Ms. Maggie - St. Petersburg Pet Photographer

I was excited to get the opportunity to shoot Maggie last Sunday. Maggie is a super sweet dog and an absolute Daddy's girl. From the moment they walked into the studio Maggie only had eyes for her dad. In fact, she wouldn't dare look anywhere else besides him. Getting her to glance at the camera was a little bit challenging but I finally discovered the trick. Ms. Maggie is very bribeable (yes, bribeable is not a word, however I liked it in the sentence) with Nutro Lamb and Rice sticks :) Here are a few of my favorite shots.

We're On The Professional Photographer's Website!

As most of you know I am a huge animal and environmental advocate. I have been a part of the Greener Photography group for over 7 months now. Its a wonderful organization that encourages photographers all over the world to live a greener lifestyle and have a more environmentally friendly business. Since the beginning I have tried to involve myself as much as possible. So when the opportunity came up to write an article for them I jumped all over it. The Professional Photographers Magazine asked Greener Photography to write a web exclusive on energy conservation for photographers. Together with Megan Just who is an awesome freelance writer and green girl guru we were able to come up with some pretty stellar ideas on how to be a green machine. Click here to check out the article. 

Oh. And because I can't post without a picture here is a shot of my man, Tito. His way of being green is to lay in the dirt as featured above :)

They Call It Mellow Yellow

Well, actually they call it banana. But mellow yellow was playing in my head throughout the studio pet session with my pup Tito. Now more often than not he is less than cooperative to participate with anything that has to do with my camera. Tonight I didn't give him that option as I had already set up my equipment. He did really well, giving me his side profile alot. I was so impressed with his participation that I took it one step further and put on his chopper jacket with matching doggles. I'm pretty sure that took him over the edge as he layed down the remainder of the shoot.While I don't know if he is ready for his professional debut in BARK magazine I do think we were able to get some super cute shots. 

Combo and Kali

I had a blast last Saturday with Combo, Kali, and their parents Chris and Linda. They were visiting from Chicago and stopped by for a pet studio session at Gone To The Dogs Boutique. Unfortunately they were headed home the next day so I didn't get to spend much time with the little loves. Combo got his name because Chris and Linda weren't exactly sure what breed he was. They have had him for 14 years and while they still wonder what he is a mix of, they don't care at all because he is such a sweetie. Kali, is the five year old firecracker who was also rescued. She was little Ms. Personality in front of the camera. I literally could not stop laughing taking these pictures. Chris and Linda thanks for sharing your pups with me. Hope to see you all again next winter!

Sneak Peek Combo and Kali

So I am still in the editing process. However when I finished tweaking this one picture, I burst out laughing. I hope it does the same for you. This girls name is Kali and she is a five year old rescue. I will be doing another blog posting on her and her brother Combo, but I just couldn't wait to post this one. 

Earth Day 09

Not only am I a pet photographer but also a huge advocate for the earth. Therefore, being earth day yesterday I wanted to do something green. This has been a huge pet peeve of mine for about three years. St. Pete Beach does not have any recycling receptacles on their beaches, only trash cans that mainly fill up with recyclables from beach goers. So I did what any earth lover would do....I picked trash. It was humbling and awkward at first but then it became addicting. In the end I collected two full trash bags of recyclables from only 8 trash cans (the 30 block stretch of beach that I live on has close to 100 trash cans). In total I collected 33 glass bottles, 31 aluminum cans, 29 plastic bottles, and 10 plastic containers (such as fruit trays and solo cups). That is the equivalence of enough power to take 7347 hours of pictures. I do plan on picking trash again, and maybe I can take it one step further getting the city to get recycling containers out on the beach. This will not only be better for the earth but also for my pup, Tito. Go green!!!

Murph Man

Now I thought I had met my fair share of big dogs....That is until I met Murphy, the 117 pound Collie. Who knew Collie's got that big? And he isn't even overweight! He is just a big dog. Anyway it was a beautiful sunny day and I was so happy to be outside taking pictures of a pup. In addition to Murphy liking his picture taken he also likes to stare at himself in the sliding glass door. I guess, when you got it, you got it :) Here are a few of my favs.

