R&S Engagement
The spring season has to be my favourite season, it always holds the promise of future possibilities and new beginnings! I have to say, we had the most perfect Spring Day for this couple’s engagement session at BirdsHill Park! The sun was shinning, the sky was blue, and the grass just beginning to to show a hint of green. What a beautiful setting to showcase a perfect Spring Day and of course the love between this couple! Associate Paolo and I enjoyed our early evening time with R & S and their dog Kodi, photographing at various locations around the park and finishing up the day with a wonderful sunset offering up some beautiful colourful light. We loved the playful nature between these two and are looking forward to their early Sept. wedding in Gimli, MB. Please enjoy a few of the images captured that evening! Congratulations go out to R &S on their Engagement!
Calving Season
I was working on a Commercial assignment at a colleague’s studio in February and the conversation came up about work and he asked me, “What have you shot for yourself lately? ” Silence. Then I found/heard myself trying to rationalize out loud my lack of self indulgent photography, with excuses of my busy clientele schedule. It sounded lame. I knew I had to get on it. I knew I needed a new subject to point my lens at and to get me challenged, but to also just enjoy on a personal level.
An idea came to mind. I had spoken to a previous client, Keri , a Vet from Ashern, MB last year about coming out to experience calving season, but just never got around to it. My friend Kat and I decide to make a date to drive out to the town and spend a day with Keri and experience calving season this year. It ended up being one of the most fun filled days I’ll remember for years to come!
We started our day with watching Keri’s Dog enjoy “ditch fishing”. Yep- who knew the fish hang out in the ditches in the spring from the Lake? (Not this city slicker.) It was so much fun to watch her dog go bounding into and through the ditches in pursuit of the fish- The cold and ice, not hindering his joyful efforts! He ran, leaped and shook himself off and did this repeatedly. Eventually we tucked the wet dog into the back of the truck with my friend Kat (lol) and then went to Keri’s Farm to spend sometime with her horses. Keri let the horses out of the pen and they trotted around us. I don’t know if it is just me being a “city slicker” but hearing/feeling the thudding hoofs and seeing these massive animals whipping around us, put me in a slightly awed/unnerved state. I got over that quick enough to make sure I was getting some shots of these beauties.
Then it was off to the Farm to see some of the new born calves. We arrived and I stepped out of the truck into… well, lets just say the ground was very ummmm wet. I was glad for my newly purchased black shiny rubber boots, made upon deciding on the trip. Keri told me the new calves were closer to the back of the pens with their moms. Yep-that would be, right trough the biggest puddle of….. Lets just say I was EXTREMELY grateful for no holes in the new boots!! It was a risk- carrying my gear around my neck, one little slip on the muck and into the puddle and good- bye camera. It was a risk worth taking- we got to the back and I was so amazed by all the beautiful newborn calves-some as recent as 1/2 hour old. I got some looks from the moms in the pen, but tried to stay quiet and calm and carefully raised the camera up slowly so not to scare any one of them. An experience I will never forget. Then we went into the barn where there were a couple of orphaned calves a day old. Kat fed one with a gigantic bottle and I fell in love with a beautiful red/brown calf with beautiful curly hair. It followed me around and then I thought I would see if it wanted to play. I pranced up and down beside it and then it too started to prance in a playful way. I burst out laughing-The sight of a calf prancing is absolutely, heartwarmingly, adorable.
A huge Thank-you to Keri for her hospitality on a most perfect Day. Please enjoy just a few of the images captured during this wonderful Day. Looking forward to sharing with you more images of my personal projects and days in the very near future! 
Petsecure Insurance
A few months back I had the opportunity to meet and photograph the great team at Petsecure! The images included staff with their pets in the office and outdoors as well. It was wonderful to see how much they loved their dogs and how pet friendly their work environment was. Genuine people -If you are thinking about insurance for your pet, below is information I asked them to provide about themselves-give them a call!
“Petsecure is Canada’s largest pet health insurance company for over 25 years, and is #1 veterinarian recommended. With almost 1 million pets cared for, we want to help pet owners do what’s best for their pet. If your dog or cat doesn’t have pet health insurance and you’d like to find out more, get a free quote today at www.petsecure.com!”
