Hello all,

I wanted to share with you a few super fun events I have planned for this summer that I am very excited about.

I am calling them 'Special Screening' photography events.

These events will take place in various locations on set dates and will have a maximum number of people and dogs per event. What they will entail is simply terrific photography at terrific locations in and around Seattle and Washington State, with all dog owners involved converging in the same place at the same time. Part pet photography, part party!

The first event is coming up and the details follow:

Saturday July 14th. 10am-6pm: Pike Place Market + Waterfront

Cost: $100 per person for up to 2 dogs

Includes: 30-45 minute shoot, 3 archival 5x7 prints or $45 print credit, access to special discounted print packages, plus custom screensaver pack of 5 best shots.

Max 8 people (12 dogs). UPDATE: 4 spaces left as of 6/25- They are booking fast so if you are interested please send me as email as soon as possible.

Pre-registration + deposit are required.

Dogs, photographer and owners will meet at the Pike Place Market and have their photos taken with Rachel the pig, and in front of the fish market and flower shop, then move on to the Seattle Waterfront. Once there, dogs will have their photos taken near the ferries, overlooking Puget Sound and anywhere else they might like to be featured. It will be a fun day for both dog and owners, a great way to get terrific shots in front of beautiful backdrops at a reasonable price and a great way to get to know your fellow dog lovers!

The 2nd event will be:

Saturday August 18th Day Trip to Whidbey Island.

Cost: $250 per person for up to 2 dogs (same as the standard 'Feature' rate)

Includes:

• 90-120 minutes of photography services in multiple locations
• 4 8x10 fine art prints (or $100 in print or product credit) or custom hardcover photography book of 30 best shots
• 5 pack custom screensavers of images from the shoot.

We will spend the day roaming around their 2 large beautiful off-leash dog parks- one in the woods and one on the beach. We will break for lunch mid-way through at a cafe in Langley.

Max 6 people for this event. This will be a great way to plan for a standard photo session but in a superb location for no additional travel fees (ferry rates and lunch are not included). Please contact me for more details as I have tons more information than what you see here. I want to work intimately with each client to schedule this trip to provide a terrific experience for everyone.

Lastly, the 3rd event, the 'grande finale' is:

Saturday 9/15 + Sunday 9/16 Moclips/Ocean Shores Photography Weekend

Yes- the whole weekend!! Each pooch will have the opportunity to have their photos taken multiple times on both days in some of the most beautiful scenery in the state. For those who have never been to Moclips it is super dog-friendly and they have many pet-friendly lodging options to fit all pocketbooks. The ocean beach at Moclips is also an off-leash area which makes it perfect for Fido.

Cost: $250 per person for up to 2 dogs (same as the standard 'Feature' rate)

Includes:

• multiple sessions in multiple locations. (Basically I will have my camera out whether we are on the beach, near the fire or in the hot tub!)
• 4 8x10 fine art prints or 7x7 hardcover brag book with 30 best images
• custom pack of screensavers
• special gift bags for all attendees!

Please contact me with more details as I have a ton more information than what is posted here, including a list of pet-friendly lodging. I want to work intimately with each client to schedule this trip to provide a terrific experience for everyone. We will need to start booking lodging asap so the sooner I hear from those interested the better. If we are going to take over the town I want to make sure we give them enough forewarning, lol!

More information on all events will also be posted here as it comes available: http://www.cowbelly.com/55700.html

Thanks so much and I hope you all are having a terrific start to your summer! :-)

Feel free to forward this post to anyone you think may be interested in having their pooch involved in one of the fun summer 2007 events!

Jamie Cowbelly Stumble It!

Yesterday was a day I was very much looking forward to- my artist's reception in my very own hood, at Queen Anne's All The Best Pet Care store. The large decopaw art display went up, and looks terrific. It really livens up their walls, which, incidentally were filled with nail holes. So having bright, happy, colorful dogs and cats covering those walls is a very good thing.

