A day in the life of a dog, more specifically, my dog.  This is TJ and he will be seven next month.  He’s your typical hyper, non-stop, wants attention all the time Labrador Retriever.  It was a nice day out, and he looked like he wanted some extra attention, so I thought it would be fun to capture our playing time on camera.  Don’t let him fool you though, I caught him relaxing on the job as well.

We did Jessica’s photo shoot outside on my property tonight, and believe me when I tell you, the lighting between 4 and 5pm was to die for!  Jessica is truly a glowing mommy-to-be, and with those beautiful blue eyes and golden hair, she was amazing to shoot.  Because of my love for horses and the fact that she is my sister-in-law, I talked her into getting a few shots laying across my western saddle.  I told her the saddle photos are for my niece, because I am going to teach her to ride someday.  Plus, when do you see pregnant women on saddles??

Recently, Alphabetix featured a post about why its important for businesses to blog.  They decided to feature Velocity Shots as an example of a blog that demostrates field knowledge.   Here’s how I do it.  When I write a blog post, I like to tell a little story about the people or animals I photograph and the location of choice.  I also like to include the lighting conditions I’m working with to determine the best exposure for each shot.  Here’s an example of how I write a blog post about equine photography.

We took advantage of this great overcast day in mid January and captured some amazing shots of this gorgeous two year old stud colt, Ty, at the Ernst Ranch in Eagle Creek, OR.   I love the photo shoots where my flash just sits in the camera bag.  The natural light was awesome!  You would never know this horse was only two.  He is so well mannered and desensitized to just about everything already.  In fact, he was almost to the point of bored after having a plastic bag waved around so much.  Rebekah Ernst has done an amazing job with Ty’s foundation training that he should develop into quite an athletic cutting horse! 

December 20, 2009

The Philip Foster Farm is located in Eagle Creek, OR and is a National Historic Site which was developed in 1847.  This was a perfect country setting for our photo shoot.  Even though it was the dead of winter, we escaped the rain once again.  This family was a blast to shoot!  We decided to walk the grounds and tour the farms old buildings and covered wagons that were displayed throughout the property.

December 5, 2009

We decided to make this photo shoot more of a journey than a posed session.  Chris and Tracie were troopers trying to follow and round-up 2 1/2 year old Gus.  We played on the porch which lead to the wonderful McMenamin’s restaurant, then ventured out into the picnic area where we found sticks and cool trails.  We’d wondered onto a golfing green where we decided that maybe we’ve gone too far off the grounds.  As we headed back towards the backside of the restaurant, we all passed by a big water puddle that looked so inviting!  Wrapping up the photo shoot with some family portraits just past the puddle, Gus felt the need to end on a good note.  Wheeee, as he jumped and splashed and drug his stick through the water!

We decided to do this family photo shoot at the Morgan’s house in Estacada, OR.   The best shots, of course, were outside and we only had a small window of opportunity to make it happen this day.  It was very cold, but thankfully no rain.  We got lucky with the first few photos and captured the whole family, including the dog.  Seth, almost 3 years old, was on the go so we took shots where we could.  Almost 5 month old, Drew, was having a hard time staying warm, so we wrapped up our last outside shots on the big yellow tractor in the backyard.  They were so adorable!

Out on the Ernst Ranch, in Eagle Creek, I got to take advantage of a beautiful sunny day and shoot Heather with her stunning National Show Horse, Gracie.  Since the sun was out, we were able to get a good backdrop of Mt. Hood in some of the shots.  Gracie is coming up on four years old and her foundation training has been started with Rebekah Ernst.  She is really coming along well and has such a level head on her.  Both her and Heather were so natural to shoot.  You could really see the true compassion and love between horse and rider! 

Kelly, Laura and their beautiful baby girl Hannah, were my first family portrait photo shoot.  They were so patient with me, and because Hannah was basically smiling the whole time, I didn’t have to do much to get her attention.  Our shoot was at the Philip Foster Farm in Eagle Creek, OR.  I just love this Historic location with all the old buildings and country feel.  The little wood wagon was a hit, and thought it would be fun to sit Hannah inside it.  I look forward to many more photo shoots with the Allen family!

Terra and I have been childhood friends and go back as far as the 4th grade.  We both share a love for horses and find we can never get enough of them.   I was lucky enough to steal Terra away from her busy Mud-B-Gone horse blanket cleaning business and photograph her and her beautiful Paint mare, Paisley.   They were my very first equine portrait shoot.  Since they were my first, I was a little nervous at the time, but they were both so pleasant to work with and very photogenic that it made my job easy.  Thanks girls, I look forward to future shoots together!