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Hailey and Puff

I had a great shoot last week for my amazing friend, featuring her family's lab/shepherd mix, Hailey, and her sister's cat, Puff. I love these animals. Hailey is the sweetest, gentlest dog you've ever met, and she uses that lab background to its FULL advantage. Say what you may - I will NEVER be convinced that there exists a breed of dog that's better at begging than a lab.

Proof? Oh, yes. Here's proof:



I think if her eyes were any more liquid in the middle picture, they'd fall right out of her head.

A few other favorites:



Then it was Puff's turn. Puff is blind, so I was rather surprised to see her outside. You can't really see it in the photos, but she was wearing a harness and leash. She was surprisingly challenging to photograph - not because of the blindness, but because she's a little piggy :) We used treats to get her attention, but then she wouldn't lift her head up from the grass until she'd found every. last. bit. So a lot of my shots looked like this:


Nom nom nom.

Despite not being able to actually see the camera, she totally worked it.



She loves her mama.



Puff was just the warmup - a blind cat is nothing compared to three siblings and three animals in one shot. This is an outtake, but I love that you can instantly see the bond they all have with the animals.



And of course, I couldn't do the shoot without a picture of my friend Lisa and her baby.



Awww. Thanks so much for having me over, Lisa and Jen! And the rest of the clan, people and animals alike :)

Moving Day, aka A Lesson in Customer Service from Enterprise

This Saturday was moving day for me! Since my lease started at the beginning of the month, I've had plenty of time to move all of my smaller stuff, but Saturday was for everything else. I don't have a ton of furniture, but a full size bed is NOT going to fit in a little tiny Kia, I can assure you of that. The last time I helped someone move a few weeks ago, we rented a cargo van from Enterprise. It was affordable enough, and this particular branch was central to both the moving-to and the moving-from location. Without really looking into other options, I reserved another van for this Saturday.

Friday night I check my phone, and see that I missed a call from a restricted number at 5:58pm. I listen to the message and it's Enterprise, calling to tell me that they're so very sorry, but despite the fact that I have a reservation, they're not going to have a van for me the next morning. Um, excuse me? Since it's now almost 8pm and their branch closes at 6pm, there's nothing I can do. Even if I gotten the message two minutes after they called, I still would've been out of luck, since adhering to the posted hours is NOT a strong suit of this branch (Case in point: the last time, we arrived at 9am to get the van, and no one showed up until at least 10 minutes later). We decide that we're still going to go to Enterprise at 9am just to see if they have a pickup truck or anything else that we could stuff a full-size mattress into.

The two employees sauntered in at 9:10am. Surprised? I wasn't. They looked up my reservation, and said that there were no vans, and there's nothing they can do. We asked about the availability of the pick up sitting out front. No dice; it had already been reserved for someone else. As a last resort, they offered to call a nearby branch and see if they have any cargo vans. The guy calls twice, shrugs when they don't pick up the phone, and says he's sorry, but there's nothing he can do.

I am not offered a discount. I'm not offered any alternative solutions. No further effort is made to contact the other branch.

Um...ok...well then. We leave, and I resist the urge to flip the bird at the security cameras in the Enterprise lot. It's not very lady-like, you know. Ten minutes and one phone call later, we're on our way to U-Haul.

My advice, if you need a van or truck? Start there. WAY cheaper, especially if you're not going far. A+ for customer service. We told them about our Enterprise experience, and they couldn't believe it. "You mean...they didn't have a van for you? And they didn't offer you anything? If that happens here, we give you $50."

Now, I still would've been irritated if they didn't have a vehicle that I had reserved, $50 or no. But what really turned me off is that they clearly didn't care.

Disappointing things happen, no matter what business you're in. Maybe you get sick and have to reschedule a photoshoot, or you sent the wrong size file to the lab to be printed and now it has to be redone. These things can and do happen, regardless of how meticulous and conscientious you are - it's all part of the fun of being human. What sets the truly amazing businesses apart are how they handle these situations. Just saying "sorry" doesn't cut it.

Just saying sorry tells me that you've washed your hands of my problem.
Just saying sorry does not help me get what I need.
Just saying sorry encourages me to go to your competitor, where I hope I'll be treated with more respect.

So here's my promise to you: I will do everything in my power to prevent slip-ups from happening, but if something goes wrong, you'll get more than "sorry" and a shrug of the shoulders. You deserve better!

And now, something happy. Something that makes me happy. My bookshelf! Before I moved, my bookshelf was a royal mess. It was a catchall for random little things that didn't have a home, it was cluttered, and it stressed me out (does clutter stress anyone else out? Seriously, it's mentally draining!). But now?

Ta-da!





The teacups and saucers were given to me by my grandmother. When I was little, my sister and I would have tea parties at her house, and we got to choose which cup we would take our "tea" in (just milk, usually with a side of homemade donut. Mmmm, donut). In anticipation of moving to a smaller home and reducing the amount of stuff in her house, she generously gifted us with our favorite ones! I love having them on display now.

Do you have little things like this around your house that make you happy? If you don't, I think you should!

Some days...

You can't get no respect. Especially not from a cat.

