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

Here was Dasha the French Bulldog back in June:

Sleepy baby Dasha

Here is Dasha now, having just celebrated her 7-month birthday, looking happy, confident, and very roly poly!

Smiley teenaged Dasha

I loved seeing her again. She greeted us outside the front door gate when we pulled in, and nearly scraped my kneecaps off as she jumped for my attention. Burly Dasha, 4 months older and 20+ lbs heavier since I saw her last! I noticed new spots inside her ears and here underbelly, as well as this cute smudge off the corner of her right eye that makes it look as if she’s wearing eyelashes.

Her mom says the dark half of her face is her favorite side. The white side is mine because of that misplaced fake eyelash!

New underbelly spots….

…and new friends…

New friends with delicious stinky dog treats, that is. Those legs are Dan’s. I was wondering for a second there why she was so taken with him.

Dasha is participating in her first show next month. Here she demonstrates her show dog stance.

Later D!

Thank you Dasha for another fun-filled shoot!

But WAIT! there’s more…

There are PUPPIES! Dasha and French Bulldog puppies everywhere! So stay tuned. The squealing will never stop.

Floyd is one lucky and cherished puppy. His parents have been searching high and low for a someone like him, and when the opportunity suddenly presented itself, they were on a plane to Ohio lickidity split to bring him home. They weren’t looking just for any Cavalier King Charles Spaniel you see. They were looking for the PERFECT Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. A rescue.

Floyd was saved from a puppy mill that was going to, you know, let him go, because he didn’t have the right coloring. Ugh! Who cares about coloring when such character is to be had! This little guy is just full of personality and confidence. I called him the Mayor of Boston because he had to stop for everyone and say hello, especially for his fellow four-legged citizens. The two-legged animals were quite eager to make his acquaintance as well. It might have been a little foolish on my part to have Floyd and his mom meet me at the Make Way for Ducklings statues in the Public Garden. All the children! All the squealing! You would have thought Paul McCartney had just showed up. Floyd spent the first ten minutes signing autographs before we had to pry him away for his photo shoot.

OK so I don’t want to interject the photos (lots of them! so hard to narrow down!) with too much text so I’ll just say upfront what fun this shoot was. So, so fun. There was his mom, his mom’s friend, me and Dan, all working hard for the money (one of these shoots I swear I will hire a photog of my own to take behind-the-scenes shots. We must have looked INSANE).
There was much laughing. And near wipe-outs in the mud.
There was an actress with her German shepherd who Floyd befriended in Beacon Hill.
There was an enormous Chocolate Lab with whom itty bitty Floyd fearlessly engaged in a Showcase Showdown for the return of his stuffed toy.
There were shots in a flower pot in front of Senator Kerry’s townhouse.
There was a huge group of German tourists walking up Acorn St. who made such a commotion over Floyd that I got in some trouble with a resident.  I think I’m officially banned from shooting there again. Oops!

But it was all totally worth it! So without further ado…

A perfect way to spend a Sunday evening. Thank you for being so charming Floyd, and see you again soon!

Today’s post is brought to you by the color Violet.

With special assitance from the color Red.

And a huge contribution from the adjective Cute.

This is Violet. She is the reigning Miss Pug Puppy Universe, did you know that? We had made several attempts for this shoot back in June before it finally happened, so when I showed up nearly 6 weeks after our original shoot date – that’s 6 weeks of fast puppy growth to be had – I was absolutely floored to meet this teeny, t i n y, squiggly little pug, no bigger than an acorn, rolling around in figure-8′s around my ankles. She was 4 months old by then, and barely 4 lbs! Dan was with me on this shoot. His voice became 3 octaves higher than normal.

After the photo shoot and going on and on in the car about how much we already missed Violet, we decided that when the time comes for Veebs and Bunny to cross over to that Rainbow Bridge – which I hope won’t be for another ten million years – we would be very very very sad, and cry a lot and mourn for years. And then we would usher in the Era of Pugs. Possibly rename the business to Cute Violet Pug Studio. Was that too crass? Well, Violet was just too much. She filled our heads with pink cotton candy. We couldn’t think straight, except that we had to have a Violet of our own!

Thank you so much Sarah and Chris for setting up this shoot! I’m so glad we were able to have it happen after all.

Little Miss Violet, ready to conquer the world!

Everyone, meet Dasha, a 3 month-old French Bulldog who only arrived last week all the way from Russia!

Dasha is: extremely clever | Dasha has: beautiful markings |  Dasha sleeps: with one leg out | Dasha does not want: to sit still

I will not lie, Dasha made me work hard for the money. Made all of us work hard for the money. For her to stand long enough with her head peeking over the couch (a shot I really really really wanted, wasn’t going to leave without it), or just sitting on the couch, or standing on the arm of the couch, required all hands on deck – the owner, the owner’s daughter, Dan, me, an open can of wet dog food, squeaky toys, squeaky humans…at one point Dasha’s mom even clamored onto and over the back of the couch in order to pique Dasha’s curiosity enough to want to attempt the same thing. And hopefully while she did that I’d catch her with her little head peeking over the back of the couch.

