AWLA at The Bungalow in Shirlington

Another Saturday... another charity event! That's ok. Any excuse I have to photograph cute puppies and help some homeless pups get adopted; I'm more than happy to oblige.

Today, I photographed over at The Bungalow Bar & Pool Hall in Shirlington. Aside from it now being on the top of my "Restaurants to try" list, I now have a new favorite area of Arlington. Can you believe I've lived here a year, and have never even been to Shirlington?! So many dog-friendly stores and restaurants! I'll have to take Hailey next time.

Anyway, Steve (the manager of the Bungalow) sponsored an event to benefit AWLA. There were raffles, a silent auction, and even a satellite adoption center running on the patio. But if that isn't enough... The Bungalow staff donated all their tips to AWLA too! Now if that isn't fantastic and the text-book definition of selflessness, I don't know what is. The Bungalow even brought in guest bartenders (whom also donated all their bar tips to the charity) to help out with the crowds - military members and volunteers and such. So if you live locally, please stop by The Bungalow as a thank you for working so hard for the shelter today. We need more companies like this in our community!

They had a huge turnout, which led to loads of great pictures. Of course, being me... most of them are of the dogs.


The wonderful volunteers and dogs from AWLA working hard at the event.


The Bungalow's manager, Steve, and a co-worker taking a quick break to pose for me.

Kelly & Ed's Wedding

Ok, so punctuality is not my strong suit. Here it is July and I'm posting images from weddings I shot in... April?!? And no one's questioned this? What gives!?!

This wedding has some history behind it. When you jump ahead to June, you'll see the wedding of Scott & Patti. Scott's been a friend since ... forever (he's also the guy to yell at when my website is down), so naturally I was thrilled when he told me he finally asked Patti to marry him. Anyway, Patti and Ed worked together, and that's how I met Ed and Kelly.

Ed and Kelly's wedding was a semi-destination wedding. (As if you could call New Jersey a destination! Hey, I can insult Jersey - I'm from there.) The wedding took place at the Mill at Spring Lake Heights. Beautiful location! Better yet, I got to play... I mean, work... with Noelle Zaleski as a second photographer for me. While Noelle and I have spoken quite a bit on online forums, this was our first opportunity to really work together on a shoot. And now I want to shoot all of my weddings with her! (Her or Cassandra Sullivan. Don't tell Dave...) Good Lord, did we have a blast working with them!

First, we met over in the Sheraton Eatontown, where we took a LOT of Kelly in front of this wall...


Then, we photographed the ceremony over at the church...


Then, we drove to Spring Lake for formals... Except we hit a detour. Hey, any couple that stops for a liquor run on the way to the reception is my kind of people! (I said it was an especially fun wedding!)



There are lots more pictures of Ed & Kelly on the website.

Secret Raffle Winners!

We've decided to try something a little different. As a reward to those of you who actually read the emails I spend DAYS writing up... I decided I would give 12 people, completely at random, a $200 studio gift. The names were selected randomly using the Bridal Showcase April list, since it was the fairest thing I could think of at the time!

Please call if your name is on the list (703.349.6269):

Jenifer Kane
Bridgette Sabis
Jill Tobias
Sara Sousa
Allison Drab
Virginia Wichern
Amy Tenhouse
Tara O'Brien
Candace Baumann
Rachel Prager
Marilyn Patterson
Kathryn Cummings

Congratulations, and I look forward to working with each of you!

Sebastian the Himalayan

Meet Sebastian! He's a beautiful all-white Himalayan, and (as far as cats go) extremely amenable to being photographed. He didn't even seem to mind it. Sebastian is definitely the prettiest of pretty kitties.






Ok, so he was happy most of the time... (still one of my favorite cat portraits though!)

Walk for the Animals 2008

In addition to our Calendar projects, we are also photographing many charity events in the DC area. Seems like it's been almost every weekend since May! Below are some images for AWLA's Walk for Animals 2008.

AWLA's Walk for the Animals was in mid-May. Dave walked Hailey while I photographed. Oh, and it rained. It rained a rain of biblical proportions. (Ok, maybe not THAT bad, but I had to shoot through a plastic bag!) What's best though, is even though the weather wasn't all that great, AWLA had it's most successful turnout ever. More people and more dogs showed up than any year prior. We all had a great (albeit muddy) time, and I know we look forward to photographing next year!








Of course, an obligatory picture of Hailey. (She's filthy, and not at all pleased about the rain.)

Spurs & Jilly

Pugs are tons of fun! I love photographing multiple animals - especially when they have such different personalities. Jilly & Spurs are both five year old pugs, adopted from Gloucester, VA and San Antonio, TX, respectively. They came in for a very fun studio session (their owner was one of the Secret Raffle winners) in late May.

