The 10 year marker, one decade worth of time. Yes technically any span of 10 years counts, though in the calendar it falls on the even year ending in 0. (This will be the 6th decade to start in a leap year since 1900.)

2010, ten years ago:

• About A Dog Photography was no more than an idea (it came to fruition two years later)
• Mick & Icey were my pack. Axle arrived Christmas day 2011, Bender two Januarys afterwards
• Employment was RCC/Boot Barn & JCPenny Portrait Studio, both in the mall
• Photography was growing in skill, the Nikon D300s employed in the tool of capturing the world

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The dogs and I moved, from St. Cloud to Paynesville (with a trio, minus Bender) to St. Cloud and back to Paynesville (also with a trio, minus Mick), with a move back to St. Cloud in the fall of 2018, sans Icey. It is the first shared space of Kris & I. 

Cameras transitioned, from the workhorse D300s that was well over the recommended shutter count into the D750 and full frame world. Zooms transitioned into primes, with a sweet spot found at 85mm. From the D750 we jumped into Bruin, the bear, the D5 that sports a wicked 12 frames a second in shooting. 

Lenses continued to shift into a prime portrait kit with the new loved go to the 135mm. (For lens nerds & those curious the kit is: 20mm f1.4, 35mm f1.4, 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.4, 105mm f1.4 & 135mm f1.8)

Flash was vaguely introduced, and a quad set of strobes were invested in. (Stay tuned to see them more involved with sessions). Massive knowledge gained, just saying flash duration is totally a thing to know!

Out of state travel centered on Colorado a series of times, waned for a few years, then shifted into an unplanned adventure to Maryland, with a more recent jaunt to the Smoky Mountains. 

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About A Dog Photography turned 7 this past year! 

•  We have photographed roughly 65 classic sessions since 2012
• This year we photographed 16 classic sessions plus 18 sessions for the book Dogs of Minneapolis!
• We’ve helped countless dogs find their forever homes in working with Tri County Humane Society, Grey Face Rescue and Ruff Start Rescue. 

A huge thank you to everyone who have been part of this adventure. We love and appreciate each of you!  

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In the personals: Interests

Vintage lenses to turn into freelenses. 13 of them, rear mounts removed for a “poor man’s” tilt shift. This interest has waned greatly, though a pair of actual tilt shift lenses have been added into the collection. 

The adoration of classic 1964.5 to 1970 Ford Mustangs has stayed, with a love spot on 1970. (Currently I do not own one, yes if I did we’d do sessions with it). 

Collecting Pyrex began with an oomph from Jen (we’ve been friends for nearly a DECADE!). This led to collecting Fry glass, glass kitchen items, a slight deviation into Depression glass (way too easy to find), back to kitchen items to tread into the current days’s questing: cake stands, banana stands and milk glass items.

Sewing kicked up with a Singer heavy duty in time for costume crafting for the Minneapolis ComicCon around holidays of 2014. Atomic Collars was conceived in the frozen early months of 2015, crafting sturdy upcycled unique martingale collars for Bender. 

Sewing waned with bits of Atomic Collars being sewn. 

Cue late 2018 Halloween and the quest for 50s style skirts, a pattern for circle skirts and we were off, finding fabrics and growing the horde to 50ish in the winter span.

Vintage patterns came into the radar, the first in March, a 1960 McCall’s pattern with a gathered skirt and low back. (Yes it was sewed, though I did swap out the gathered skirt for a circle skirt). The collection has grown and continues with 164+ patterns. A handful have been made with plans for at least half of the collection. 

Books & reading has remained, as has the adoration of T. C. Boyle. The color blue will stay the favorite for an infinity. The vintage Schwinn bike with yellow mag wheels has waned, as has riding bike in general. Drawing amped with dragons, cooled over the past year, regained life and is now traipsing into a new medium: gouache!

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What interests of yours have stayed the same?

What new ones are you taking with you into the new year?

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Happy new year!

Here’s to the new year and the start of a new decade! May the adventure be bold, fun, playful, full of learning and growth and all the epicness you can handle. 

Thank you for the past decade (ok past 7 years) and we look forward to the next decade to come. 

The Christmas rush has waned, with gifts gleefully unwrapped, cookies and eggnog consumed, waistbands adjusted and matching pjs employed. Bender rather enjoys his new bones and was quite the hilarious ham with the new snow booties on (thank you Axle for the humor and being concerned about your brother’s frozen tootsies).

