Smile Like a Dog

Golden Moment

Mark — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:40:48 +0000

Last weekend a client gave me a wee bit of somewhat deserved grief for not featuring more Golden Retrievers like his beautiful dog, Maya, on my site. “Afterall,” he said, ” They’re only one of the top 5 most popular breeds in the country.” Odd, I thought, I know I’ve photographed more than my fair share but I wonder why I don’t have them up on my blog or any of my featured galleries. I spent some time going through my archives this week and hereby dedicate this post to Maya and all the other underserved Goldens in the San Francisco Bay area.

Maya

Tess

Bella

Jasper (and Scruffy)

Cody

Cover Girl

Mark — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:26:21 +0000

This week was a milestone for me. I had my first published magazine cover shot with the San Francisco SPCA’s award-winning Our Animals quarterly. Many heartfelt thanks to Paul Glassner, the editor of said publication for giving me a shot at this and being such a good mentor.The subject, Nikah, is an adorable Chi-terrier mix that I met at the SPCA during the Small-dog class we took our own terrier mix to. Congrats, Nikah. You’re a star!

Topper

Mark — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:07:34 +0000

I had a great shoot with a nice little guy named Topper last weekend. Topper was recently adopted from San Francisco Animal Care & Control and he ended up in a great home with a dad who just adores him. One of his dad’s friends gave the session as a gift.

Topper is a chihuahua mix with personality (and energy) to spare. He also happens to have one of the more unique gaits I’ve ever seen…sort of slide-along-and-hover-with-front-paws-raised type number. It was most amusing.

Topper with his favorite toy

Topper doing his signature move — sort of looks like he’s skating

What would Brian Boitano do?

Wheeeeeeeeee!

Live to play…play to live

More toys, please

Diego

Mark — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:17:40 +0000

I’m a complete sucker for older dogs. They get so much nobler and mellower as they age and I love the way ones with darker fur mask as they gray. I met a nice old fellow named Diego last weekend on a shoot for veterinarian starting a house-call business here in San Francisco. Diego is a shepherd-greyhound mix and as you’ll see from the shots below he’s just lovely.

Lexington, the Maltese Yorkie Mix

Mark — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:58:19 +0000

Last weekend I met one of the cuter dogs I’ve ever photographed. Lexie (her mom spent some time in NYC) is an adorable little maltese-yorkie mix who has her new mom — a first-time dog owner — completely smitten. After our first session I definitely joined the club.

Lexie hasn’t completed all her shots yet so we’ve split the session in two with a first round indoors and a second go after she’s cleared for ground-touching. I can hardly wait to see her puppy her way around the dog park.

Project Homeless Connect #22

Mark — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:02:30 +0000

Those of you who read this blog semi-regularly know that I volunteer for an organization here in San Francisco called Project Homeless Connect. Every 6 weeks or so PHC holds an event at a major venue in town where homeless service organizations and homeless clients meet. In a word, it’s amazing. You’ve really never seen anything like it unless you’ve actually been there. For a photographer that’s a serious challenge but I do my best. As a pet photographer, the icing on the cake is that PHC also services homeless companion animals and, trust me, the bond between these noble creatures and their owners is as strong or stronger than any you’ve ever seen.

PHC #22 took place about a week ago down at Pier 48 near ATT Park (we all still call it PacBell even though the name changes corporate sponsors every other year). You can see all my shots here but my favorites are below.

Bark Like a…Bunny

Mark — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:48:15 +0000

OK, while the name of this blog pretty much blares my primary client base I’m not discriminatory when it comes to pet photography. While the vast majority of my subjects are of the canine variety there still are others and last week I had my first rabbits - Peanut and Baby Girl. Now, admittedly, I was fairly ignorant about bunnies but was pleasantly surprised by the personality quotient–particularly when it came to Peanut (subtext: the boy had attitude). Very cute, very expressive and very, very feisty. Bring more bunnies on — I’m ready for them.

Guest Blogging with Dogster!

Mark — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:01:54 +0000

My good friends at Dogster recently asked me to help fill in on their For the Love of Dog Blog while they search for a new full-time blogger.

My first post was yesterday. I went with a you-provide-the-caption approach for a funny shot I took a few weeks ago and the response has been pretty decent — last I checked there were 50+ comments, which I’ll take any day of the week.

Check it out

Under One Roof Photo Event

Mark — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:04:40 +0000

Last Saturday I held my first monthly photo event down at Under One Roof. We promoted it as being for pets and kids but the vast majority of the folks that signed up for it brought dogs. It was a lot of fun. The folks at the store are great and pretty much rearranged the space as I needed it and let me use any of the merchandise I wanted to for props. Most of the clients opted for the pseudo-studio setting with either a leather bench or red dog bed (and in one case, a pink feather boa)

Out of this shoot came one of my single favorite shots of the year - it’s of a Pomeranian named Hershey and his colleague, Missy (a chihuahua mix). See it and many other of my favorites down below

Abyssinians On Parade

Mark — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:49:40 +0000

Of course, anyone visiting a blog called Smile Like a Dog will be a bit surprised to see pictures of cats. While most of my pet clients are of the canine variety I do get my fair share of feline posers and I have to say I’ve had a run lately with cats of the Abyssinian persuasion. My most recent session was with a trio of Abbies named Mike, Deano and Rose. Mike’s still very active and spry at the ripe old age of 18 and he’s got personality to spare. Deano and Rose are a bit more shy but no less photogenic. I’ll let you judge the results for yourself…