These two remind me of the comedy/tragedy theater masks when they're together (and they're always together). Jilly, the tan one, always seems to be smiling - she's the high-energy one. And Spurs, the black one, always looks like you just offended him - or he's afraid you're going to yell at him. I haven't decided which yet. These extremely well-behaved dogs made for some really cute pictures. It's like they're professional models. :)

Calendar for Charity - how cute is this!?

We've been asked by not one, but TWO, local charities to photograph all twelve months of a calendar to benefit pet adoption. Currently, I'm working on 2009's calendar for All 4 the Animals. We will also be photographing the calendar for Lost Dog & Cat Rescue in Arlington.

The images below are of 5 adorable rottweiler pups. They were only about 5 weeks old in these. Cindy (Maggie's mom) bought these puppies to the studio... "handful" is a gross understatement. The shoot required my assistant and her fiancé, as well as Cindy to puppy-wrangle. And we were still overwhelmed. Puppies everywhere!

The ending to the story is bitter-sweet, however. Sadly, 2 of the 5 pups succumbed to Parvo-virus, which can be deadly to small dogs - they were too small to receive vaccines.

The other 3 found were happy and healthy and found loving families when they were at an adoptable age!

I'm a bad blogger... you can spank me now.

I've been naughty. I haven't updated my blog in far too long. And no one's complained? What's with that!? I know I have at least a few loyal subscribers - I know, I get emails from you. So why hasn't anyone been on my case to post more... hmmm???

So here's what's been up in my life.

1) Dave's back from Afghanistan. He returned safely in May... and I'm sorry for not telling you all sooner!

2) Photographed quite a few weddings in the last few months. And a lot of pets. Sorry, it's not an excuse for ignoring the blog. I'll post pictures.

3) Went to Disney World! Woo hoo! I'll post pictures of that too.

4) I'm now running a professional photographers' online forum with Zack Davis of Diane Davis Photography in California and Betsy Finn of Betsy's Photography in Michigan. It's in start-up phase now, but it's surprisingly active and looks to be successful.

Ok, so that's a brief reply I know. BUT... just wait. I have a ton of images to share from the past few months!

Hailey's on Dogster!

Befriend my dog. www.dogster.com

Visit my family

Join the Dogster community

Secret Raffle Winners!

We decided to do a second drawing for ten lucky winners. The following people have won a complimentary pet photography session and 5x7 gift print! Please call the studio by May 15 to redeem.

1. Ashleigh Ghent
2. Hillary Homan
3. Kelly O'Brien
4. Deanna Sherman
5. Scott Bender
6. Deldi Reyes
7. Heather Lockhart
8. Ken Cowan
9. Sarah Dukti, DVM
10. Bob Miller


Didn't win? Pet sessions are still $75 off through May 15th with mention of this email. That means a session is only $75 plus a $25 donation to charity!

Congratulations to Josh & Kelly

So this was a doubly fun wedding from March 15th. Why doubly fun, you ask? Well, the groom is Dave's best friend's brother's wedding - so I already knew at least half the family! AND, Cassandra Sullivan from Cassandra's Photography in
Massachusetts photographed it with me. I haven't seen Cassandra since the Photo Safari in NH in October, so that was great!

Let's see... got to Connecticut on Friday afternoon and got up to my super-comfortable hotel room at Avon Old Farms Hotel. Then I managed to gash my finger while opening my new flood light - the coolest of all photo accessories, if you didn't know. Then photographed their rehearsal and rehearsal dinner - plus got to see our adoptive nieces, Camryn and Reese who have just grown SO much since we saw them last in November. (Yes, Jeremy, we're calling them that now.)

Here's one of the girls walking down the aisle.

Next morning Cassandra came down from her 3-hour trek from the Cape Cod area... because I wasn't quite clear when I asked for "a photographer in the area" I guess? We met Kelly at around 1:00 and photographed her and the wedding party get ready. Probably not the best judgment to let Josh and the groomsmen get ready in an arcade, though. They got ready... eventually. (Very eventually.)

As I was saying... "very eventually."



The ceremony and reception were both held in a gorgeous old refectory. Beautiful light streaming in during the ceremony. And the ceremony itself was beautiful - very family oriented. Jim, Josh's brother even officiated, and lots of family recited readings and songs. We did some formal poses outside briefly - as it was frigid outside, and then went on a mini-photo safari with the couple inside the school building. (If you haven't guessed, Cassandra and I really like photo safaris.)


Skipping ahead through the reception... (You'll be filled in when I post the album, I promise) I think they could have charged admission! I knew Josh and his brothers could all sing... but what I didn't know (and found out during Karaoke) was that they all apparently married women who can sing too. We're not just talking "carrying a tune" either. And of course, there was Kelly's unforgettable rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody - because what bride doesn't mime Freddy Mercury on her wedding day?


