she's wishing me into the cornfield

Lola is the best, tirelessly posing for me as I fudge about with new lighting and backdrops.
I never used to like studio shots of dogs, but the more I do it, the more I like it. I can see why a lot of people prefer for me to shoot their dogs this way. Outdoors, or at someone's home, is still great for closeups and shallow depth of field shots, or shots where the owners are there too. But when it's the dog (or cat or whatever) alone, I think the seamless background really brings out the personality.

The only problem with this setup is that animals usually aren't comfortable in front of a bunch of lights, especially when it's not at their home. And the best part of shooting animals is capturing them as candids; when their true personality shows through.

a wider view of the world

A lot of people aren't comfortable with being shot with the wide angle lens because of the distortion. But once they see some shots, many come to love it. Personally, the Canon wide-angle 10-22mm is one of my favorite lenses. It was made for dogs, and people.

It's also great for architectural shots. :)

the most wonderful time of the year?

This time of year seems to come sooner and sooner every year. I'm speaking, of course, about the holidays. I first spotted Halloween decorations in a store about 3 weeks ago (maybe more). I freaked out! It's still the first week of October, but there are houses in my neighborhood already decorated and decked out for Halloween.

Holiday cards, portraits, gifts ... that's what people will be thinking about soon. Yay.

It's getting colder outside too; time to move much of the shooting indoors. This is a test shot of me and my husband in the studio. It's very "fall" looking. :) But today, it was about 80 degrees.

Thanks goodness for Los Angeles and its bland, warm weather.

my most famous milo

If you live in Long Beach and frequent local coffee shops, you've probably seen Milo. He's on my postcard; he's on some artwork adapted from this photo over at Chroma Glass, and he seems to be known by just about everyone I meet. My most famous model, Milo, still poses for free.

There will come a day when he won't even get out of bed for less than an XL Kong.

What makes a dog-friendly city?

I heard recently that Long Beach was voted one of the most (if not THE most) dog-friendly cities in the country. I imagine that that status is based on things like apartment availability to dog owners; dog park access; etc. But honestly, I live in Long Beach and I think we should get demerits for dressing up our dogs. :) There are some mad crazy dog people here in LB, and we have parades like, all the time, where we dress up our dogs and parade them down the street.

Now, dressing up dogs in people clothes is such a huge peeve of mine, but I can't help but think that this French Bulldog looks tres jolie in her little sundress, leaving me to rethink that whole dog wardrobe thing).

a Frenchman in Los Angeles

He flirted shamelessly with me and he kissed my hand and I loved it.

j's bringing glam back

I had the best impromptu session last night with my favorite model, J. I had only one lens with me and one speedlite, but I had been wanting to shoot a scenario like this with her for so long, I just sat her down and we did it all in about five minutes.

downtown los angeles

This was a very difficult shot for me to get. I was using my 35mm prime lens, with a shallow depth of field, so I had to stay pretty close behind him to get what I wanted. There was a lot going on in the street, but it felt like the sound of my shutter was the loudest thing on the street. I really didn't want him to hear me, because I loved the casual way he was carrying with his son and talking to him, and I wanted to capture that.

I followed for a half a block, trying very hard to get him without anyone in the background, but it was just too crowded.

A few weeks ago, J's best friend and her fiance came down for a visit and wanted me to take some engagement shots for them. They're getting married in less than a week, so I thought it would be a good time to unveil the lucky couple. They were adorable and so much fun to shoot! They were both completely into being themselves and hamming it up for me!

These are definitely not your traditional engagement shots, but I like them even more because they convey their personalities and love the feel for each other.

the worm

I had the chance today to photograph a rad little dog lovingly nicknamed "the worm." The worm isn't feeling very well right now and is going through a tough time, but she was feeling alert enough to bark at me (a lot) while I tried to get a good shot of her. She was pretty talkative, and I'm sure was either telling me "hey! I like you!" or "Hey! Get out of my house!" (I prefer the former.)

stork business

These images are from the first maternity shoot for someone very very close to me. I'm used to shooting dogs, or "regular people" (read: not pregnant) and being around pregnant bellies makes me a bit nervous. They always seem to delicate. I remember being terribly miserable when I was pregnant, so I tried to be careful about making her move around too much.

What I think really makes both of these shots special are her husband's body language. The tenderness in his hands, in the color version, is so sweet. And the way he's cradling his own belly, I think unconciously, in the b/w is adorable.

real people

In working on a possible new column for The District Weekly, I'm on the hunt around Long Beach for "regular people." This is the best assignment! First thing this morning, I took off looking for the shoeshine guy I just caught a glimpse of a few weeks ago; this morning I found him: Jack the Shoeshine guy.

I highly recommend that anyone in the area check him out (1999 Willow St., Signal Hill, CA). Maybe he can tell you why your $600 Gucci's are falling apart (the trick to buying good shoes isn't in the price) or how you can get a better shine out of your Docs.