Dog Photography Blog

It’s been a span of time since we last chatted. October trended its colors to bare leaves, Halloween led the way into the holiday season.

Thanksgiving was quaint, Kris & I hosted my family at our house. The regular fixings plus vegan options (vegan pumpkin pie made by me!) and we were all stuffed plum full. Christmas and December were busy – from decking the halls to snowboarding, a session with a husky pup and all of the events with Atomic Collars. The month whooshed by wrapping up with a very cold home fireworks show and staying up until the new year arrived. 

No resolutions formally proclaimed for this year, though I’d like to get back into better management of my weight and health. 

January continued, mostly frozen with the gaps being snagged for snowboarding but mostly bunkering down and being as warm as possible. This is the first winter season of helping out my mom and the morning drive from home to their house has been fairly decent, mostly cold more than treacherous. Sewing and doing tons of research into vintage waffle irons (also vintage stoves and collecting vintage clips from newspapers for charms for dogs).

February was windy and cold. Bunkered down staying as warm as possible with some sparks of inspiration. Bender got sick the end of January, just after Valentines we put him to sleep. The house is currently dogless and feels weird. No walking buddy, no tail wags or snores. I decided with the current school schedule (helping out my mom in Paynesville from 7am to 4pm Monday – Friday) that adding a dog back into our house wasn’t ideal. When summer break rolls around, heck yes there will be a dog added!

Otherwise, been a bit checked out from photography and photography things. Last year was a bit of a dud for sessions, the tail end COVID and the return to normal were factors along with the uptick in Atomic Collars. Lately, just been a bit on the blah side of things, though looking forward to the incoming spring does have me inspired. I’ve decided to look at the past year as a reset for me, About A Dog Photography, business in general and to kick back into gear for the coming summer season. 

New things are going to be happening for the upcoming year for About A Dog Photography: 

• Sessions may or may not get an adjustment – logistics being sorted now
• Short & Sweet Sessions may be moved to available any time but may be limited to St. Cloud with the Twin Cities staying as specific limited dates. More details to be sorted out. 
• Weekday evening sessions will be available starting after the time change on the 13th, weekend sessions will be limited. 
• Make Manual Your B*tch course will be launched this summer!
• NEW BOOK in the planning stage! “Dogs of the North Shore” will be happening this coming summer! Logistics are being planned, sessions may be taking place in early June. (If you are interested in being part of this book, email me at )

Remember I mentioned a session with a husky puppy? That is the adorable Dakota below! It’s crazy how much she looks like her older sister Parka! 

We’ll stay in touch as the spring rolls into summer. If there’s any tips or questions you’re burning to know about photography, dogs, anything really, drop me a comment and I’ll aim for a blog post featuring it!

Whoosh.
Summer came, it heated up, served us ice cream and swimming outings, parades and fireworks and rolled into lazy dog days. Now its lazily waning as school supplies and Halloween display in the stores, the early leaves are transitioning and children anticipate school.

This was one of those summers where it went streaking by too quickly.

Mondays at the part time gig of the camera shop, weekdays sewing as a madman for Atomic Collars, every other weekend at the Minneapolis Pet Market hanging out with other awesome pet vendors, every opposite weekend filled with adventure and my two favorite guys. There was a trip to a cabin and a long weekend for my birthday.  Then the summer was gone. 

Photography has been quiet. The oomph of steam that had the birthday excitement petered out when there was a loss of time (coordinated around the cabin trip, might want to rethink that…) and I lost the organization to pick winners as well as release the contests for all 8 sessions. Part was due to the amplification of Atomic Collars. Sewing = time. With more sewing to do to create stock, it ate into marketing and social media for About A Dog Photography.

Don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. We made it to 9 years, can’t stop us now!

With back to school happening soon there will be an adjustment made. I’m helping my mom out during the weekdays so Monday-Thursday won’t be available until after 5 pm. Fridays are out as that’s a pizza night and hangout day. This will hold steady until we reach then end of September when our start time is 5:30 pm (we meet up an hour and half before sunset for the best light).

Now if we need to, we can shorten the session to an hour and shoot until we lose light. This would give us weekdays until  October 18th with a start time of 5:30, sunset at 6:25 pm. Any weekdays after the 18th of October will be only available as a short session due to the loss of light as the season transitions. This will remain in effect for weekdays until the time change in March. 

