this is Buster …
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you might remember him from his sneak peek earlier on the blog.
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Buster’s Serious session spanned several locations, and — as is typical of scruffy dog’s shoots — we’re often stopping along the way, whenever and wherever we find little patches of light or inspiration … whether it’s a little swath of clover on the side of a busy street …
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… or the subway station
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even the subway car itself.
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when owner Giovanna signed her little man up for his Serious session, i’ll admit i was a little concerned when she admitted that he had no training and wasn’t food-motivated. knowing we were headed for locations where we’d be needing more poses vs. “wild” natural locations where he could run willy-nilly, i wasn’t certain Buster would be up for it.
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i couldn’t have been more wrong. Buster was the consummate poser, and contrary to Giovanna’s booking form, Buster liked my treats just fine.
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of course, Buster did give me his signature “look” more than a few times …
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but truly, i think Buster enjoyed every minute. i certainly did. Giovanna and her little man were a pleasure to share my day with no matter where we went.
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and the Distillery District was just an awesome place to hang out and shoot …
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gorgeous colours, lots of textures, and – with Buster – lots of expressions …
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but of course, no scruffy dog shoot would be complete without some crazy, dog-being-dog, action shots …
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and some great skies …
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and back home …
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dance, Buster, dance!
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and i just love Buster’s expression here …
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but by late evening, i think Buster was done as he showed me to the door …
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thanks for being such a fantastic model, Buster. i hope you enjoy your gallery, Giovanna. talk to you soon!
illonathanks so much, everyone.
yes, idil, little while fluffy froos are probably the hardest … the camera struggles to grab the focus, and even when it does, the result is a bit white fluff ball with very little definition. this is generally when i like to say: “hey, let’s go down to the river!” 🙂 … get us a little hair separation.
and yes, variety of location is KEY to scruffy dog shoots. most of my clients end up doing coffee table photobooks, and as such, i want them to have absolute variety throughout the pages — not just variety of angles, composition, and expression, but also colour, texture, and backdrops.
Katy BrunkardLove this set Illona…. wonderful as always.
BertyMoOh my, love love LOVE your pictures!
Sigh…..
If you EVER come to Europe, do let us know, we would gladly bring our own precious, very special dog for a shoot. You ‘get’ every character, it’s wonderful!
IanJWOW! I think this is my all time favorite shoot of yours! Everything about them, is just quality, love all the locations, bet you had some funny looks taking photos in the subway? Oh and that distillery distict…just amazing! 🙂
giovannai LOVE the photos illona! thank you so much.
Holly Garner-JacksonCity dog! Great shots of Buster in an urban environment, then cutting loose ! Love the one of him flying!!!
Another awesome shoot!
leesiagorgeous! i don’t know how his parents are going to choose. so many amazing settings! love the urban ones – on the subway – so different and unique!
katebuster with the tennis ball and paw to the camera is my personal favorite of the bunch.
KarenYou did it again!!!!!!!!!!!
AnitaThese are amazing Illona!! I adore every single one of them!
RuthAmazing!!! [as always!]
LoriAnother series of wonderful photos~from the ‘poses’ the cooperative Buster gave you to the action shots to your capture of his “signature expression”!
IdilAwww, those eyes, that curled up tail, those short legs… Adorable and so much like my Odie… And I know just how hard it is to capture a fuzzy white dude like Odie. Everyone thinks black dogs are tough to shoot, but dogs with soft, shiny white fur are definitely worse, because as my husband puts it, they are not “focus-friendly.” 😛 But then you go and capture perfect white on white photos and put me to shame! Love all the locations you choose for your photo shoots and your inspiring compositions. OK, I’d better stop now ‘coz I’m about to write a novel – LOL 🙂
milikinwonderful captures of a sweet little pup!
Lisa B.I loooooooove the stink eye! Ha ha ha! And the “talk to the paw” shot is great!