What's in an album

I recently delivered an album to my cat-owning customers Kylee, her mother Lori and uncle Larry. The family owns two Siamese cross cats, Poppy and Willow. One very large and ginger in colour with a striking resemblance to Garfield, the other small and slim, almost white with some patches in her face and the tail. Willow is still a young kitten and colour changes are apparent even between the original shooting date and now.

An album is a fully customized book, based on 10 double spreads. The book is constructed so that there are no folds in the centre so that images can be placed across the full double spread. I produce these albums in 12"x12" and it usually includes 25 to 30 images from the shoot. 

Here are Larry and Kylee as they receive their customized album "Poppy and Willow".

Poppy has a good look too. She is almost life size in this double spread image.

I was so happy to see how pleased Larry and Kylee were with the production. To get your own album of your cat, dog, horse, rabbit or your whole family - contact me!

Taking photos at the beach

I have just returned from a wonderful trip to Oregon and thought it would be a good opportunity to write about taking pictures of your dog at the beach. There are some challenges in doing so:
Firstly, you are likely going to be at the beach on a sunny day, resulting in high contrast and strong shadows. This is even more obvious when you are photographing close to the water's edge and if the water is very shallow, resulting in strong glare.
Secondly, your dog (if he or she is anything like mine) is going to be excited, running around and splashing in the shallow waters - which of course makes you fear for your gear. Protect your gear at all times. Salt water is your enemy when it comes to your electronics. Make sure you wipe your camera clean of sand and salt water mist.

Rather than "fight" these conditions - make them work for you. Silhouette shots can have their very special appeal or try and capture the special beach environment by taking photos from further away or a high point. If your dog does not feel like the centre of your attention and just minds his or her own business, you may get some lovely shots of a "dog in heaven".

One of the rare moments for Sidney to sit still at the beach - I grabbed it!

I also try and have my dog sit while I walk away and then call him to me, taking a series of action shots of my dog running towards me. While only a few of these usually turn out, you may end up with a photo of your dog having the biggest grin on his or her face. Try and set your camera to 1/1000th of a second for these shots to get good focus.

I love this photo of Sidney running between me and my sister in the background. We all had fun!

My dog is quite dark, so I either go for silhouettes or position him so the sun is lightening his face. I also try and direct him to run through shallow water, creating a lovely reflection.

Sidney running towards me creating almost a silhouette and reflection in shallow water

The most important is - have fun and make sure your dog has it too. So you come back from your trip to the beach happy and refreshed - no matter if you managed to take the star photograph. There is always next time too.