Brittney the pug

Brittney is a sweetheart. She came out for the Lowell Unleashed photoshoot and did an awesome job for her modeling debut! It was her first time at a dog park, so we decided to stay in the holding pen for her shoot. The park was quite busy by that time, and we didn't want little B to get run over by the other bigger, more rambunctious dogs. She doesn't know that she's a bite-sized dog, though, so let's just keep that between you and me.

That alien in the background in the photo on the left is one of three kids who love her very, very much and came along for the shoot. They were a big help in keeping her corralled, and in giving her lots of hugs and kisses. Don't knock it - that's a super important job!



Oh, dear. I'm afraid she doesn't look all that bright in the photo on the right, but it makes me laugh so I'm posting it anyway.



Total favorite here on the left. Like most pugs, Brittney wants to be with you allthetimepleasepleasedon'tleaveme, so photographing her was challenging at times. I cropped my knees out of this photo, since that's where she was sitting when I took it. Whatever the minimum focus distance on the lens I was using is...that's where B is. A little inside that, actually, since her right eye is in focus but her snout (and that tongue, ah, slays me every time) isn't.



Thanks for coming, Laura! It was great meeting B and her little helpers :)

Sofia - sneak peek

I really *should* be packing right now, since this week is moving week and I haven't packed at all as much as I should have, but I had to take a break to share one photo from my session with Sofia this morning. She just turned a year old, and this is the third time we've had a photo session. She's a pro!

If you're having a bad day...set this as your desktop picture. I dare you not to smile.

Sam-e

When the day of the Lowell Unleashed fundraiser arrived, I had filled 5 of the 6 slots. I knew there was the possibility of someone joining us for the shoot once it was in progress, and I really hoped that was the case. Halfway through, this handsome boy and his mom showed up.



Oh, be still my heart. Sam-e is the doppelgänger of the yellow lab that I had growing up...a yellow lab named Sam.

Like most labs, Sam-e is a happy camper. Life is good, and he's just along for the ride.



I love love love this picture. THIS is what bliss looks like.


When it was time for Sam-e's photo shoot, the dog park was a very busy place. Sam-e wasn't super interested in me or in the camera; he was much more intrigued by all the other dogs. See, he made a friend:



Unfortunately, he was a little too, ahem, "friendly" with some of the other dogs. He got a stern talking to from his mom and he clearly felt very badly about the whole affair.



But since a lab's memory is roughly equivalent to that of a goldfish, he didn't feel guilty for very long. Refreshments make everyone feel better!



I think the snot really makes the picture on the right, don't you?

Good little blogger

Yes, I'm a little behind. I promised posts for every dog that participated in the Lowell Unleashed shoot, and I am getting to that, hand to god!

I've really been thinking lately about what's been holding me back from blogging. I have a lot going on, it's true, but being busy is not the culprit. Let's think about this for a minute. What do you need in order to blog regularly? Well, material is a good place to start. Do I have interesting things to write about? Well, I think so. It's a little hard for you to judge at this point since I have a whopping 15 posts thus far, but lack of blog fodder is not the problem.

Ok, I have stuff to write about. So what goes in the post? We need a title...check...body of the post...check...pictures...well, I have lots of those...but...

DING DING DING. We have a winner! Dealing with the images is by far the most tedious aspect of blogging for me. I love taking pictures, I love editing them to make them as gorgeous as they can possibly be, yet the act of resizing, watermarking, exporting, and then uploading them makes me want to go shove a fork in an electrical socket.

I had attempted to write a couple different actions that would automate the process of getting the edited images blog ready, but, I'm going to be totally honest here, action-making is not my forte. Every time I tried to make it work, I ended up with something that was really, really not right. My logo was in the wrong place, the image was squished, the canvas size was all wrong, and it was awful. I spent so much time fighting with the pictures that it just wasn't fun anymore.

I got some really great suggestions from my friend Chris for how to improve the action, and, miracle of miracles, it works now!

I have one for horizonal images:

This is Sofia, possibly the cutest baby in existence. Yes, she is kissing the dog. She's a baby. Babies also eat dirt. I really don't think puppy kisses are that bad.

And one for verticals:


Nothing too fancy, but that's ok. They're the right size and they have my logo, and that is just fine with me. I'm SO excited to have that sorted out! It's so easy now - I just use Photoshop's handy-dandy image processor, and it does all the work for me. Any day that I don't have to fight with technology is definitely a good day.

Now that it's easy for me to post images, that means I have absolutely NO excuse for not blogging. I have tons of great stuff to show you (babies and puppies and headshots, oh my!), so stay tuned! Promise I won't leave you hanging for...uh...a month again.

P for professional

Two years ago, I moved just outside of Boston to attend photography school. I spent my entire senior year of undergrad ITCHING to go. Having just come back from spending the year in Paris and spending most of my free time taking pictures, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I didn't really care about French literature (my apologies to any professors reading this - while it's a fascinating subject, it's certainly not something I wanted to build a career out of!), and I wanted to be a photographer.

