Feeling the love...

I love this picture! Also I love that Smike (below puppy) has found a new home. :)

This puppy needs a home!

Could this puppy be any cuter? If you have fallen in love then you are in luck because someone abandoned this little guy out in the snow and he needs a good home. If you are interested or know anyone who can foster for a while, please let me know at houndstoothphotography@gmail.com

Oh how this picture makes me happy!

Goodbye Jack.

Sherill with Jack

Sweet Jack

It's always one of the hardest parts of my jobs to photograph such happy, energetic dogs and then hear later that something has happened. I photographed 16 year-old Jack two weekends ago and we had a great session with his owner Sherill. He wore a black bow-tie and looked like a little Frank Sinatra. Sherill, who is lovely, and I had a great conversation about changes and transitions and how hard it can be to let go of loved ones. I was really happy with our meeting and the photographs as I walked out into a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

And then I got an email a few days later from Sherill saying that after our photo shoot Jack had fallen ill and that four days later he passed away. I was so sad to hear about the passing of this sweet dog. The love I saw between him and Sherill was so touching and I know how difficult this must be for her. But I am glad that our timing had worked out so perfectly to document some of Jack's last days with Sherill.

When I asked Sherill how she will remember Jack and she wrote:

"I first held him the day his eyes opened and he made me laugh every day of his life, except the last. He was far too smart for his own good. He had a habit of unzipping purses and suitcases, grabbing whatever the most embarrassing item was, and racing about the living room with it. If I cried, he kissed away my tears."

That makes me teary to read. Again, I am so honored to have met Jack and been able to photograph him so close to the end of his long, dear life. I know he will be greatly missed by many.

A little more to love...

Oh how I love Cyrus's tongue hanging out :)

They said that Molly didn't like to be photographed, but I think she did great!

It was so great to meet Sanjay and his lovely family which includes two huuuuuge loveable dogs, Cyrus, a Newfoundland Terrior and Molly, St. Bernard!

Oh my!

I'm not sure who took this picture but I LOVE it and hope to meet one of these dogs soon!

Happy Friday!

Rescuing Ophelia

Ophelia really liked her new bone!

My good friend Adam has a new dog in his house! His roommates Adam and Cassandra just adopted Ophelia. She was adopted from the fabulous K9 Lifesavers but still not too much is known about her. Originally rescued from a high-kill shelter in Georgia, they think she is about two years old and is rumored to be an Australian Cattle dog mix (I think she looks more like a pit bull but she does have great brown spots and that adorable patch around her right eye).

Always with rescues there is an element of surprise, so everyone was overjoyed to find out how that she is so completely awesome. Ophelia is extremely laid back, playful, affectionate with people, calm around other dogs, super intelligent (we had her sitting within a couple of minutes) and has an awesome little bob tail. As she wandered around their back yard saying hi to each person, she gave off the vibe of a dog who is just happy to be alive and in a good home. I am very happy for Ophelia and everyone in Adam's house and selfishly excited that I get to know her better because she made a great first impression.

Cooper!

Gosh, who doesn't love a puggle? It's really taking the best of two very good worlds and putting them together in a very compact, adorable package. I had so much fun with Cooper and his owner Amy over at the Shirlington dog park in Virginia (if you haven't gone there, you must check it out. There is a fenced area where dogs can play in a little river bed and every kind of dog breed you can imagine goes milling about). Cooper has a lot of energy and likes to move around but we still managed to get a few great shots of him that captured his outgoing personality and natural sweetness.

Happy Labor Day! I hope everyone has a great weekend.

I'm I'm back from Peru and behind on posting photographs from a very busy June! (Isn't August supposed to slow down a little?) I also have some fun ones of all kinds of crazy animals in Peru. Keep checking back and in the meantime enjoy this darling video of a Slow Loris who reacts exactly like I do when someone stops scratching my belly :)

Off to Peru...

I'm going to be in Peru for a month but I wanted to leave you with a few images I took with my friend Vince's magical horses and dogs. We got caught in the rain and it only seemed to help the pictures. xoxo

Buster's goodbye.

Ah, it is with a lot of emotion that I post these pictures. A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a woman named Victoria who told me about her friends Anita & George and their 3 year-old boxer, Buster. Buster had been fighting for a cancer for a while and the latest round of chemotherapy had not been effective. The cancer had spread to his lymph nodes. They predicted he would only live a few more weeks and Victoria wanted to give her friends a photo session.

When I went to meet with them, I was nervous that Buster would be frail or tire easily during the shoot, but instead I was greeted by this loving, energetic dog. We spent a lovely hour together and he was a perfect model. I could really feel his sweet energy coming through into the pictures. Also, the connection between him and George & Anita was so apparent. They told me about spending Buster's last weeks on the beach in Maryland--one of his favorite places--and took me down to the dog park so I could meet all of Buster's friends.

