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.

I need one of these in my life.

Sadly, I don't know who took this photo or where I can find this dog but it makes me happy just to look at it. Does anyone out there have a Shar-pei they need photographed? Pretty please?

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.