that dad Chris is no shortly like me!
we had a lot of fun at Bettis’s session …
it was a honour to photograph this gorgeous boy on his last afternoon with his dad. due to a separation, Bettis is going with his mom out-of-province, so although it was lovely to spend time with Bettis and his dad, there was a sadness as well …
as usual, i also shared a little before-and-after from Bettis’ session.
another handsome man i met last week for his first scruffy session, to celebrate his one-year birthday, was Nerian …
and then there was five-month-old snowball girl, Nala.
Nala is a keeshond/chow cross … who, like any respectable puppy, loves to chew.
i also shared just one of several large canvases that came into the studio last week. i don’t think the scruffies were overly impressed by some other dogs taking up what is designated as “their” wallspace.
of course, sharing this on facebook caused a couple of comments about how cool it would be to have this photo framed and hung over the couch, which led me to share an image from four years ago of a couple of scruffy clients — Reese and Rio. the second i walked in the door of Reese and Rio’s home and spotted the pristine white leather couch and shag rug, i had to ask whether we could let the dogs up there. and then, as their walls were bare, i made my own little suggestion …
and staying in the vein of canvases, this image of the stunning Duke and Daisy will be printed in another large framed canvas …
and no week would be complete without a few shots of one of the resident scruffies … here is merrick goobernuts mcscruffy, doing what he does best …
but one photo of this mad-boy with his chicken isn’t enough …
and this is just a fun little video shot low-res with poor quality and no editing ability with a Bloggie … not something i’d generally share on the SDP blog, but it’s pretty funny …
yup, that’s the goober. and i should note that matea mcscruffy — lying there so patiently waiting for dinner — was wearing a t-shirt due to some surgery. i don’t normally dress up the scruffies!
lord, it’s time for another facebook recap … blog entries are so slim these days due to the backlog of fall shoots and now the big orders coming in from those sessions. but as of yesterday we officially completed the post-production work on all of our fall sessions (yeah, with that many squeeze-in sessions, it took that long!), and we celebrated that completion by going out and shooting two Starter sessions yesterday afternoon. what is it that they say about no rest for the wicked? people who know me and know how little sleep i get already think i must have been a very very nasty individual in a former life.
so, while i contemplate the possible sins in my former lives, let me entertain you with a few of the images that you may have missed on the scruffy dog facebook page. i understand that not everyone is a fan of facebook, and if you aren’t, you can always catch up here on the blog … but if you are on FB, you might want to join the fun over on the SDP FB page. it’s a pretty rockin’ place.
first up, one of my faves of the week … and one of my favorite models of 2011 … Indy. her finished gallery was just a wee bit bigger than the typical client gallery due to her non-stop expressions …
and then the highlight (or rather lowlight?) of last week was the sudden loss of scruffy client Sprocket …
this boy’s session (along with big sister Basil) was shot in November and we were just finishing the post work on their session when mom Jayne emailed me from the OVC with the shattering news.
Sprocket was one of those dogs with an unquenchable love of life, an incredible spirit and character that touched anyone who met him. his sudden loss was the result of a ruptured splenic tumor … something that is familiar to me, and, unfortunately, not a rare enough condition.
as a tribute to Sprocket, i put together a little slide show for this amazing boy’s parents …
i consider myself extremely fortunate to have met this boy and been able to capture his spirit and energy in these images. my hope is that his premature loss is a message to others on the importance of having photos of your 4-legger. take photos (and video) yourself, and if you don’t feel competent in capturing those images, hire someone to take some photos for you. they are so important as these beloved 4-leggers of ours aren’t with us long enough.
and let’s not forget Sprocket’s lovely sister Basil …
over the past week, we shared a number of before-and-after shots from the post-production side of things. little Gizelle … i have got to do a blog entry on this snippet of a scruffy …
for those inquiring, this is Lightroom. all SDP editing is done in combination with LR3 and CS5.
and a little before-and-after of Charlie showing off his Karma collar …
and no week would be complete without at least one photo of resident scruffy merrick goobernuts mcscruffy … believe it or not these shots were taken mid-February in Ontario!
and then there was little baby Harlow … since she was another squeeze-in session this past fall and the post-work was delayed, i’m pretty sure this little girl is easily twice the size now!
and that wild Indy again …
and Jack and Fergus … these two scruffmuffins belong to fabulous photographer Chris Dupuis-Kufske of Click Photography.
and we’ll close out with an old archived image i stumbled upon the other day … taken almost two years ago during the goobernuts’ very first official photo session … when he was still terrified of the camera, but working hard to overcome that …
if you don’t follow the scruffy dog facebook page, you’ll have missed the following photos of client sneak peek and the resident scruffies!
first up is an image of little Indy from her shoot earlier in the fall …
it was a heavy-duty week when it came to processing orders last week, with five albums to design. this is one page from the big Best in Show scruffy dog album of Rose, Ebony and Chase …
then there was wee little Nahla, one of my California clients, here for her second shoot … in snow!
i also shared a little before-and-after of the post-production on Duke and Daisy’s session …
this boy looks handsome whether processed in color or black-and-white …
i also had a little fun with the images of these guys …
then there was Toby …
i had a lot of fun with merrick in our new sink …
i should have known it wasn’t a good idea to torture him with a bath …
… because later that afternoon, merrick got his payback. this photo was snapped with my new BlackBerry Curve …
and during a drive a few days later, i had to pull over and take this. this was shot with the little Nikon V1 mirrorless camera … a fraction of the size of the regular scruffy dog cameras, which means i can actually take it along for our own walks, and not have to rely on the so-so quality of the Blackberry camera.
and finally, last week, my girl had to have surgery to remove a button-tumor off her back leg due to its growth-rate and the fact that she was always scraping it open when on walks or even in the back yard. she also had one of her many fatty tumors removed from the bottom of her chest. the lycra vests i made years ago for visibility on the trails have come in handy; snugly covering the stitches, great breathability and comfort. today — five days post-surgery — all of her stitches look awesome …
thank you to everyone for your well-wishes on facebook and via emails. i’m sure your positive energy is partly responsible for her quick recovery.
Penny, of course, needed a little nap time in between her get-up-and-go …
then there was Bettis …