Contact info for the company is 1-800-268-1169 or info@petsecure.com
KEEPhoto Spring Pet Portraits
Kat Dueck of “a Pawsitive Image” and I joined forces again (Under our KEEPhoto banner) to shoot Spring themed pet portraits at The Pawsh Dog Wellness Centre. We just completed these sessions – and had a fun weekend of meeting some amazing dogs and their owners.
Here is just a sampling of the weekend for you to enjoy.
Backdrop meet Horse…
Congratulations Keri!! Keri opened her new vet clinic, Hudson Reykdal Veterinary Services just before the New Year and it offers Manitoba its first Full Service Mobile Vet Clinic! She has been working hard in the last half year planning her new clinic and designing the Mobile Vet Clinic. I met Keri through friend and associate Kat Dueck (AKA -the pet whisperer)- Keri was looking for images of her pets to be used as graphics on the outside of her mobile van, on her Website and on display in her clinic. So one day in late summer Kat and I headed up to her farm and set-up a full studio-including lights and backdrops in her barn/garage. We spent a good 8 hours capturing pictures of her cats, dogs and yes, even her horses! The horses spent the day watching in their stalls behind me as I photographed the “production” until it was their time in the studio lights. I was actually really impressed with how well they did in front of the camera and lights-They sure were paying attention throughout the day! I thought I’d share just a handful of the images captured. Thanks go out to the very well trained “Models” and of course associate Kat who rallied and got the attention of the “models” while I snapped away!
Please feel free to check out Keri’s website. Your love for animals and your pets is just so evident, Keri, and I’m sure that will translate to much success in your business! Congrats again!
I’d also like to share a little recent clip of Keri and her mobile clinic in action. Keep up the great work Keri!
The Pawsh Dog on Taylor
Okay-the secret is out- This place REALLY makes me want to get a dog- just so I can take it to doggy daycare, obedience classes, have my dog groomed and go shopping for Canine delectable looking cookies, cute t-shirts with awesome sayings, designer doggy fragrances, shampoos and colourful collars. The Pawsh Dog on Taylor has all -this and much more! As part of the more, KEEPhoto (a collaboration of a Pawsitive Image and Ebonie Klassen Photography) enjoyed a Spring session offering pet photography at this location. Over the weekend of our pet sessions in Spring and yet again for this photosession, I saw how the dogs played together enjoying each other’s company and how the staff made it fun for them to be there with everything from blowing bubbles, throwing balls and letting them enjoy an amazing play slide! The Pawsh Dog located at Unit 8-1580 Taylor is the second of two locations in the city, this one opening this past year. For information on services offered and hours you may reach them at (204) 261-9059. Check it out!
KEEPhoto Spring Sessions
Pets rule! LOL! They bring so much joy into our lives just with their quirky tilts of their heads, their knowing eyes and their unlimited devotion and love. Photographer, Katherina Dueck from a Pawsitive Image, and myself realize the importance of capturing those looks from a beloved pet. We pooled our portrait photography and animal knowledge to create KEEPhoto, offering portrait session for pets as well as pets with their humans.:-)
Here are just a few of the Spring Session portraits from a couple of weekends back, hosted by The Pawsh Dog on Taylor, for you to enjoy. Thank-you to Laural and her team there and to all the wonderful clients who took part!
We are looking forward to our next Pet Spring session this coming weekend on April 15th. We are at Hi Flyers Building at 884 Bradford St. in St James. We have a full day planned and have just a couple of openings left, so if you are interested call (204) 632-4742!
Introducing KEEPhoto
Exciting NEWS! Katherina from A Pawsitive Image and myself from Ebonie Klassen Photography will be joining our time, talents, and skills to bring Extraordinary Pet Photography to our clients throughout various times of the year! Let’s face it, a great pet photo is a combination of a number of elements all coming together at once by at least a couple of people. Katherina and I find ourselves working as a great team on this, one handling the pet, getting them to do what we want for the image, while the other is behind the camera anticipating the pets response and clicking the shutter at just at the right time. We’ll have lots of exciting news about Pet Portrait Days – Special Location Event Days – Show Dog Photography Packages and more coming soon. This years goal-we want to take animal photography to new heights and create spectacular work that no one else is attempting. Don’t worry – we’re still available for our individual work, too!
