Oh dear me.  This one’s a doozy.  This guy was so expressive, and in the whole 2 minutes that I photographed him, he must have made a billion different faces.  Ok, ok, I’m exaggerating….maybe only a hundred? 

So, the point here is, that I couldn’t pick just one…that would never do. Not with these…

And this…

Happy Friday Faces!!

I love photographing dogs on bridges. Tilly and her mom stood on this bridge for me during an event that I photographed a few months ago. I came across the photographs and realized I had never posted them!

Although Tilly was just a puppy, she was extremely accomodating!

She stood by herself on the bridge.

She stood with her mom on the bridge.

She thought for a second…

And then she decided that she was done with the bridge!

All images ©Susan Dodd

I’m happy to say that it seems as though my blog is almost 100% back to normal. I did however lose the last post describing that, on Monday, hackers got into my blog, apparently through a weakness in my navigation menu. According to my wonderful and extremely helpful hosting company – Bluehost – it was a “bad” attempt at hacking because the redirect really didn’t go anywhere except to an error page. The technicians at Bluehost are pretty amazing and very willing to help, and thanks to them, my blog is back.

I wanted to repost my blog guards just to be safe though!

So, again, I say to you mean, nasty hacker person…

take that…

and that!

All images ©Susan Dodd

Jack and his peeps….posing for their Christmas card. I wonder what Jack is thinking here? He looks so contemplative! Maybe he’s wondering why the Eagles didn’t go to the super bowl, or if they will this year.

Yes, those are Eagles jerseys Jack’s peeps are wearing!!

Anyway….

Happy Friday Face!

All images ©Susan Dodd

What do you do when your neighbor gets a new puppy and brings him over for a visit??

Puppies can be so hard to photograph. They are in constant motion, their attention span is pretty much zero, and they are so tiny that you have to basically crawl around like a crazy person to get anything at all!

So, here are a few tips on what to do when your neighbor brings over her new puppy!

1) Run inside and get your camera.
(sorry I have no photo of this)

2) Put the puppy on some steps so he can’t go anywhere. He will surely give you his best “poor me I can’t go anywhere” puppy face.

3) Have someone hold the puppy over their shoulder so he can’t go anywhere. Then say his name in your highest sqeaky voice. He will surely give you his best “I’m so adorable” puppy face.

4) Stick him in the grass far, far away from you (ok, you might have to have someone do that for you…puppies are really fast). Then get ready and yell…..”pup pup pup pup pup” really loud in your highest squeaky voice. He will surely run right toward you!

Finally, what not to do when your neighbor brings over her new puppy.

1) Crouch down really low so your camera strap hangs in front of his face just like a cool tug o’ war toy. He will surely grab it!

This concludes today’s lesson. Thank you to Romeo for being so darned cute and doing all the right puppy things!

All images ©Susan Dodd

This week’s face belongs to Jackie. She’s a beautiful Jack Russell Terrier who just loves to sit up and do tricks!

Isn’t she adorable?

Happy Friday Face!!

All images ©Susan Dodd

it’s only Dolce’s baby pictures. Dolce is our second oriental shorthair. Somehow, one of these amazing cats was not enough for me! Dolce was bred by Dick and Barbara Levitan in Texas. They are very well known in the oriental world as they were among the first in the U.S. to breed a silver oriental! So, I had been wanting a Felitan oriental for quite some time. When I contacted Barbara about Dolce’s litter, she sent me a few photos. I was in love, my husband was in shock. “What is that?” he asked.

Little did we know that these photos could not have been a better representation of Dolce’s wonderfully animated purrsonality.  Now, three years later, Dolce is a a huge part of our family. His never ending purr, and unlimited curiosity is infectious. The world is his toy, and no one is safe from his shoulder leaps.

Dolce is a chestnut silver ticked tabby. His full name is Felitan Dolce Vita.

Then…

Shortly after we brought him home…

Now…

It had been a beautiful day…all day. About an hour before I was scheduled to photograph Alex and Taylor, the sky grew dark and I really thought we weren’t going to get our session in. It had been a long, aggravating day for me and this was the icing on the cake. But, we all decided to go ahead.

What happened next was magic.

Across the street at a neighbor’s house I had spotted a bright orange, very old, very beat up vw beetle….sitting in the grass by a beautiful red barn. We all walked over hoping to find someone home so we could ask permission to do photos in the field with the car. A knock on the door, revealed that one was home.

As we stood in the road deliberating, a car pulled up and turned into the driveway. The homeowner! What a wonderful man he was. When we asked him if we could use the car as our backdrop, he said, “You want to use that old car? Maybe you’d rather use the one that is in there instead,” he said as he pointed toward the garage.

Hmm, what’s in there?

And, he proceeded to pull out of the garage, the most beautiful nineteen fifty something restored, very cool truck. Pardon me for not knowing exactly what it was. Old cars are very cool to look at, but don’t ask me any detailed questions about the make and models. (Unless of course they are bright orange, very old, very beat up, vw beetles.)

“Where do you want it?” the very nice man asked. To which I replied almost breathless, “Can you put it in that field?”

Sure enough. Into the field it went. Mr. Neighbor, who’s name I never found out, you are a hero. And, your blue 1950 whatcha ma call it truck is amazing – as is your bright orange, very old, very beat up, vw beetle!

As if that wasn’t enough. Halfway through our session, the sun peeked out and gave me it’s best late afternoon, sweet light.

What more could you ask for? Two beautiful subjects, two amazing old cars, and gorgeous late afternoon light.

We all had so much fun!

{Here you go Tracy and Pam, I know you have been dying for a peak!}

All images ©Susan Dodd

This is Nala. In this photo she was just a “little, full of energy and so much fun” Bernese Mountain Dog puppy! Her enthusiasm was infectious…as was her smile!

Happy Friday Face!

All images ©Susan Dodd