I had a super fun time there talking to the customers and playing with the dogs, and I look very forward to working with many of the people I chatted with.

One of the dogs I met stood out above the rest: a little 11-week old white American Bulldog puppy named Daphny. In my humble opinion Daphny is the cutest. puppy. ever. See for yourself. :-)




















For more cute puppy photos go here.

To see all of the shots of the adorable All The Best dogs, check out the gallery here: AllTheBestGallery

Enjoy!

Jamie Cowbelly

Labels: cute dog photos, cute puppy photos, cutest dog ever, cutest puppy ever, cutest puppy in seattle

Stumble It!

I am super excited to announce that I will be holding an artist's reception/meet-n-greet at the Queen Anne location of All The Best Pet Care this Saturday 6/23 from 11-4.

As a Queen Anne resident, this is where I do all of my shopping for Fergie's doggy needs, and the last time I was in there I just happened to mention to the manager that I am a professional pet photographer. He told me that this month Queen Anne is having their first monthly Art Walk, on the 3rd Thursday of every month at participating merchants.

He thought that it would be fun if I came up and brought some art samples and business cards and met all of the great Queen Anne residents and their pooches. I agreed!

Although not officially on the Art Walk list in terms of displays and locations (we were too late to get on the list, and for me to get a new batch of art together), we thought having an artists's reception would be fun, and then starting next month have an official 'show', which if I have any control over will be photography (not art).

I haven't had a photography display up in several years, since I started offering my decopaw art, and am anxious to get more visibility for my photography- my #1 passion. This is the first step in that direction.

In the future, I will start holding photography events at All The Best and my other Seattle retailers/marketing partners.

SO, here are the details for this month, I will post more on next month as they come:

WHO?

Me- Jamie Pflughoeft, professional pet photographer and artist

WHEN?

Saturday 6/23 11am-4pm

WHERE?

Queen Anne location of All The Best Pet Store
2127 Queen Anne Ave N- upper Queen Anne near Starbucks, Paragon and Safeway
http://www.allthebestpetcare.com/locations.html

WHAT?

Treats, hugs and love for the doggies, art and photography samples and a portfolio for their parents to view, plus all of the information one could ever need on Cowbelly Pet Photography services.

WHY?

Because it's a super fun thing you can do with your dogs, and you also need to pick up some food/treats/toys/kitty litter, etc!

Please forward to anyone you think may be interested!

Hope to see everyone there!

Jamie Cowbelly Stumble It!

Now THAT was the most frustrating thing I have experienced in a long time.

My photography website- cowbelly.com, has been down all week, due to an issue with my account information with my webhost.

I will spare this blog reader from all of the horrible details, but basically the problem had to do with my web host's information not matching my bank's information on my business account. After no less than 4 phone calls between my bank and web host (enom.com) I am still at a loss as to what the problem is. And NOW, after attempting to process a transaction twice that should have gone through (that my bank approved), I have $150 in pending transactions from my web host, effectively freezing that money until they decide to lift them. Yet another phone call is in order to my web host, grrrrrr.

Let's just say this has been, a bit, um, crazy-making.

I am happy to say that my trusty paypal business account bailed me out, as, happily, all of THAT information apparently matches what enom has on file.

Update: After no less than 6 phone calls back and forth between my bank and webhost, my site is finally back online and the $150 in funds have been released back. I feel relieved but exhausted by the ordeal and could go for many stiff drinks on a beach somewhere.... :-P

The other good news is that I have finally found the solution to my web needs, that, happily, doesn't involve enom. I will be building an entirely new website for cowbelly.com, which will include domain registration and monthly hosting, from a company that produces a product that is nothing short of stunning.

I don't want to say too much about it but keep the site bookmarked and in the next couple of months it will be getting a MAJOR overhaul. I can't wait.

Also on the brighter side of things, I have been working on a new art technique from time to time over the last few months.

I realized that while doing all of the custom commissioned designs for clients, I still need to keep my creative edge, which means experimenting and trying to improve on what I am doing.

