March 23, 2011

Raleigh Pet Photographer: Zeva

This is one of the happiest-looking dogs in the entire universe. Zeva, a little long-haired Chihuahua and furry daughter of long-time CSP supporters Stephan and Sean, had a session with us at a child’s playground in Raleigh. She was very excited, as you can tell by her little adorable expressions. She was also a big hit with the kids of the playground whom we were skillfully avoiding but kept following us around. :) Zeva enjoys Stephan, following Stephan around, and being with Stephan. She also likes her little stuffed bear and cat treats. :)

Below is the absolute quintessential portrait of doggy joy and it makes me smile every time.

I believe the toddler that strolled past in the picture below and to the right called Zeva a kitty… but it’s not too far off. She does eat cat treats.

Towards the end of the session… getting a little tired now. Posing with her little stuffed bear. :)

say nice things

March 19, 2011

Raleigh Pet Photographer: Sabrina+Pookie

This is going to be split up into two sections with Sabrina the Dog first and Pookie the Cat second. Because while Sabrina and Pookie are familiar with each other, relations are tense and their shoots were done in separate rooms to avoid any possible animosity. ;)

Sabrina is a very kind mutt of a few different breeds and one of the sweetest I’ve met. She’s of a somewhat indeterminate elderly age. When they adopted her she was anywhere from 1-5, but they’ve had her for thirteen years, so she’s thirteen or older. She is very sweet and has gone through a tumor surgery but is doing very well. Despite her looking very ferocious in a couple of her barking pictures, she’s really just talking. :) Sabrina likes dog biscuits, belly rubs, and sitting by the fire.

Sabrina’s ferocious guard-dog shot:

Then back to your normal programming:

Happiest dog ever!!! Look at that face. :)

Now on to Pookie the cat! So I have a bride and groom next year who are so awesome and nice and are flying Geoff and I up to their wedding in New Jersey to photograph it. Sabrina is the family pet of the bride who lives at home with the mother-of-the-bride. Pookie is under joint custody of both the groom and the bride and was a visitor in the house. Pookie and Sabrina know each other, but Pookie’s still kind of unsure. So we did her photoshoot in a separate room. :) Gotta keep the furry clients in good moods, you know?

Pookie is an adorable little cat!! What was so strange about Pookie is that she has the coolest and most unique eyes of any cat I’ve ever seen. Annie, the bride, commented that her eyes usually photograph purple, and it’s true. They’re kind of a seafoam green/pale teal that also kind of come across as purple. You’ll see. It’s pretty strange, but really adorable. Pookie wasn’t a huge fan of the camera, but she really didn’t dislike it either. She was more curious. Cats don’t take direction nearly as well as dogs… and you kind of just have to follow them around into whatever lighting situation they happen to walk into because they’re totally their own photoshoot boss.

Pookie enjoys playing with twist ties, looking out the window, and toy mice. She also shakes when she gets excited (the first cat I’ve met who does that besides Buckles, our cat) and I’m relatively suspicious that she may be a close relative of Dolfy, our other cat. They were both homeless on the mean streets of Durham, look very similar, both talk a lot, both like water, both are runts, and both are two. Dolfy will be three next month, so Sabrina might be like the equivalent of his really young half-sister or something. :)

LOOK AT THIS FACE!!! Ohhh, Pookie, you are nothing but love.

Below is a series that I may print out in a small series of 4x6s and frame them all next to each other on the wall. No, it’s not my cat, but it’s hilarious. I now have a bad habit of loving other people’s photographs to the point where I’m printing pictures of their pets and family members to hang around my office. A little weird? Maybe. But I guess it also means I love my job. :)

See what we mean about those eyes? I have never seen a cat with eyes like that before. They look great with her little pink nose and purple collar. :) She’s basically a series of nice Easter pastels.

2 nice things said

March 17, 2011

Pittsburgh Pet Photographer: LaSalle Faironaire

Geoff and I went home to Pittsburgh last weekend to celebrate his birthday and do whatever he does that involves his fantasy baseball draft. I also was tasked with the mission of photographing my family’s diva cat, LaSalle Faironaire (affectionately dubbed Sal for short). We’ve had Sal since I was 9 years old. She’ll be 16 in May. We credit her longevity to her voluntary solitary confinement in the basement for the first 13 years of her life… avoiding our two tabby cat hellions, Tang and Button. Tang died three years ago, followed by Button a year later, and finally Sal came out of the basement, happier than ever before. She now fully occupies the house (but mostly the kitchen) and has taken to sitting next to all the heating vents and stuffing her face in my parents’ space heaters. My dad calls her the Head of Maintenance.

Sal is both French and Jewish and in her spare time enjoys reading Anne Rice novels and watching Beyonce music videos. We photographed her in my parents’ kitchen where she spends 99.9% of her time.

Most of her time spent in the kitchen is spent hanging out with my mom, who is technically Sal’s owner. When I was 9 and my sister was 13, we just wanted cats who looked like Garfield and my dad was only interested in fish. So Laura and I got orange cats, my dad got fish, and my mom took home Sal, who was a rescue.