You can never have too many pet photos

Whenever I have downtime, I always turn to photos of my pets. I have two fabulous dogs and one sometimes great cat (my wife would argue he's great all the time). Abbo, our Black Lab mix from the humane shelter isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but what he lacks in brains he makes up for in heart. He's 100 pounds of love. Noah, affectionately called Brown Dog (since we didn't know his real name for a few weeks), is our German Shepherd who was abandoned in a back yard of an empty house until we came upon him. He has old joints and hips, but he has a great spirit about him and loves to think he is 100% in charge.

We had fantastic weather today, making me feel like Spring was upon us, so I decided to get the dogs out in the yard and do some shots. Here's what came of it! These images were created outside in the middle of the day using two off camera flashes to overpower the sunlight and create more directional and dramatic lighting. Enjoy!

More portraits in the cold

I have a knack for doing outdoor portraits in the cold as of late. Granted, winter has a lot to do with it and we are in the middle of January, but we've had so many warm days this winter that you would think I would be able to have a little luck and hit some of them when I do an outdoor shoot. But never fear, those in front of the camera were tough and still managed to look great, despite the 25 degree temperature!

Arnold Family Portraits

I spent the morning photographing some long time friends and now neighbors and their new little boy. These were shot as in a lifestyle/photojournalistic fashion which is how I prefer to shoot families (as opposed to more traditional posed "look at the camera and smile" shots). I try to capture not only life as it happens for real, but also the surroundings, especially with children. Little ones grow up so fast and it's always hard to remember how small they once were. Hopefully these guys will be able to look back one day and remember him growing up in their quaint little cottage. Here are a few of the shots! If you want to see more, check out a quick slideshow.