For me, creative items for sewing and painting were unwrapped, along with a pair of cashmeres in a battle of light and dark with an epic choice (which do “side” do you think was picked first – the dark side or the light side?), a duvet cover in smooth Egyptian cotton (this has been on the list for the past few years… finally!) and new seed and feeders for the birds. Kris received fancy date nights and neckties, portable tool boxes and a pair of matching his and hers undies that infused a royal blush and awkwardness into my sister when the hers bikini style was held aloft first. Merry Christmas sis! Hahahaha!

We hope you had a jolly affair, surrounded by not only presents but love and appreciation of your family and those you call family.

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Puppers, if you didn’t get what you wanted, how about tell your mum & dad about a super awesome pair of toys made by Bulltug (they happen to be one of our favorite things, yes they’re featured in THE Holiday Gift Guide)

Bender loves his Chew-N-Tug 7 Pack and has successfully destroyed the ball, one of the rope toys and half of another. His favorite is Racool the racoon, though he’s not allowed to “eat” or chew on him for long. 

Brand new to the Bulltug collection as of this past fall is Trash-N-Seek, a plush trashbag with rope toy handles and a trio of very plump we ate too much roly poly raccoons! 

This toy is tons of fun, as it encourages not only chewing and tugging, but searching for the fat raccoons hidden inside, two with squeakers and one with a spiky ball inside. Plus there is a massive squeaker on the bottom of the trash bag. 

Don’t believe me on the fun?

Pop over to Bulltug’s website to snag your own Trash-N-Seek.

You can also follow them on Facebook & Instagram.

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Merry Friday after Christmas and may the new year that’s coming be full of fun, play and epic awesomeness. 

December is lurking, just behind the turkeys, with attempts at S**W to add a little extra chaos to traveling for the holidays. (Be safe with this week!)

November started the flood of the merry holidays, trimmed in tinsel & gift giving. Inspired, THE Holiday Gift Guide was launched. Aligned with the Holiday Gift Guide is a series of interviews with the businesses behind our favorite things.

CuddleMutt, Val’s Brew Treats & the book Dogs of Minneapolis have all been featured.

Time for another! Atomic Collars!

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Our favorite things: Atomic Collars!

Hello Cahlean!

Cahlean is epically amazing, with not only the talent you love and know as About A Dog Photography, but she sews BOMB accessories for dogs as Atomic Collars.
(Yes giving yourself an interview about your own business is a bit unique, it works out in the end haha!)

How did you get started?

It was a bloody cold day, Jan or Feb if recall is correct. Bender (at the time a foster) needed a stylish martingale collar. Locally, the options were super limited to black, blue & red inch wide. A trip to the thrift store, a bold red necktie partnered with a tan men’s belt, sewn together with vibrant red thread and the first collar (Atom) was conceived. 

Where did you get the idea for Atomic Collars?

With the collars being upcycled especially from vintage (sometimes fugly) neckties, it seemed fitting to have a “retro” name. Atomic always carries the feeling of pinups, bowling shirts, and just enough sass. There wasn’t a ton of wide (1.5 to 2 inch) collar options, especially for girls. We wanted to offer collars that were durable and wide enough to be stylish

What’s unique about Atomic Collars? What sets you apart from others in your industry?

The material for the collars is upcycled found fabrics – everything from neckties, skirts, suit jackets, leggings, even dishcloths. Its a process of giving new life to a garment or fabric source. Plus the amount of collars or scarves from an item is limited so it makes each one unique.

* The metal bits & most of the webbing is usually new, so as to ensure durability. 

What is something that surprised you about owning a business?

How different it was running a retail business vs a photography business (About A Dog Photography). Inventory is a THING! The ideal is a new pattern launch (on the website), give it a lovely picture and call it good, when actually there needs to be a count of how many bits of the new pattern there is!

Did you have any early challenges? If so how did you overcome them? If not, what is something you’ve accomplished with Atomic Collars that makes you the proudest?

Early challenges was with the sewing machine (bobbin tension oh vey!) and finding strong d rings. Rings from men’s belts were fairly easy to quest for, most of them aren’t designed to take the full force of a 65+ dog hitting the end of the leash in a chase after a squirrel. We’ve found welded ones that should handle everything a dog can get them into. 

What is some advice you’d give someone just starting out? 

It can be a ton of work, but its also super rewarding to have people excited about the collars and scarves and seeing dogs rocking things you crafted!

