Bella bounds.

These pictures were taken by my dear friend Emily of her beautiful rescue dog extraordinare Bella. One of my favorite parts of the blizzard was watching all of the dogs in my neighborhood play in the snow. Does anyone else have any pictures? Send them to me and I'll put them up here.  

Wow.

Photo by Matthew S. Gunby/Associated Press

I was so amazed when I heard about Tillamook Cheddar, the dog in NYC that scratches and rips canvases into amazing abstract designs. Then I found this article this morning about all sorts of animals who are expressing themselves artistically and earning good money in the process.  It really helps me to confirm my ideas that animals are creative just like us, yet so few are given the opportunity.  

Dondi & Co

These photos were taken at the beautiful Bethesda home of a very lovely lady and veterinarian named Dondi. The first thing that amazed me about the day is how she can have two adorable rottweilers and have her furniture stay white and beautiful. I also pretty impressed that we got everybody to look at the camera and show off the cuteness. 

Thanks to Amy for her post about Houndstooth on her great wedding blog, The Relentless Bride.

Also, Doga is a very real thing according to this article in the New York Times. The photos made me giggle--a lot. Has anyone tried this before? I have a hard enough time getting dogs to look at the camera and helping humans get into downward facing dog.  But hey, I keep learning that anything is possible.

Happy holidays!

Holiday Loving at Wagtime and Wylie Wagg

Happy start to the holidays! Here are a few selects from some of my pet store portrait sessions at Wagtime in Mount Vernon, DC and Wylie Wagg in Tysons, VA. They are, in my humble, pet-photographing opinion, two of the best pet stores in the DC metro area and I love working with their clients. I wish I could have included a select from each session because there were all great, but here a few of my favorites:

Chance looking just fine in his santa hat.

Photographing Lilu made me want a French Bulldog in my life!

Tasha did so well at her first photo shoot.

Ah, Pensky, you're are just too much wonderfulness in one animal.

This was my second time photographing both Jack & Buttercup. I still can't tell who is cuter.

Brave Autumn & Aubrey were the only cats of my in-store photo sessions.

Knightly & co--cuteness in family form.

Hannibal Mays has quite a name because he is quite a dog.

Cookie is a prince of a little dog--so fun to photograph in his holiday sweater.

Cat massages--caring or creepy?

My vote is creepy. I could actually only watch this one once because her intensity started to scare me.

Also, check out this lovely assortment of hanukkah photographs.  I feel a little Christian-centric in my holiday photographs of late but I would like to world that I photograph all animals, regardless of race, breed or religion. 

Lily the ring bearer.

Lily holds a meeting with the flower girls to go over last minute details...

Game face on...

Success!

I was so happy to photograph the wedding of Polly and Andrew in Little Rock, AR because there were so many cute things about to day! They choose to serve pies instead of cakes, had saw player perform their processional, and even left out a table of board games for all their friends and family to enjoy during the reception. But my favorite was that they got their tree walker coonhound/beagle mix Lily to serve as the ring bearer. She did such a great job of carrying those rings down the aisle and then sitting patiently during the service.  It was a great coming together of my worlds (pet and wedding photography). 

P.s.--Another amazing thing about Lily is that she helped Polly to recover from being very sick two years ago. Polly, who had just come out of a coma, had to recover her muscle strength to walk. Of course, Lily was insistent that she do this and became Polly's cheerleader and coach. So beautiful!

Kenya and Beckett

Family outing.

Rob and Beckett

Kenya strikes a diva pose.

It was great to hang out with Rob and Kyeh and their dogs Kenya and Beckett at their home near Ballston. They live right next to a park where the dogs had a chance to run around for a while and a nice little stream where they could cool off. I had been thinking a lot about Seattle before the shoot (I was paddling in the ocean around San Juan this time last year) and it turns out they just moved from there. They totally have the relaxed West Coast vibe that makes me think that life is really about being outside with the ones you love. If I had to give out awards for the day, I would give sweet Beckett "Best Behaved" and to Kenya "Future Supermodel." She knows how to work it in front of the camera :)

Get the Scoop.

I got this trailer for the amazing looking new show Rescue Ink (starting on National Geographic this fall) from Daily Dog Scoop.  I met Scoop's owner Lauren while taking pictures at Adam's Morgan Day and I am so impressed at her ability to compile entertaining and thought-provoking pet news from around the world. I'll definitely be checking back in.

ps--I don't know if it's my emotions or the change in the seasons but I teared up a few different times during the trailer.  There is just something about seeing such big tough-looking guys with tiny little kittens--it warms my heart.

