A funny thing happened on the way to the engagement shoot......

As I mentioned in my last post, we spent a short time at the Robinswood Dog Park last night before Nikki & Ryan's engagement shoot. I always take a camera with me when we go to the park with Kaya, our standard schnauzer, as dogs do the funniest things when they're let loose with a bunch of other dogs. Last night was no exception.

This little guy was in love with Steve & was in his lap every time the poor guy sat down. Steve's not much of a chihuahua type--like most guys, it isn't really a dog until it's at least 30 pounds or so....



Then we found out he was a wee bit of a climber:



But what we didn't realize was his ultimate goal: Apparently he's had a lifetime dream of being a hat!



He actually did get all four legs onto Steve's head! Unfortunately the pictures at that point didn't come out....no amount of image stabilization will make up for the photographer doubled over laughing!

Nikki & Bryan...& Charlie too!

We had a wonderful time with Nikki & Bryan last night at Robinswood Park. It was important to them to include their year and a half old Puggle (that's a cross between a pug & beagle for you non dog folks!). As young dogs do, Charlie was FULL of energy, so we ran him around the dog park for half an hour before the start of shooting. It was a perfect arrangment; he was an absolute angel for the rest of the evening. :)

My absolute favorite photo was this one:



Poor Charlie was so confused as to why I was on the ground!

A few other favorites:









Full size versions can be viewed on my website under Event Galleries. This is also where the remainder of the shoot will appear in a few days.

Nikki & Bryan, we had a blast working with you & wish you all the best as you continue your wedding planning! And give Charlie a hug from us both. :)

A Visit to Northwest Trek

If you're a photographer in the Seattle area and you've never been to Northwest Trek, you're in for a treat. It's well worth the drive to darn near Mt. Rainier, even on a freezing cold April morning!

The animals in the park, by and large, are in open enclosures rather than cages. They also have a significant number of grazers in a huge park-like area that is navigated by hourly trams. The windows on the trams open--great for those long lenses--and the drivers routinely stop for nearby critters, which makes for some easy captures.

We went a few weeks ago with a group of Washington & Oregon photographers from POTN; in spite of the early morning wakeup call, we had about 10 people turn out. It was a blast!

The running joke was that we'd have a whole series of animal butts as much of what we saw at first couldn't be bothered to face us:





But finally we had some cooperative subjects.








The bison in particular were fascinating--on a 35 degree morning, every breath created a puff of smoke!



And we spent a good 45 minutes with the raccoons. They were INCREDIBLY active for midday, and most of us blew through CF cards very quickly.




Make the time to visit this park soon, it's well well worth it!