Please enjoy some images of Kitty the Shih Tzu in show coat we photographed and the end of last year.
Pets Welcome!
Happy Birthday Kelly! What a great gift idea from daughter Joie! (You may remember Joie from a few blogs back.) She wanted to give her mom a gift of a family portrait for her Birthday this past week. Joie definitely wanted to include pets Rocky and Studley in the picture because they are family too! Katherina from a Pawsitive Image and I teamed up for this particular session as we quite often do. We are both avid dog lovers but have also completed sessions with cats and yes, even reptiles together! Katherina is a multi dog owner, experienced in handling dogs and is a regular participant in Canine Shows-so she brings a wealth of professional pet experience to these type of sessions. I on the other hand, have grown up with pets including everything from Golden Retrievers, Labs, Poodles, Dauchtshounds, Lovebirds, Budgies, Rabbits, and yes, I can even recollect 2 pet Garter Snakes at one point in my wild grade 4 years! (After careful research, my mother found out they can have up to 60 young ones at a time and promptly made me return them to the wilds of our back yard!)
During the session, it helps to have one of us placing the pets while the other is standing ready with the camera to capture the shot.
I was actually really surprised by how many individuals feel shy about having their pets join them in the studio for family portraits! Just for the record: Katherina and I LOVE pets and most certainly welcome them into the studio! Honestly, most animals react well to the lights and camera -A few will tell you in their own way when they’ve had enough. At one point in this shoot, Rocky grabbed his leash from the floor and walked over to the front door and sat down. LOL! Studley on the other hand seemed to to play to the camera more as time went on. Both reactions are okay and we work within limits of what is comfortable for your pet!!
So if you are thinking of booking a family portrait soon remember bring all of the family along even if they are hairy, slimy, or drool!
A Rocky shopping adventure!
Rocky looking quite dapper in his moss green sweater showing a little fashion sense. Made me think this dog may have gone shopping more than once…
Heeesssss Back! Yes- its time for another Rocky adventure. Some of you may be familiar with this 2 lb. hunk of furry love and have followed some of his previous blog adventures but for some of you let me introduce to this character. Rocky is a friends dog who stays with the family for a week at a time allowing me to pretend that I’m a pet owner . He’s not your typical dog. Nope. He never ceases to amaze me with his antics and preferred tastes. His pasted on amusing smile always makes me laugh. He enjoys dressing up, coffee at Starbucks and most recently I’ve discovered a propensity for SHOPPING! My friend and I took Rocky out for a little shopping excursion this morning to spalifestyle fashionboutique at Unit2-2001Henderson Hwy. Spalifestylefashionboutique is my February feature on business. It is an amazing Boutique run by owners Kristin and Monica who opened the store on Dec. 7, 2007. It features designer lines such as Frank Lyman and Joseph Ribkoff. They carry everything from beautiful dresses for wedding/mother of the bride as well as comfortable and packable cruise line wear. Currently they have a sweater sale on featuring savings of 40-70%off! Rocky was a gem helping with fashion decisions and to my surprise seemed to be really enjoying himself with little antics around the store…. Check it out and see what I mean!
Rocky shares his fashion opinion with Sonja.
Rocky seems quite at home in the “Bling” and the sparkle shoes below…
His new outlook on a hand bag rack in the sun.
What this????? Rocky the Mannequin!!!!!
Rocky pays for his purchase. If you didn’t catch that -He’s a BIG spender! (Below)
Thanks Kristin for allowing Rocky to enjoy himself around the store! You have a fantastic store! Make sure you go and check them out! By the way no animal was harmed in the creation of this blog and I did pay up in doggy treats and of course a trip to Starbucks!
Ebonie K Photography 