What is you most popular product?

Martingale collars. A close second would be the newest addition – scarves!

Do you have any pets?

Indeed – the foster fail who inspired the start of Atomic Collars, the pittie Bender. And a boxer mix named Axel (he’s the inspiration behind About A Dog Photography).

Tell us about the humans behind Atomic Collars:

Cahlean (waves). I’m the creative gusto behind all the ideas at Atomic Collars, the lover of dogs and milk glass cake stands, everything cider and the warmth of summer, photography, sewing and collecting a horde of vintage patterns.

Where can we find Atomic Collars?

atomiccollars.com as well as the socials IG @ atomiccollars Facebook @ atomiccollars

We’ll also be at Inbound Brewco on Dec 1st (THIS SUNDAY!) for the “Maker & Baker” event as the Maker! Swing out from 12-4 and pick up a bomb collar and a smart scarf!

The turkeys are being bought, the stuffing stuffed, the cranberries are singing, being de-canned or compoted, while potatoes prepare to be mashed and smothered in matching turkey gravy. The end of the meal has released the belt at least two notches,  a statisfied sign, a burp then the wafting goodness as the last element of classic Thanksgiving is pulled from the oven.

PIE!

Around here pumpkin pie with an over generous heaping of whipped cream caps off the meal.

Which got us thinking, could dogs delight in the same pie goods as us humans? In a way yes.

Traditionally pumpkin pie is made with nutmeg which very very BAD for dogs! Which means dogs can’t eat our pumpkin pie, but we can always MAKE them their own pies!

Here’s a handy recipe to make your dog his own pumpkin pies!

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Pumpkin Pie For Dogs

(Found on Rover.com)

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Want to try a different type of pie? Substitute out the pumpkin and whip up:

• an apple pie
• a banana pie (mix in some peanut butter for an Elvis vibe)
• a blueberry pie
• a cranberry pie
• a peach pie
• a pear pie
• a raspberry pie
• a strawberry pie (or mix all the berries!)

All the fruits listed above are dog edible. If you make any of them just be aware of too much added sugars that could upset your pup’s tummy. 

If we were crafting a dog pie, we’d aim towards a blueberry or peach (perhaps a blueberry peach one!).  What kind of pup pie will you create for your dog this Thanksgiving?

The turkeys are harvesting, beginning their defrost to thawdom and epic feasts abounding with foods of the stuffed, canned, baked and freshly cut varieties, Thanksgiving is nearing, to be followed by naps and frantic shopping for THE deal of the year. 

Onward we continue with our favorite things series, this time we feature ourselves, About A Dog Photography. Not just photography sessions with your dog (which are always our FAVORITE thing) but something else solidly awesome. 

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Our favorite things: Dogs of Minneapolis book

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! We have WRITTEN A BOOK!!! And…… its REAL!!! Snag one and get your hands all over this hunk of 11×8 awesomeness! Ooooo la la! A book by us! SWOON!!!

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And take a breath…. (can you tell its one of our favorite things?)

This was an epic adventure full of amazing dogs and their people (18 sets of dogs including a dynamic duo and a quad with squad goals down) paired with those iconic locations found around Minneapolis. They helped raise: $1620+ for Secondhand Hounds, Ruff Start Rescue & Great Dane Rescue of MN & WI! (You can help raise even more! 10% of each Dogs of Minneapolis book purchase will be given to one of the three rescues!).

A few snafoos (overly bouncy pups, overly shy pups, permits and weather oh my!) didn’t keep this idea from growing into a tangible touchable book. We learned, we grew and we’ve got approx 500 more ideas for books to come. (Want to be part of the next one? Drop us a line at & we’ll get you on the waitlist! BTW the North Shore will be in the near future…)

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A HUGE thank you for all the dogs who are part of the Dogs of Minneapolis. Without you, there would merely be pictures of murals, sculptures and buildings. Thank you a bazillion!

Show them the love:
– Ruby
– Bailey
– Murphy
– Kaiser
– Armani
– Luna & Zoey
– Austen
– Owen
– Panda
– Shanook & Shiloh
– Rocky, Arlee, Gemma & Mortie
– Nessa
– Sherman
– Jax
– Zuzu
– Bo
– Kona
– Diamond

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This is part of our blog series “Our Favorite Things”. Did you miss the previous interviews? Find the CuddleMutt one here, and the Val’s Brew Treats one here.