The only problem was she fell for this trick only once! Subsequent times she just waited for her mom to finish climbing, and then circumvented the couch to meet her. So basically this little puppy had us grown human beings looking like complete idiots. Clever girl!

I really wished at one point I could have had a photographer photographing our attempts to photograph Dasha. You would have seen what a circus it was!

The weeble wobble toy was quite a strange thing to her. So was my high-pitched meowing. I said, “Hey Dasha, RAOW RAOW RAOW! RAOW RAOW RAOW!” Her head tilted a whole 45 degrees at one point, threatening to screw right off!

I love how the markings perfectly bisects her face. And then there’s that sploosh of black right above her tail.

We spent a few seconds, literally, in front of the shed in the backyard. The mosquitoes were enjoying happy hour courtesy of our ankles. Otherwise I would have spent several more frames in front of that yummy dark green backdrop, with the fading sunlight filtering in through the trees.

Surprise! Dasha is the 4th member of a whole family of French Bulldogs, all of them show dogs, too. I must say it was quite a shock to be expecting a puppy when the owner opened the door, but instead be greeted by 3 barrel-chested bulldogs coming straight for your knees, all of them grunting and snorting and vying for your attention…and then the teeny tiny little Dasha in the midst of all that joyous mayhem.

We have her with her new family to show how small she is now. Like Bella and Logan, Dasha will be participating in the Puppy Progress Package, so there will be 2 more sessions after this to document her growth. We’ll see how she fares against her elders in a few more months.

And yes, it was pretty much impossible to get her to sit still long enough for the family portrait. A bag of treats off-frame was enough to get the adults to sit still. But not our little Dasha. Patience my friends, lots and lots of patience, and a fast trigger finger, is the key.

Finally! She’s pooped. And finally, I can get some cute shots that are ALSO in focus!

Sure is hard to be a supermodel, isn’t it? See you soon, Dasha!

(I love puppies. If you’ve got one, let me know!)

Meet Bella, the 11 week-old French Bullpuppy who lives in the charming little enclave of Bay Village with her parents, Erika and Mark. Like Logan, Bella is participating in Fat Orange Cat Studio’s Puppy Progress Package, or PPP, to document her stages of growth. I LOVE doing this.

Last weekend was Bella’s first session. The cutest session. The please-don’t-ever-grow-up session.

Bella is: itty bitty | Bella has: a floppy right ear | Bella loves: her stuffed seal | Bella eats: flowers

It’s a Showcase Showdown!

Bella: 1 Seal: 0

Seriously, can you stand it?! She is holding a flower, in her puppy MOUTH. Do I really need to break this down any more?

But can someone tell me why must baby eyes be so big and watery? It haunts my dreams.

I know you can’t really see her face, but the photo below is to underscore just how small she is.

I can’t believe she actually sat still for this, even if it was for just two seconds. That’s the thing though: see the shot in your head, and prepare to shoot in advance. I was ready to press the shutter as soon as her parents sat her down and jumped off frame. “HEY BELLA!” I sang and then click click click! She started to get up and walk towards me, but we were done.

I caught Bella’s Very First Jump!

“What I like to do is go BOING.”

There were a lot of gasps before and during the jump, and kissing of little paws after. Protective puppy parents are just as cute as the puppies themselves!

After our romp around Bay Village, we headed to the Boston Public Gardens.

Erika had a great idea to photograph Bella with the bronze ducklings. I hadn’t even entertained that idea, mostly because it’s usually swarming with parents taking photos of their children clamoring over the statues, and it seemed getting an open shot would be impossible. Luckily though, we found a moment where we had the ducks all to ourselves. First, Bella had to get a quick hair and makeup touch-up from her small crew of assistants.

Our moment alone with the ducklings didn’t last long. Bella made quite a splash. While keeping my eyes glued to the viewfinder and shooting away, I had a pretty clear notion that crowds were forming around us as a chorus of “Aaaaaaaaawww” and “Look at that puppeeeeeee!!” were being squealed all around. But I didn’t stop to see how many people were gathered around. It must have looked a little odd from their perspective. I was practically on my chin with my haunches waving in the air, trying to shoot Bella at eye-level. But not that anyone was stopping to look at my haunches anyway.

Bella was the star and a total scene – and ribbon – stealer!

Bella is thinking that she’s about to make some mischief.

“I wants it…I TAKES IT!”

She is so stinking cute. There’s not much more I can say.

My favorite photo…

Not only is Bella so pretty, but her mama is too. I like how her hair is off to one side, faintly blowing in the breeze…while Bella’s right ear continues to flop backwards, hee!

Ah, puppies. Though I’ll be kind of sad to see her all growing up, I’m excited for the next shoot. If indicators are correct, she’s going to be a sassy one. See you soon, Bella and thanks for being such an A++ model!