Posted on December 19, 2011 in Animals, People, Pet Photography
Congratulations to Team Malachy [GCH CH PalaceGarden Malachy] on winning Best in Show in Allentown yesterday! That marks the 49th BIS this year for Pekingese Malachy and handler David Fitzpatrick! Malachy finishes the year as the #2 dog all breeds! Watching David & Malachy in the ring always makes me smile — hope to see you both again soon! Congrats on a fabulous year!
Posted on December 16, 2011 in Animals, People, Pet Photography
Posted on December 14, 2011 in Animals, Painting Effect, People, Pet Photography
Next time you are looking to add a furry member to your family, please visit your local animal shelter or rescue. There are SO MANY great cats and dogs in shelters just waiting for someone to love them and give them a forever home. Their stories will often break your heart. Just this week I visited the shelter where I volunteer and met “Jackson” – an adorable Schnauzer/Jack Russell Terrier mix who is estimated to be 12 weeks old. He was found over the weekend tied outside of a department store – in the cold – and out of sight of the surveillance cameras so no one could trace who left him there. He is the sweetest pup…how could anyone do such a thing? The good news is that Jackson may be going to a new home tomorrow! He’s one of the lucky ones. Not all of the dogs and cats in shelters have such a happy ending. Many are there for very long periods of time….or worse. Today’s blog image features a little boy playing with some cats that were available for adoption at a recent show that I attended. The show was held at a community center where one wall in the lunch area was covered with tiles designed and painted by the 4th grade class of a local elementary school. I found it so perfect that one of the center tiles said “Adopt a Pet”! Please ….. adopt!
Posted on December 8, 2011 in Animals, People, Pet Photography
Connie Webb is an allbreed international judge and instructor for TICA – The International Cat Assocation. In September she was selected by TICA members as the judge who best respresented the organization’s goals during the year and named 2011 Judge of the Year. Congratulations Connie! What a wonderful and well-deserved honor! When I was at the cat show over the weekend, a number of people mentioned to me that Connie was this year’s recipient and how well-respected and loved she is as a person as well as a judge. Not only do the TICA members love her, but the cats love her, too! Connie has a very sweet and gentle nature about her and transfers her love to each cat that she handles. She told me that she likes to think that each cat is her own for the moments that they are on her judging table and that is exactly what you feel as you watch her judge. In the image above, Connie gets a hug from the cat that she named her “Best Household Pet” at the show I attended. She gave each of the finalists’ owners in this category an opportunity to tell their cat’s name and a little about them. What wonderful stories we heard about cat’s that were rescued from shelters and now have gone on to the cat show ring! If you ever attend a TICA cat show, be sure and look for Connie – her ring will be the one with the largest crowd of people! 🙂
Posted on December 3, 2011 in Animals, People, Pet Photography
When I was photographing the Group and Best in Show competition at The National Dog Show, the dogs and handlers crossed right in front of me as they moved for the judges. Being so close to the action was exciting but also challenging from a photography point of view. I was using my 70-200mm lens which worked great but at times was either too short or too long! I could have used a longer lens when photographing the dogs across the show floor and on the judging table and I wouldn’t have minded a shorter one when the dog and handler ran right past me. I had a lot of opportunity to practice panning with my camera with the most difficulty being keeping both dog and handler in focus and composed pleasingly in the frame. I particularly like the striking cool colors of the white Borzoi, blue carpet and the handler’s bright pink suit in this image.