Senior year was painful for me, academically speaking. I did very well in all of my classes, but my heart wasn't in it. I was doing the work just for the sake of doing it, so I could graduate and get the heck out of dodge. Not that college wasn't amazing - I now know that I will NEVER have as much free time as I did then, and life will probably never be quite as carefree. Being the planner that I am, I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring out what school I wanted to go to for photography, where I would live, and how I would support myself while I was in school.

Once I picked a school, everything else fell into place pretty quickly. I moved to Boston and threw myself into the photograpy program. I LOVED it. A year and a half seemed like sooooo long, but you know what? It's not. It flew by. After a whirlwind of studio classes, learning classic wedding posing, and going out and photograping every knitter I could get my hands on in a 20-mile radius -- yes, that was a real project. No, you won't find the images on this blog. That was back before I knew what I was doing -- the dust settled and we were....done.

I graduated!

Holy crap.

I'm now the proud holder of a Professional Photography Certificate. But guess what? It's worthless.

Let me explain before anyone jumps down my throat.

Clients will never hire me to photograph their pets, their children, or their wedding, because I have a piece of paper that says I'm a Professional Photographer. Honestly, no one cares about that piece of paper. To me, being a professional doesn't just mean that you know how to properly expose a backlit image, or that you can set up studio lights properly and not have them fall on your model's head, or that your camera cost more than your car (although all these things are helpful...possibly with the exception of that last one).

What makes a professional?

One word: money.

Ha, just kidding. It's your clients, and how you treat them, and the work that you deliver to them. You need all three.

In my opinion, if you have clients and you deliver fabulous work to them, but you treat them like second class citizens that should feel privileged to have your "artistic vision" at their disposal, you are not a professional. While I believe that we as photographers have a responsibility to educate our clients about our work, the fact remains that without them, we don't have a job. We need to deliver knock-their-socks-off images, while showing them customer service that not only meets, but far exceeds their expectations.

My diploma doesn't say anything about that, and unfortunately it's not something that can be taught in school. Regardless, I'm so happy to have had the experience of going through the photography program, and I would do it all over again if I had the choice. I'm so excited to be building my business at this time and I'm very optimistic about what the future holds.

Even if that diploma spend the next 30 years in a tote up in the attic, I'm glad to have it.

Lowell Unleashed

Last night I had an AMAZING fundraiser to benefit Lowell Unleashed, an organization that, among other things, works to make Lowell a more dog friendly city. I had a marathon evening of mini sessions, and photographed seven so-cute-it-must-be-illegal dogs. Each dog will have their own blog post over the next week or so, but here's a sneak peek for now!


Max the Leonberger and Ani the Black Lab


Sparky the Smooth Fox Terrier


Sam-e the Yellow Lab and Brittany the Pug


Charlie the Red Cocker Spaniel and Helo, the Beagle/Australian Shepherd/who knows what else mix

I love dogs. I love photography. Spending the evening chasing dogs around the dog park with a camera and getting to meet their caring, dedicated owners? BEST NIGHT EVER.

Hannah and Katie

People who have a lot of pets tend to joke about having a menagerie. When my aunt says it, you better believe it. The current lineup is:

2 horses
3 mini horses
3 dogs
some fish
?? cats (I saw two or three when I was there, but since they're outdoor cats I'm not sure how many there are in total)
2 kids

Wow. I'm tired just looking at that list.

You may remember Katie the pug from this post. I also photographed her "sister", Hannah. I'll definitely be going back at some point this summer to get the rest of the zoo as well!

Hannah was very sad that she had to stay on the porch while Katie was having her turn in front of the camera.









How quickly she forgets that she just spent the morning outside with her dad.





Meanwhile, Katie was being her adorable, round self.





What is it about pug butts that's just so flippin' cute??



All the animals are loved by everyone in their family...especially by Alyssa. Katie was not NEARLY as terrified as she looks in this shot - you'll have to trust me on that one.



This one is my favorite from the whole shoot. Looks like we tuckered her out!


You have no idea how tiring it is to be me.

I heart goldens

I will always have a soft spot for Golden Retrivers (and yellow Labs, but that's another post entirely). When I was 13, my parents adopted a golden from the local shelter that we named Jake. He is the sweetest, dumbest dog I've ever met. Love him to death, but Lord have mercy, that dog is just not very bright. Now a senior at around 13 years old, he still putters around my parents house and sleeps in my room when I go home to visit. Goldens are such earnest, loving dogs, that my kleptomaniac tendency around dogs rears it's head something fierce whenever I see one.

Especially one as funny and sweet as Skylee.



That golden smile gets me EVERY TIME. AHH.

As you can see, Skylee is a very distinguished lady...





...unless there is food involved, in which case, like most dogs, dignity goes out the window.


Ehhn...if I can just stretch my tongue a leeetle bit further...





And, like pretty much every dog on the planet, she has perfected her "woe is me, I'm so very, very hungry" look.





Sometimes it's the perfectly imperfect shots that I end up loving the most. Despite the soft focus on this one, I love that it shows her playful spirit and the joy of a dog running around in the sunshine on a beautiful day.





The way that Skylee is looking at her mom in this next shot gets me every time I look at it. Total, unadulterated, adoration.





Skylee was a fantastic model and I had so much fun spending the morning with her! Now if only she could teach Jake some of those fierce skills...