Lil Ms. Lily

Meet Lily, second in my weekend worth of dog shoots. This sassy little shih tzu likes to wear pearls and play with the big dogs. She is too cute for words. Here are my favorites from our photo session.

Samson Part II

He is just too cute for only four photos and one blog post. Here are a few more shots of Samson.

Samson

What a whirlwind of a weekend I had. It was action packed, filled with family, Easter egg hunts, and puppy shoots. The first session was with a husband and wife couple and their 4 month old golden retriever, Samson. O.M.G. Can we say ADOraBLe!!!! I fell in love. Not only are Becky and Tommy the cutest couple ever but they added icing to the cake with Samson. We had a blast at their home, around the neighborhood and in the backyard. I'm hoping this will be a repeat photo session and I will get to blog Samson when he is full grown too.

Family Of Three

Last Saturday was a blast. I spent the afternoon shooting at Best Buddies Boutique in downtown St. Petersburg. At the end of the day I had the pleasure of photographing store owner Alan Ronay's four legged family. Pictured below are Happy, Rusty, and Buddy. We did some individual shots to showcase some of Alan's beautiful couches available for purchase at the store as well as some family portraits. Here are some of my favs.

Cesar and Me The Video

What a great day. Woke up bright eyed and energetic. A gentle breeze is blowing through my house. As I turn on my computer and go through all of my correspondence I notice a message from the Dog Travel Channel.  My heart started beating faster as I read "Cesar video and more".  I clicked on all the internal links and was so excited to see Cesar and Me on the website. Again, I can't say enough good things about him. So check out this video on Cesar Millan.

Sammie & Bailey

Last weekend I had the privilege of photographing Kim and Tom's engagement session. Just to paint the picture of how happy I was that afternoon I will bore you with a few minor details; the weather was perfect (sun, a breeze, 70's), I was driving in my car,  windows and sunroof wide open, Bob Marley was singing to me,  I'm about to do what I love to do everyday (take pictures), and...... the couple has a pair of bulldogs!!!! Obviously this shoot was to cover the love between Tom and Kim however I couldn't help myself and had to sneak in a few shots of their precious pups. Sammie and Bailey were just too much. Their squished noses, their waddling walks, and their snorts! No wonder I got home at 8:30 p.m. Just to be fair I am posting a few shots of both the most adorable bulldogs ever as well as a few of the soon to be Mr. and Mrs.

Awwww Snap*

There are so many exciting things happening to Pawsitively Pictures right now. Spring has sprung with alot of new clients and opportunities. One in particular I would like to share is we made another pet photography directory!

Snap my pet is a sister website to Mod Dog an uber fun website specializing in modern pet art. The snap website provides a directory of modern dog photographers all over the U.S and Canada. I'm so excited to be a part of this! We are the top left picture. Isn't Lily the cutest?!

Think Green Widget

Okay so this is pretty cool. I was on the think green website trying to write a pet based green article for a local pet magazine. Basically you total up the amount of trash you've recycled that day and it will calculate how much energy you saved. For example, I, Stephanie Smith, recycled 3 plastic bottles, 1 aluminum can, and 2 units of paper. In total I saved .70 KW/Hr! And since I have no idea what that scientific percentage meant they broke it down even further by explaining that I saved enough energy for 351 hours worth of camera shooting! So think, act and be green. 

We're On MacroMutt.com!

What a way to start off the work week. Thanks for all you other pet photographers who introduced me  to Macro Mutt.

They were so easy to work with and I'm so excited to announce that Barney and I made the cut!

Big Boy Bruno

So whats a trip to Colorado without some ski time? This trip I was determined to learn snow boarding.....And what I learned about snow boarding is that I should leave it to the snow bunnies and I should stick to the beach bumming (I broke my arm on the first day during my last run). Whats even more ironic is the fact that I was telling my friends that morning how I should be wearing wrist guards as my wrists are my livelihood now. Right!! 

Needless to say the snowboard got returned the second day. The one cool part about the story was the big St. Bernard named Bruno hanging out at the rental store, Wild Ernest Sports. He belongs to the store owner Casey so I would consider Bruno more the mascot of the store. With one hand casted I was determined to have better luck shooting than snowboarding. I was fortunate in the sense that my model just wanted to lay down. I think a slower target was probably better for me that day. Here are a few of my favs.