Ok, so you've probably guessed that these are the "joke" pictures from their wedding. I'll post the full album next month some time!

Remembering Maggie and the importance of photography

It's no secret that as photographers, we're very invested in our work. Clients often turn into life-long friends, and thus we take a deep personal interest in how their images are perceived - both artistically and emotionally. Every so often, we are blessed with the opportunity to photography someone special - this immediate connection transposes into beautiful imagery. It is also no secret that I am a self-proclaimed pet fanatic. So, in this case, this "someone special" is a dog.

Earlier last month, I contacted several people about photographing their pets. After going back and forth with a client, we decided she should bring in her dog, Maggie. The night before the session, I get the following email:

I have a confession for you. My Maggie is a puppy a 55 lb puppy but still. All puppy to the extreme. She may not be the best candidate for you. Sitting still is not her god given talent. :-) This may be a lost cause. She's not destructive. there is not an aggressive bone in her body. But if she were a child she would be ADHD to the MAX. So if you think its best she not be a model, thats ok, you won't hurt my feelings. She got banned from puppy kindergarten and sent to Rowdy Rovers. If were going to try get her to sit in certain poses, we will be very challenged unless your very quick with the camera. Just let me know.

...Great. Well, I can't cancel now... So let's just see how this goes.

The next morning, Maggie and her mom came to the studio. Well, let's just say the prior email was a gross understatement.

First, Maggie ran into the middle of the room... and peed. (Well, really, they all do that.) Then, she chased Hailey into the back room. Then she ran into the bathroom and drank from the toilet, spraying toilet water on everything. Then she ran upstairs (where I later found more mystery pee). Then she ran downstairs. Then she ran upstairs. Then downstairs again. Then I found her lying in my bed. So yeah... "puppy to the extreme"

That said, Maggie has the sweetest face of any puppy ever. Every picture of her looks ultimately, sublimely happy. Big floppy ears, huge beautiful eyes, giant tongue... At only 6 months old, she has those great "puppy features." Everyone who's seen a picture of her has fallen in love with her immediately. I've never seen a more photogenic dog in my life.



On March 27th, two days after Maggie's proofing session was completed, Maggie was hit by a car outside her home. The vets couldn't save her.

This was such an important session for me because it made realize how photography truly captures such a fleeting moment in time. We have and need to express all the love and joy we can in this moment because nothing about the future is guaranteed. It still shocks me at how close we came to not doing this session and putting it off until later.

Please send your thoughts and prayers to Maggie's mom, or consider making a donation to a charity in her Maggie's memory. {SM}

Nancy & John's Album (a dry run)

Below is an initial proof of John & Nancy's wedding album. Make sure to leave some comments so they know what to add and take out! I'll post the final version when it's ready. Enjoy!

Back from the Super Pet Expo

If you didn't come to the pet expo last weekend... SHAME ON YOU! Fabulous time. But you know me... any excuse to play on the floor with puppies and kitties is a good time.

For those of you who didn't come to my booth (or might not remember what it looked like) here are a few pictures:







Also, we were giving out over $1000 worth of portraits! Congratulations Sujono Setiawati on winning the drawing. Can't wait to start working with you!

Here are a few more photos from the show...

This is Hailey actually playing with another dog for once. This is a 4 month old sheltie puppy (and yes, I'm biased towards shelties) who took a liking to her tie-bone. This is a big deal, since my dog doesn't play well with others normally.





And this is Elwood - named "The World's Ugliest Dog" by Animal Planet (but he's so cute!)...



And here we have a pig wearing sunglasses and a hairless cat on a leash...





Thank you all for coming to our booth and making the show a fabulous success!

Pet Video!

Dakota & Silver Moon

Would you look at these gorgeous dogs? Meet Silver Moon and Dakota. Does Dakota look familiar? Well, because she's famous - she was on the Discovery Channel! (It's not every day I get to photograph a TV star.) And Silver doesn't seem in the least bit jealous. I'm jealous - I totally want Hailey on a show. :)

These two are both rescue dogs. Their mom, Lisa, works over at the Arlington Humane Society. Hopefully we'll be photographing all the animals at the Humane Society to use on their website - get some more adoptions going!

In the mean time, look at these two beauties.

More Sexy Suzy

What happens when a photographer, make up artist, and hair dresser get together? Pin-up art of course! This is Suzy... she's our favorite victim (er... model) for "Seriously Sexy Portrait Parties." And yes, the flight suit and Navy cover are Dave's. And yes, I was yelled at by him for doing this. ("My flight suit isn't a costume!"... yeah, not to you.)