Smile Like a Dog » Doggies

BeeGee (no, not the band)

Mark — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:40:33 +0000

For those of you who fell in love with the dog from As Good As It Gets have I got a post for you. I had the pleasure of meeting BeeGee last week. BeeGee is a Brussels Griffon just like Timer in the movie. Boy, what a cute little guy…and he just adores his dad.

Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful

Now that’s a tongue

He got the carpet because it works with my coat

My new toy

Mark — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:14:24 +0000

For me the only thing more exciting than getting a new camera is getting a new lens. I’ve had my eye on the canon 16-35 2.8L for a while now and just took the plunge. I tested it out on my office manager and assistant, Bizzy, a couple of days ago and all I kept asking myself afterwards was why did I wait so long to get this?

Fairly classic Bizzy stance. You typically see this when he’s tossed all available toys in some impossible-to-reach place and he wants you to get them for him. I see this probably 100-200 times a day. Oy…terriers

But, honestly, how can you not get the toy out from under the desk when he looks at you like this. By the way, this is where I discovered the autofocus was off on the new lens

Ahh, that’s better. Focus back on. I’d better get cracking on finding the toys, though.

No matter how many times I see it, The Biz’s underbite continues to slay me.

Ok. Toys retreived and back to the kitchen. Wow, this wide-angle is really cool but it picks up absolutely everything — including the paint swatches I’ve had up on the breakfast nook for the last 3 years.

Bizzy and his favorite game — kill the stack. By the way, for anyone who has an active dog and needs a new food puzzle to keep them challenged, I can’t recommend Canine Genius enough (the pink and blue bowling-pin shaped doo-hickies) You can put treats inside and plug the end with string cheese and you’re set for the next hour. Once they figure that out you can actually interlock two or three of the toys together so the treats move around between them. Dogs love it.

Have you ever seen cuter ears?

Golden Moment

Mark — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:40:48 +0000

Last weekend a client gave me a wee bit of somewhat deserved grief for not featuring more Golden Retrievers like his beautiful dog, Maya, on my site. “Afterall,” he said, ” They’re only one of the top 5 most popular breeds in the country.” Odd, I thought, I know I’ve photographed more than my fair share but I wonder why I don’t have them up on my blog or any of my featured galleries. I spent some time going through my archives this week and hereby dedicate this post to Maya and all the other underserved Goldens in the San Francisco Bay area.

Maya

Tess

Bella

Jasper (and Scruffy)

Cody

Cover Girl

Mark — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:26:21 +0000

This week was a milestone for me. I had my first published magazine cover shot with the San Francisco SPCA’s award-winning Our Animals quarterly. Many heartfelt thanks to Paul Glassner, the editor of said publication for giving me a shot at this and being such a good mentor.The subject, Nikah, is an adorable Chi-terrier mix that I met at the SPCA during the Small-dog class we took our own terrier mix to. Congrats, Nikah. You’re a star!

Topper

Mark — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:07:34 +0000

I had a great shoot with a nice little guy named Topper last weekend. Topper was recently adopted from San Francisco Animal Care & Control and he ended up in a great home with a dad who just adores him. One of his dad’s friends gave the session as a gift.

Topper is a chihuahua mix with personality (and energy) to spare. He also happens to have one of the more unique gaits I’ve ever seen…sort of slide-along-and-hover-with-front-paws-raised type number. It was most amusing.

Topper with his favorite toy

Topper doing his signature move — sort of looks like he’s skating

What would Brian Boitano do?

Wheeeeeeeeee!

Live to play…play to live

More toys, please

Diego

Mark — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:17:40 +0000

I’m a complete sucker for older dogs. They get so much nobler and mellower as they age and I love the way ones with darker fur mask as they gray. I met a nice old fellow named Diego last weekend on a shoot for veterinarian starting a house-call business here in San Francisco. Diego is a shepherd-greyhound mix and as you’ll see from the shots below he’s just lovely.

Project Homeless Connect #22

Mark — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:02:30 +0000

Those of you who read this blog semi-regularly know that I volunteer for an organization here in San Francisco called Project Homeless Connect. Every 6 weeks or so PHC holds an event at a major venue in town where homeless service organizations and homeless clients meet. In a word, it’s amazing. You’ve really never seen anything like it unless you’ve actually been there. For a photographer that’s a serious challenge but I do my best. As a pet photographer, the icing on the cake is that PHC also services homeless companion animals and, trust me, the bond between these noble creatures and their owners is as strong or stronger than any you’ve ever seen.

PHC #22 took place about a week ago down at Pier 48 near ATT Park (we all still call it PacBell even though the name changes corporate sponsors every other year). You can see all my shots here but my favorites are below.

Guest Blogging with Dogster!

Mark — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:01:54 +0000

My good friends at Dogster recently asked me to help fill in on their For the Love of Dog Blog while they search for a new full-time blogger.

My first post was yesterday. I went with a you-provide-the-caption approach for a funny shot I took a few weeks ago and the response has been pretty decent — last I checked there were 50+ comments, which I’ll take any day of the week.

Check it out

Under One Roof Photo Event

Mark — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:04:40 +0000

Last Saturday I held my first monthly photo event down at Under One Roof. We promoted it as being for pets and kids but the vast majority of the folks that signed up for it brought dogs. It was a lot of fun. The folks at the store are great and pretty much rearranged the space as I needed it and let me use any of the merchandise I wanted to for props. Most of the clients opted for the pseudo-studio setting with either a leather bench or red dog bed (and in one case, a pink feather boa)

Out of this shoot came two of my favorite shots of the year – a lovely Boston Terrier named Girlie Sue and a Pomeranian named Hershey and his colleague, Missy (a chihuahua mix). See it and many other of my favorites down below

Dozens of Dachshunds

Mark — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:00:00 +0000

For those of you unfamiliar with the dog scene in San Francisco there’s quite a few breed-specific groups that meet up in the cities parks on a regular basis. The barrier to entry is somewhat dependent upon the group. Some will allow dogs who aren’t purebred, others won’t.

Those of you who’ve read my blog in the past know that I attend the Chihuahua group that meets at Stern Grove/Pine Lake Park the first Sunday of the month (yep, there’s one this weekend) but I also recently went to my first Dachshund meet up down at the ever-popular Crissy Field. It was a complete hoot. They bring food for the owners and–you guessed it–they grill hotdogs. There were doxies of all shapes and sizes: long-hair, wire-hair, piebald, red, brindled — you name it. Check out my favorite dachshund photos below or feel free to peruse the whole set if you wish…