Northern Virginia Pet Photography Blog – Dogs, Cats, Horses

I felt the need to take a break from the last minute holiday orders and work on some equine images.  This is my first December of blogging and here’s what I’ve learned:  either I’m too busy to blog – or, when I get the time to show new images, I really can’t because they are surprise gifts for the holidays.  Well, I can’t ruin any surprises by showing these – so here goes.

Trixie and Spritle are two adorable dogs but don’t take my word for it, see for yourself.  They were adopted as a pair from Papillon 911 Rescue and Adoption, Inc.,  who had rescued them from a very bad situation.  Boy, did they get lucky.  They share their new house with two cats and two very loving owners.  The goal of our session was to create three portraits that could be framed and hung on the wall next to each other.  Here are the final choices:

And here’s one just for fun.  When Trixie and Spritle first came to their new home, they hardly had any hair on their tails.  Now, their tails are full and beautiful – and they wag a lot!

One of the cool things about what I do is that I never know what I’m going to learn.  During this session, I learned about the names Trixie and Spritle.  They are two cartoon characters in Speed Racer.  Speed Racer was one of the first truly successful anime franchises in the United States.  Trixie and Spritle accompany Speed on his adventures and help get him out of trouble.  

. . . Thursday, December 4, 2008 - House Calls – section.   A homeowner writes in with an interior decorating challenge and a local interior designer solves the problem.  Sherry Galvydis of Impressive Interiors (www.impressiveinteriorsdesign.com) created an awesome design and included our pet portraits in her solution.  The homeowners have two cats that are very important to them. 

Thanks for including us, Sherry, and for an excellent re-design of the space.  You can see it here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/homeandgarden/features/house-calls/after_120408.html

Meet Cody (Labradoodle) and Piton (Rhodesian Ridgeback).  Both incredibly photogenic dogs.  Cody and her owner are in training with Mid-Atlantic D.O.G.S. (Dogs Organized for Ground Search).  Mid-Atlantic D.O.G.S. was founded in 1990 and over the years has maintained a tradition of providing professional and highly proficient search and rescue K-9 teams and support personnel.  They offer extensive training for their volunteers and respond to search emergencies when assistance is requested by local, state or federal agencies.  Search teams respond to an average of 50 missions per year!  Paws up to Cody and her owner and Mid-Atlantic D.O.G.S. for providing such an invaluable service.

Here’s Cody in her “uniform”.

In addition to a keen sense of smell, Cody is also quite the athlete!

This next image makes me laugh.  It shows both Piton and Cody running.  You can see the “intensity” in Piton and the “happy-go-lucky” in Cody.   I can picture these same expressions on humans.   

It was really sweet how they leaned on each other. 

I asked Piton to give me her “regal” look.  By the way, if you’re wondering how Piton got her name, it’s from the Piton mountains (aka volcanic plugs) in St. Lucia.  I bet you didn’t think you’d be getting geological information in this post – here’s a link to more information about Pitons:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitons

Here’s Piton’s “ridgeback” up close and personal –

Some pictures say “black and white, please”.  Black and white is great to capture the essence of the image without being distracted by color.  You can tell by most of my images, I usually have a preference towards color – but sometimes black and white is the ticket.

We also went inside to create beautiful images “studio-style”.  Below shows how these images will be displayed.