More animal cruelty!

Sometimes it's good to have a laugh, even if its at a cute animal's expense

A few faces from Adams Morgan Day 2009

Rodney's Goodbye

Isis and Rodney.

Rodney down by the lake.

Sweet Rodney.

Oh this last photo assignment was a little bit emotional! From the moment I first talked to Isis on the phone about her decision to move to the West Coast and give Rodney to another family (one with acres of land and kids and another dog), I knew it was important to take these pictures. She said that although she knew she was making the right decision, it was still a really hard one and that she wanted these pictures to be a tribute to all the time they had spent together.

The pictures that resulted from the session were all so beautiful. It was one of those sessions where I felt like I could just get out of the way and let the beauty and sweetness of their relationship come across in the pictures. Isis is a lovely lady who knows how to listen to her intuition and follow her heart.

It's a funny cast of characters. Rodney is a sweetheart of a dog who is lucky to have been rescued by Isis (he was past his euthanization date at the shelter) and now to move to a lovely new home. I am photographer who is invited into many of these tender situations and is sometimes able to make photographs that help ease transitions like these.

We talked a lot during the session and Isis and I totally connected on the idea that life works out the way its supposed to and that the right people and animals make their way in and out of our lives when we need them. We just have to keep an open heart in the process. I wish her the best of luck in California and the same to Rodney in his new home.

Etel and Titus

Titus just moved to Turkey!

Etel with Titus.

Oh, it's been a little hiatus from The Menagerie while getting certified to teach yoga this month (you can read more about this adventure here on my other blog). But I managed to have a few great sessions this month, which I will start to post over the next few weeks. These pictures are from a shoot with my friend Etel and her dog Titus in her Bethesda apartment. They were taken just two weeks before both her and Titus moved back to Turkey and I was happy to capture some of her last days in DC.  Etel is an amazing energy healer and I wondered a few times if Titus didn't have a few powers of his own.

Also, please mark you calenders! This Sunday Houndstooth Photography has a booth at Adams Morgan Day Festival in the Pet Zone on 18th Street NW behind Columbia Road and Florida Ave. I'll doing mini-photography sessions with the help of Toni and her dog-training team at Anytime Canine. Come by and I'll take a few professional photographs of your pet in my portable studio and stay to sample a few of Toni's homemade dog treats. It should be a good time.

ENZO!

Enzo outside of Whole Foods.

Julia and Enzo.

He loves his purse.

I loved photographing Enzo, the cutest little Yorkie dog and his beautiful owner Julia! We had so much fun doing the shoot in her Thomas Circle apartment where she fed me Russian gingersnap cookies (she's from Russia) and we got some great shots of Enzo and her together with our studio set-up. After we braved the rain and took pictures outside of Whole Foods with a stream of onlookers who kept commenting on Enzo's very obvious cuteness.  I love the greens and colors of the flowers in the first shot. 

Bentley Boy

Bentley is such a charming Shitzu that I had trouble picking just a couple photographs to show here on the blog. His name really suites him--he is dignified and stands out in a crowd for being such a lovebug, especially when he's playing with his prized stuffed lobster. It's no wonder that his sweet owner Kelly says that all the employees at Wylie Wagg are so in love with him. After a few photo shoots with him, I feel the same way.  

Teaching a baby wolf to howl

I think my goal with this blog entry is to overwhelm you all with cuteness.  So please check out the huge  interactive reader dog gallery on the NY Times website.  There are so many photos and stories-- it makes me remember how important pet photography is and what a great job I have here with Houndstooth. 

Sasha's New Arrivals

Four of the five puppies...that's Monkey staring up at us.

Monk saying hello to my dad.

My family Swissie dog Sasha just had puppies--five healthy ones that are getting so big so fast! I went up to visit them in MD this Sunday and gosh, what can you say about puppies except that they are ridiculously cute. Every one of us has one that we have fallen in love with and given names (Monk, Monkey, Spot, the Girl, Boy #4).  Sasha is doing a fairly good job at being a mama although she was so excited to see us that she wouldn't let them eat while we were there. (I think the fact that every time he comes, my dad brings her double cheeseburgers from McDonalds may have something to do with that too :)