I received an email a few days ago from Anita telling me with great sadness that Buster had passed. To commemorate him, they are taking his ashes to spread on the beach that he loved so much. From seeing the dedicated and love they shared, I know how difficult this time must be for them, and I wish them the best during this transition. Although he is gone, I know that this sweet dog will live on for a very long times in all of our hearts. I am honored to have shared one of Buster's last afternoons with him.

scoopy the dog.

oh man, things have been so busy these past sixth months and i admit that i have fallen behind in my menagerie blogging. i have been remiss in leaving out photos of all these great sessions i've been having and i want to remedy that. my goal is to go back through and post a few photos from each shoot and give a shout out the the great pets and people i get to meet through this funny job of mine.

today it's scoopy!

Tank the tank.

oh how i love a bulldog puppy! (photos taken in and around the awesome shirlington dog park.)

Breathtaking baby giraffe.

Everyone has someone they want to be when they grow up and I think that person for me is Sharon Montrose. She's an animal photographer based out of LA and her work is beautiful and stylized and full of wonderful animal expressions and moments, with some very exotic animals. In this video she photographs a precious 3-month-old giraffe and talks about how photographing animals helped her to reclaim her love for photography.

She expresses a lot of how I feel about my work with Houndstooth. I've also taken pictures since I was 15, and have gone through so many phases with my work. It's a true passion for me because I have struggled with it. Sometimes when I am shooting, I am so completely in the moment and feel unbelievably powerful, and then other times I've been so frustrated that I can't find the inspiration to capture something the way I know it can be captured.

I had also resigned myself just to have photography as a hobby, but then my life took a shift and and Lara and I decided to start Houndstooth. Although I knew I loved animals and I loved photography, I was unprepared for how much I was going to love photographing animals. In our sessions, these animals exude so much postivity which makes me happy and makes the owners happy. The photographs always show me a bit more than I can see with my own eye about how uniqueness and beauty of each animal.

Now it's almost been a year since Lara moved back to the midwest and I've been running Houndstooth on my own. So many of the administrative structures have already been established, so I am much freer to just enjoy the photo shoots and the work that results. I feel lucky that I have such fun work and I know that this feeling will keep bringing Houndstooth new opportunities...maybe even opportunities that involve a baby giraffe.

Wylie Wagg once again.

Despite having to reschedule our Valentines Day shoot because of the snow, we ended up having a great day and I got a ton of great photographs. I love working with Wylie Wagg! Thank you to everyone for coming out.

Surfing alpaca

I love Peru for so many reasons (I lived there for over two years with the Peace Corps) because it always surprises me and this story is no exception. There is an animal trainer and surfer who has not only trained his dog and cat to surf with him, but now has gotten his pet alpaca "Pisco" to correr tabla (Peruvian slang for surf) with him. Peru has some of the best surfing in the world and is home to some of the worlds finest alpacas but I never imagined that the coast could meet the mountains in this way. Ah, innovation. Click here to see a newcast with live action surf footage but I warn you it's in Spanish

A sweet political moment...

This is Cody, the cocker spaniel puppy of a nice man named Ted who lives over in the Capitol Hill area. He hired me because years ago he took a great picture of his other Cocker Spaniel, Lucky (14 years old), and wanted to have a picture of Cody to put by its side. We concentrated on capturing Cody's boundless energy and cheerful nature and selected the above photograph to share a frame with Lucky's photograph.

A few days after receiving the photography, Ted decided to make a few copies for his neighbors who are friends with Lucky and Cody. One of these neighbors is Senator Dodd from from Connecticut who has a house a few blocks away, whose daughters love these dogs. Upon seeing the photograph, his daughter Grace (age 7) kissed it and her nanny made the promise that she will kiss it every night. How is that for political endorsement? :)

Lucky dogs.

Here is a sampling of portraits I did for a fundraiser for Lucky Dog animal rescue hosted by Wagtime Pets. Everyone at Lucky Dog and Wagtime does a lot for a lot of great pets coming from tough situations and it was awesome to see so many people come out for a good cause. And a lot of cuteness occurred on my studio paper, as evidenced by the above photographs. Thanks to all for coming out!

I want to give a special shout-out for Kuma (the first dog in the set--with the HUGE black, beautiful head) and his owner Karyn. She has created this great little contraption called The Bag Bag, which attaches your plastic bags on your leash. It seems like such a simple thing, but I have spent many walks with plastic bags coming out of my coat pockets (or worse, not having a bag when you need one) and have decided that its quite functional. Karyn and Kuma are also just nice people so it's good to support more of that in our world.

Also, I am doing another portrait session this Sunday at Wylie Wagg in Tysons, VA. It's the make-up for the Valentines Day sessions that were canceled due to the snow. I have about three more slots if anyone is interested in getting a few sweet shots of your pet. Please contact me at houndstoothphotography@gmail.com for more details.