Select weekends will be available pending events with Atomic Collars. At the moment the weekends of September 18th & 19th, October 3rd, 16th-17th, October 30th and November 13th-14th are available.  If you want a session then, call dibs ASAP!

Peak fall leaf color is typically late September to mid October for the middle of the state aka St. Cloud area. The Twin Cities tends to have a later start and later range, with leaves turning in late September and transitioning into late October, while the North Shore is going to peak in September (waterfalls and leaves? yes please! Though water levels are low this year…) 

 The week of October 11th-18th ought to have a fair display of color for the St. Cloud area, possibly for the Twin Cities (we know there’s tons of variables) and I’ll be doing active weekly reporting of the colors starting in September. If you want a session during that week, email me ASAP!  Only 5 weekdays that week are available for full sessions!

The weekend of November 13th-14th is the VERY LAST weekend to book a session to guarantee you receive your prints, albums etc in time for Christmas. Yes we can have sessions in December but you won’t get your prints and products in time for Christmas. Print and product production is 3-4 weeks, especially around the holiday season. 

From January to March 12th there will be no weekday sessions and only select weekends available. At the moment January 22nd & 23rd, February 5th & 6th, February 19th & 20th, March 5th & 6th are available.

Starting the week of March 14th we can resume weekday sessions! Start time would be 6 pm and as the spring heads into summer start times will get a bit later. When we hit the end of school in June, weekdays will be fully available for morning and evening sessions, with select weekends available. 

Can’t forget about Viewing Sessions! These will only be available in the evenings after 5 pm weekdays and can be done in person or virtually via Skype from the start of the school year until summer break. Summer will give us more flexibility, but Viewing Sessions will always be on a weekday, whether in the morning, afternoon or evening. 

Now you’re in the loop! Starting in September there were will be weekly blogs featuring a report on fall leaf colors. I may add some other fun dog things – recipes, dog facts, possibly adorable pictures of pups. 

Keep staying safe in this new normal world. Hugs from me and sniffs from Bender. (Kris says hi too!) ♥

It’s one of those posts that is challenging to create a title for.

No, we don’t want to be like “oh hey, it’s been awhile” (it has). Or a “hello, sorry we’ve been gone”. Classics when you’ve gone from blogging, to half ass blogging to forgetting that you have a blog (it’s really been nearly two months???).

From the interim.

Interim
– noun / the intervening time
– adjective / in or for the intervening period; provisional or temporary

What we’ve been up to since the end of January (the post previous to this one):

• Hanging out with my stepdad & Axle, Tuesday – Friday
• Learning to snowboard every weekend in February! (It’s tons of fun and has lots of falling down!)
• Cover dog sessions for Sidewalk Dog (want to win a session & Atomic Collar?)
• Watching lots of daytime TV and Roseanne…
• TONS of updates to Atomic Collars
• Learning new hobbies for the warm months: longboarding & roller skating!
• Obsessing about doughnuts and archiving vintage doughnut recipes – frying will commence soon!
  (Stay up to date with those adventures over at Banterings!)

Axle says hi! He’s turning 10 this year….. EGADS!!! How did he get so old and grey?

From here forward, we’ll be able to do sessions in the evenings (starting at 6 pm) until the very end of May when the summer holiday starts. Then we can meet up during the week in the morning for an early golden hour (starting at 5:30 am!) or keep to the evening golden hour.

As for viewing sessions, we’ll have to conduct them in the evenings – we can do them virtually (via Skype) or in person (masks & being socially distant). Editing of your prints might be delayed a bit, please allow for a little extra time until we enter into June!

Remember, we’re booking about 2 weeks out for sessions! This puts us at the first week just after April (and Easter!).

We may have a little green foliage by then, but don’t be deterred by the browns! The golden browns of leftover grasses look AMAZING covered in golden light as the sun sets. Dark colored dogs, medium colored dogs and light colored dogs all would look stellar in the golds!

Or instead of strolling through the parks of browns and golds we can go urban and find bold murals, bricks and alleys, all while the area is quieter (summer could add more people out enjoying the weather).

** Remember: we can do a weekend session but there is a fee of $50 for the weekend – so the session will be $300. 

Days that aren’t available for sessions:

• June 14th – 19th
• August 9th (my birthday!)
• November – December (for holidays & getting prints before Christmas)