Li Ward photographer of pets and weddings. Fat Orange Cat Studio is a fresh and candid boutique photography service in Boston, Massachusetts.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing Mr. Hooves the Pug, fellow resident of the South End. He clocks in at 33 lbs or so, making him a good 30 lbs heavier than the last (and first) pug I photographed. He came originally as “Brady,” as in Tom Brady. I think “Mr. Hooves” is a far superior name and it suits him very well! His owner made a very good call.

Julie M. and her Olde English Bulldog!

AND

Caroyln C. and her Bernese Mountain Dog!

Since I had so many entries from the SOWA “It’s a Dog’s Life” raffle on Sunday, and Bunny & Veebs were fighting each other to draw the winning entry, I decided to let them pick one each and have two winners. More fun for everyone!

Julie and Carolyn, I will be in touch with you soon to set up a photo session! Thanks again to everyone who stopped by the counter on Sunday and said hello. The photo gallery is still up, so if you haven’t yet, be sure to check it out and see if you spot your dog!

Thank you to Kathi of Bark Place and Washington Gateway for having me participate in the “It’s a Dog’s Life” event at SOWA Open Studios this past Sunday! It was a lot of fun and a pleasure meeting fellow dog-lovers and residents of the South End. I love living here! (Sick of hearing me say that, are you?)

VanBuren, the fat orange cat himself, will draw the an entry from the raffle bowl tomorrow and the winner of a photo session with Fat Orange Cat Studio will be announced on Thursday!

In the meantime, here are some scenes from Sunday. See the full gallery of dogs here.

I have so much to talk about, including some of the products displayed on the counter. I don’t think I’ve ever described them much on this blog. So in addition to the usual framed and matted 8×10s and 5×7s, I displayed 11×14 examples of Mounted Prints – prints adhered to thick fiber board and ready to hang – and cool mini accordions. The Mounted Prints I have been offering for some time now, and am pleased that clients have been going for them. If you’ve ever been to the South End Buttery, all the large prints you see there are Mounted Prints. I’ll be showing more examples of those and some other products in an up-coming post. It’s been on my to-do list for some time!

And as an aside for fellow camera-lovers out there, will someone tell me how I ever manged to shoot for so long without a full frame digital camera?! I’ve been using the Nikon D700 exclusively since I got it just several days ago — for this event, for a dog client shoot and a human being shoot (gah!). The 50mm has not come off the camera and I am flabbergobstunned by the vibrance and sharpness of the images. And I like the way it CLICKS when I press the shutter. Such a satisfying, crisp little click.

See below Before & Afters. I shot in JPEG and Vibrance mode, manual settings and manual WB. The images on the left are SOOC. The photos of the right have had blacks and fill light increased a TEENY TINY bit. The second B&A had a little bit of color correction as well to remove the greenish tinge. Overall, in the right light or no, shots have been afreakinmazing straight out of the camera.

Nuts, right?! Can’t wait to share more!

CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS FROM SOWA OPEN STUDIOS DOG EVENT!

Happy weekend! Just a quick note to say that I will be participating in Boston’s annual South End Open Studios, which is happening this Saturday Sept 19 and Sunday Sept 20, 2009. In addition to the huge collection of artists, indie designers and crafts people who sell their wares outdoors – swoon! – this weekend’s SOWA Open Market will also feature additional 250 private artist studios, galleries and stores that will open their doors to the public.

On Sunday (only) from 12 to 4, I’ll be partnering up with Bark Place Dog Spa and Boutique for an indoor dog event/celebration at 1313 Washington St. There will be fun agility demos and trials for your pups to participate in. I will be there photographing in general, as well as shooting informal portraits for holiday cards (yes we have to start thinking about the holidays already!!).

See more info here.

Photos will made available soon after the event on my online gallery. I’ll also have a small booth displaying some of my prints, as well as a raffle to win a photo session with Fat Orange Cat Studio. Yay!

So if you’re in the Boston area, stop by with your pooch for a visit. The weather is supposed to be beeYOOtiful this weekend. A browse through SOWA Open Market/Studios would be the perfect way to spend it — and your money!

(Aside: I go every Sunday and last weekend I scored an original 1871 hand-colored map of Boston. My current street is on there, but there are surrounding streets that are drawn out but not yet named, as South End was just being filled in at the time. On the map, parts of Back Bay were still tidal marsh, as well as the area where Fenway Park now sits. Very very cool.)

Meet Clive, the sweetest Springer Spaniel in the South End. He’s 10 months old and still has floppy puppy ears and big puppy paws. He received a grooming just before the shoot (hee hee, don’t you just love dog parents), so he was so soft and so pretty that my pronoun usage lapsed once again and all day I was referring to Clive as a “she.” Sorry Clive! But on this shoot Clive ate a lot of treats, and did it while on the forbidden leather couch, gasp. So I hope that makes up for my gender slip-ups.

It wasn’t until I was cycling through some of the first shots that I noticed Clive’s extremely exotic eye color, which pierced through the camera’s LCD screen like a shard of ice. One eye is brown, while the other is brown and blue. AND white. A little crescent without pigment.

Oooo…Aaaah…

His multi-colored eyes were beautiful and so great to photograph, but they were just a few of the many reasons why shooting Clive was so fun and so rewarding. Not only was he gorgeous, he had the most wonderful personality and was game for anything, like playing ball and wandering all around South End in search of pretty light and interesting textures for him to sit next to. :)

Here we are playing fetch at Blackstone Park, an unofficial dog park in the South End.

Then we got in some pretty sun shots in front of the community garden (no dogs allowed, too bad) in Rutland Square.

And against some very cool textures on nearby walls.

I am ENAMOURED with the way his ice-blue eye just pops. So striking against his black fur.

And finally, some shots inside the courtyard between the SOWA galleries before we headed home.

I absolutely love urban shoots, especially when they occur in my neighborhood. I’m getting more familiarized with the area, and not just what parks and what stores are where, but what the light is doing off of/through/around what wall/group of trees/building at what time, heh. I’m becoming a light and wall nerd, or something, and happily so.

Also happily, the more I shoot around here, the more connected I feel to the community. So I’m very glad to have met new friends who I can wave hello to when we see each other at the corner coffee shop. Thank you Clive, Shannon, Mike and for the fun-filled shoot! See you around the neighborhood!