Archive for October, 2009

Senior Dogs Dax and Luna

Thursday, October 29th, 2009 { Dogs }

Finally, photos of Dax and Luna, a sweet pair of German Shepherd Lab mix at 14 years old (they are Lita’s aunt and uncle. Oh and I’m photographing Lita’s parents’ wedding next year!). Dax is the gentlemanly black dog who was the more social and playful of the two, while Luna kept a low-profile and approached (or not approached) me and my camera with a wary eye. Both are hard of hearing :-( which I kept forgetting. My attempts at getting their attention by making high-pitched meowing noises went unnoticed/unappreciated, heh.

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Dax still has some puppy in him.

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The WTF look on Luna’s face cracks me up. We were trying to get a 3-dog family portrait and as you can see one member wasn’t cooperating.

Chihuahuas. What can you do?

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And that’s a wrap!

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Figaro the Former Rescue Cat At Home

Monday, October 19th, 2009 { Cats }

This is a long overdue post for a handsome, rotund cat named Figaro. You may remember him from the Animal Rescue League of Boston, because he was an unwilling resident there for more months than is decent for as beautiful and as personable a cat as Figaro.

Well now he has a new home, with rooms with wall-to-wall carpeting. There is also a fellow feline companion named Murphy (he’s orange!) to while away the day. I visited him a few months ago on a warm summer’s afternoon (wah I miss those kinds of days), and together we stalked birds flitting just outside the window, ran around and played with string – to burn off those extra poundages gained from sitting in a cage for so long. Later Figaro had a snack and took a nap.

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Yup. All’s right with the world.

Fat Orange Cat Studio Packaging Part 2

Friday, October 16th, 2009 { Products }

I had more big orders recently that warranted Extra Special Pretty Packaging. My first attempt at DIY packaging was pretty good I thought, and until I become world-famous enough to commission a whole suite of branded products, I will continue to get my crafty mojo on and package items myself.

This time I kicked it up a notch. I punched circles out of pretty Japanese paper (I have a collection of them, love paper) using my handy circle puncher. Glued a strip of navy blue satin ribbon around the outside of the box, and then glued a trio of the paper on top.

Everything is from Paper Source – the circle puncher, the ribbons, the Japanese paper, the petal envelopes, the A9 and presentation envelopes (for 5×7′s and 8×10′s respectively), the portfolio box thingy…I have no idea what they’re called officially, but they’re like stiff cardboard boxes covered in book cloth, and there is a little pocket inside.

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The boxes come in a variety of sizes and colors. I saw these smaller ones and thought they would be perfect for one-off items such as a CD/DVD. The box above is for the couple whose wedding I photographed at the beginning of the month. It contains the DVD, a print release letter and a thank you card. And biz card of course.

The box below is for Clive the Springer Spaniel. I check in regularly to Paper Source for new ideas/inspiration and was excited to see a small stack (2 only!) of ORANGE portfolio boxes. I quickly snatched them up. The ribbon color for this is teal, and I used a different sheet of Japanese paper to go with it. It has bits of teal and navy in it as well. Excuse the horrible lighting. It’s been dismal around these parts.

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The stack of Clive notecards didn’t fit in the slot, so I placed it above and secured the stack in place with a rubberband, which I then concealed with satin ribbon, tied in a bow.

Clive is also getting 3 huge Mounted Prints which I can’t wait for them to see. I usually find that my favorites are not at all aligned with the clients’ favorites. But here, Clive’s owners picked 3 of my favorite images to blow up – all of which I consider a little “artsy” and unconventional.

Clive against an OBEY muralA happy puppyClive and bikes

In fact, a rep from the pro print lab called me to make sure that bike image selected was in fact correctly cropped — why yes most of Clive’s head is cut off. That’s straight out of the camera, so hit the presses!

All packaging materials from Paper Source, except
:: my business cards – moo.com “green” business cards
:: Letterpress notecards – Parrott Design Studio
:: CD/DVD label – designed and printed by me on Avery CD labels

Portrait of a Chihuahua

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 { Dogs }

Meet Lita the Chihuahua. Lita’s owner hired me to photograph her mother’s senior dogs as a surprise gift, so even though Lita was not the main focus of the shoot, and even though she didn’t much care for me or the camera, I managed to sneak in some shots of her. She was a little firecracker, kapow!

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Photos of Lita’s aunt & uncle – a pair of German Shepherd/Lab mix – coming up soon!

Narragansett Wedding Photography :: Just Two

Thursday, October 8th, 2009 { Weddings }

I’m going through photos I took last weekend at a lovely, intimate wedding in the seaside town of Narragansett, Rhode Island. Here are just a couple of my favorites until I do a full post.

Portrait of the bride, looking beautiful, calm and serene before the ceremony.

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Meanwhile…at the ceremony site, her groom was throwing up from nerves. At least that’s what I was told. How cute is that?

One of the best things about that photo is that DAN TOOK IT! He took it, and I LIKED it. Usually I appraise his photos and ask, “Was the auto focus button jammed?” Or, “Were you sneezing while taking this shot?” Not this time! Go Dan, he the self-professed tech geek without a single creative drop in his tall, pasty, slightly hunch-backed body. There is hope for you afterall!

Limoncello toasts, standing by.

Katarina & Brian

More to come soon…