Street photography is a popular pastime for amateur and professional photographers alike. It is often done with smaller, rangefinder cameras that allow the photographer to go unnoticed while they capture people going about their daily business. The images can be very powerful. Henri Cartier-Bresson was a master at street photography. His black and white images are some of the most iconic of the 20th century.

My doggy style street photography is not as stealthy or candid as was Cartier-Bresson’s. The camera rig (see below) weighs around 10 lbs, and is rather imposing to both small and large dogs. Confident dogs are curious and will come up and sniff the camera. while less secure dogs will shy away and even bark at the camera rig. Either way, it often results in some great expressions from my subjects.

When I’m out photographing dogs on the street or beach, I always ask the owner’s permission. I also try to hand out my business card and offer to send them an image or two of their pup.

For those of you who want the technical details, this is the camera rig I use when doing to street photography projects. I attach my Nikon D700 to a monopod and turn it upside down. I tape a SB800 flash unit to the monopod, as well as a Rogue Lightbender. Cables for the TTL flash and the shutter release and there you have it. On this outing I had the flash compensation dialed to -1 stop. Next time I will probably go -1 1/3 or -1 2/3. I think the flash was just a bit too hot.

I’d love to hear your feedback. Anybody out there doing anything similar?

Today was another nice day at Alki Beach, so I headed out to make some photographs. This time I only took my Lensbaby Composer with the double glass optics on the D700. While I’m essentially a pet photographer, I do like to stray a bit sometimes. This was one of those occasions. I thought I might do some black and white processing when I got back, so I shot with that in mind.

Here are some of the B&Ws I ended up with.

The image below shows how difficult it can be getting the lensbaby in focus. I had hoped the bolt on the right was going to be tack sharp.

 
I’m not sure which treatment I like better of the two shots below. What do you think?

This little guy was left on this post by somebody with a sense of humor.

 
More of Alki’s charm.

 
And I couldn’t leave without photographing at least one dog.

Several weeks ago I spent a few hours with Sora taking pictures on a beautiful November day. I posted some pictures from that session in a previous blog post here. Sora has late-stage insulinoma and is enjoying spending the holidays with her family. Saturday I had the opportunity to create more memories of Sora and the other members of her family. Here are some of those images…

Here’s Sora wearing a Christmas ribbon…

Zoe is watching Sora keep her blood sugar level up by eating honey and peanut butter…

Mom watches from the couch while Sora chews on the squirrel…

This is Zoe and Rex, Sora’s brother and sister. Zoe is a 5 year-old angel, and Rex is a sweet heart of a dog.

A week ago I teamed up with Old Dog Haven to make some holiday photographs. Proceeds from the sessions went to Old Dog Haven. Here are some of my favorites from the day.

Last week I had the opportunity to photograph some of the staff at Muttley Crew Cuts, a West Seattle grooming and daycare establishment. Of course, the staff I photographed were the four legged members. You can find out more about them at http://www.muttleycrewcuts.com/home/. Hopefully I’ve captured some portraits that will end up gracing the walls of the lobby.

Here are some of the employee pictures…

In late October we had what I thought was going to be the last nice day this fall. Since then we have broken the record high temperature for November with a 76 degrees. Holy cow! Anyway, this day in October was just beautiful. And as usual, there were plenty of dogs out with their owners on Alki Beach. The sun was low in the south and kind of harsh, but the beauty of these fine dogs shined through.

This gorgeous samoyed was chilling with his peeps…

A yellow lab puppy was enjoying the day…

Look what I can do!

A wire haired fox terrier out for a stroll…

A couple of good looking Shiba Inus enjoying the warm fall day…

I’m pleased to announce “Every Dog Has Its Day,” a pet portrait event that will benefit senior pet owners on a low or fixed income. Partnering with the Seattle Humane Society, Northwest Dog Shots will be photographing your pets’ portraits all day May 22nd and possibly the 23rd, as well. Proceeds of the event will be donated to the SHS Pet Food Bank program, which provides pet food to low and fixed income seniors in King County.

