One of my favorite people is Nebraskan Mark Weber, who is one of my teaching buddies. He also is one of the best photographers I know, as well as a pet lover extraordinare. His family has two gorgeous wheaten terriers. At a business meeting at the home of one of our colleagues, Mark made a few impromptu portraits of our host's much-loved yellow Lab, Lucy. Mark did some Photoshop magic to four of the images, and here is the fun result. Apparently Lucy was pretty bored by our meeting.
I'm posting this now, as you won't be hearing much from me for a while: In about a week, we'll be heading for Ireland for a three-way stay, combining business with pleasure. I'm certain I'll come back with lots of pictures of Irish cats, dogs, sheep, and who knows what. So I'll post a few when I have a moment to review them.
Any dog lover is certain to love this darling video, the link to which was sent to me by fellow dog lover and photographer Maria Dunphy. Maria owns a studio in Kilkenny, Ireland, and I will be visiting her later this month. Maria also does pet portraits, so if you want to take a look at her work, click here to visit her site. Thanks, Maria!
I am so pleased that Professional Photographer magazine, published by Professional Photograpehrs of America (PPA), is featuring an article about Persnickety in its September issue. Jim and I are honored that PPA asked me to write an article about what we enjoy doing most in photography—photographing pets—and all I can say is thanks to the editorial staff for making me sound good, and also for the putting together a snappy slide show of our marketing materials. If you want to take a look at the show on the magazine's website, just click here.
Can't believe that summer's almost over, but this photo makes me look forward to fall: It's my all-time favorite portrait of a cat and dog together.
These darling critters are Lola the goldendoodle and Bella the cat. They are the fur children of my friend and colleague Donna Goodhue and her husband Brad, who live in Rutland, Vermont, where Donna has her studio and where everyone should be when autumn rolls around.
Today I learned about an organization that has raised $2 million to provide service dogs to wounded combat vets. Irwin Stovroff, an 85-year-old resident of Boca Raton, FL, who was held in a Nazi POW camp, is helping fellow soldiers because, as he says: "The dog can become his eye. He can become his legs. He can bring him anything he needs. A dog is probably the best thing that can happen to these soldiers . . . They need a guide . . . they need the help and love of a dog as well." His local congressman has introduced a bill to provide federal funding for service canines. You can learn more about Vets Helping Heroes by clicking here. And here's a Fox News Video about this outstanding effort.
Sad news this week that a canine icon has passed on: Gidget, the lovable Taco Bell spokesdog died at age 15. Gidget also was famous for her role as Bruiser's mom in Legally Blonde 2. The adorable talking Chihuahua was no doubt responsible for further increasing the popularity of the this delightful miniature breed. To learn more about Chihuahuas, click here.
I'm a great fan of cycling, and today was a great day for Lance Armstrong and his Astana team, which the very exciting Team Time Trial. In the process, Lance pulled to within a fraction of a second of the Yellow Jersey leader. Yeah! So I thought this would be a good time to show off Bailey, a 4-year-old, 137-pound American mastiff, who obviously takes his cycling seriously. He belongs to the family of Tina and Todd Jochim, friends of mine from Nebraska. Todd used his cycling clothes to dress up Bailey. Tina's reaction: "The man has way too much time on his hands!"
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From time to time the folks at Persnickety will post items of interest to people who
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