Mr. Demille, I’m ready for my close up now

I, along with a team of eager volunteers, will be pampering and primping your dog, getting them ready for their glamour photo shoot. First, you’ll call us to set up your 1/2 hour appointment on Saturday, May 22. If the 22nd fills up quickly, we extend the event to include Sunday, May 23. Then, on the appointed day you’ll bring your freshly bathed pooch to my studio in the SODO district of Seattle. There, a groomer will spend 15 minutes getting your dog ready for his or her close up. That could include some trimming around the eyes, putting on a pretty ribbon or scarf, or maybe a little nail polish. When your star is ready, she’ll be taken to the stage for her photo shoot. After the shoot, you and your pampered pet will receive a gift bag of goodies and treats, and you’ll make an appointment for a couple of weeks later to see the images of your little diva. Fun, huh!

How does it work?

As I mentioned above, the first step is to call Northwest Dog Shots at the number below to make an appointment. On the day of your appointment, bring $20 and a bag of dog or cat food to the studio. The $20 will help cover equipment rental and expenses, and the bag of pet food will go to the Seattle Humane Society’s Pet Food Bank program. At the time of your follow up appointment, you’ll receive a 5X7 print of your pooch and have the opportunity to purchase more prints and packages.

Details, I need details

To make an appointment, call 206-999-1038. Times are from 10am to 6pm, Saturday May 22. If Saturday fills up quickly, we hold the event over an additional day.

The Seattle Humane Society  has the greatest need for cat food, although dog food is welcome, too. Please bring a large (15-20lb) bag of dry cat food or a medium (15-20lb) bag of dry dog food. Larger sizes are also welcome. For more information on the Pet Food Bank program, visit http://www.seattlehumane.org/services/services/lowincome-senior

Please bring $20 in either cash or check. Sorry, we are unable to process credit or debit cards.

I hope to see you there!

If you’ve never been to a dog agility trial before, you might find it to be a loud, frenetic affair…especially if it is held indoors. And here in the Northwest, all agility trials during winter months are indoors. Dogs who are on the course are often barking out their frustrations to their handlers. Some dogs express their joy and excitement at full volume with the sound reverberating off of the walls and ceilings. Add to this cacophony the black and white streak of a Border Collie running at over 20 mph and the deer-in-the-headlights stare of a beginning mixed breed dog who is acting like he’s never seen the weave poles before, and you have the Extreme Agility Team (EAT) sponsored agility trial at Argus Ranch in Auburn past this weekend.

So there I am in the middle of this circus on a mission to capture images of each dog’s performance that the owner simply cannot resist buying. Now wait a minute. Photographing dogs with black faces going 20 mph in poor indoor lighting–how’s that going to happen? Ta Da! The Nikon D700 to the rescue. Okay, bare with me. I’m going to get all photo-geeky on you for a moment. I absolutely love this camera. Using the D700 and a Nikon 70-200 f2.8 VR lens, I set the ISO to 6400, use a neutral colored chair to set the white balance, and manually set the exposure. Then I shoot around 5000 images over the two days using the best technique I can muster. After culling out the blurry images due to subject/camera movement and missed focus, I usually end up with around 40-50% keepers. Using fixed settings on the camera allows me to use presets in Lightroom to do batch processing on the high number of images. Check out some results below.

Here is a beautiful Belgian Tervuren in mid jump.

Wee, the Chihauhau, loves agility.

This Border Collie is moving.

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s Super Boston!

Max is patiently waiting for a treat from his mom.

Yes, even Great Danes can do agility. Believe it or not, this giant girl loves to dive into the tunnels.

Portuguese Water Dogs, like Sinta here, are born to help fisherman retrieve fishing nets from the fridged waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Like newfies, they have webbed toes to help them swim in ocean currents. During our shoot at Fisherman’s Terminal in Seattle, it was all we could do to keep Sinta from jumping into the water.

It’s a good 10 to 12 feet over the railing to the water, and Sinta was eager to jump on  in.

It was raining during our shoot as you can see from the rain drops.