I have always wanted my art to have a very graphic quality, in fact was sincerely complimented the other day when a fellow photographer and artist assumed I use Illustrator for all of my art. I actually use Photoshop cs2 for all of my design needs. I WISH I knew how to use Illustrator and in fact have Illustrator cs on my mac, but, being the horrible student I am don't want to take the time to study the program.

I have always held graphic designers in such high esteem. I drool over so much graphic design work I see out there and get so inspired by it.

Even though it's not illustrator, photoshop does share some tools with it's more graphic-minded cousin.

Take the pen tool for example.

I have been wanting my art to have a more vector feel for a long time, and finally started playing around with the freeform pen tool.

The first two art pieces below were hand-drawn with the pen tool; each little shape and color were selected as I went along. I love the results but only wish I could get the process down below the billion hours it took me to do. If I actually knew what I was doing it probably wouldn't take as long, but I don't know that for sure- it still might.

In any case, take a look at the two new pieces using my new freeform pen tool technique.

Then the 3rd piece using photoshop's posterize adjustment + cutout filter (ok, it's not quite that simple, the process is a bit more complicated than that, but those are the two main 'effects' used on the dog). The cutout filter is a great vector type effect that rarely works the way I want it to on photos. I wanted something smoother and less angular, but still 'vectorized'.

Hence the first two proofs.

Check 'em out:

"Copa Smiling Pink"

In general I like it, but I need to work some more on the eyes. The first set were too glassy looking; actually too realistic for this process. I am getting the lighting on the corneas down, which is probably the most challenging part of the process, as I want them to have character, but not look too 'real'.




















"Before" photo:




















This is the first (and my favorite) one I did:

"Malibu Pink new technique"





















Malibu 'before':




















And lastly, a the piece designed using the cutout filter as one of the central parts of the process:

"Belle Pink" (sensing a them here? my favorite color is pink, lol)





















And Belle 'before':





















Hope you enjoy these new creations and I will keep posting them as I finish.

At some point I may even attempt to PAINT one of these in acrylic. I would love to have a big painted square canvas of Malibu Pink on my walls. :-)

Jamie Cowbelly Stumble It!

This art piece is for Lucy's mom, a gift from her son (Lucy's moms son, not Lucy's son).

It's funny- more often than not, my favorite proof ends up not to be the favorite of my clients. Out of the 4 proofs that I design it almost never fails that my favorite ends up sitting on my harddrive.

That is the beauty of this design process. Everyone has their own tastes in art, which are very subjective, and this process gives me the flexibility to really nail down a piece that they are really happy with. Being able to make changes once the initial proofs are done is great too- it's something I usually end up doing with each piece to make slight tweaks or even major color changes.

I am super picky about art- so if it was me commissioning one of my own pieces, I would be sending me paint chips and hand-drawn sketches and pages from magazines, and references to tons of examples. I would be a pain in my own butt, lol!

So, back to the proofs that end up sitting on my harddrive, I have decided to post my favorites ('rejects', lol), here so they don't feel left out. :-)

This is Lucy. She is a Papillon. It is french for 'butterfly'. Just like their ears (um, butterflies, not french). Oh whatever! (I need some coffee...)

Enjoy!

This is my fave

"Lucy Winter Sky"



















and this is my client's fave (and his mom's b-day gift!)

"Lucy Soft Sun"




Stumble It!

I have been furiously playing catch up with art commissions this weekend, annoying friends and family who call and say "let's go play!". I say "no! I have work to do!" I love what I do and they don't seem to realize for me that work is play, lol.

So I have been trying to catch up on art commissions, which I have fallen behind on the last couple of weeks while caring for a sick relative and taking care of some marketing projects. My apologies to Sasha's mom and Lucy's T.'s dad and Kiera's mom and Gizmo's dad, and Lucy K.'s mom. Oh- and Carlos's mom! I swear I will have his canvas ready this week!

I just finished the proofs of Sasha for her mom. Sasha's mom requested all warm colors, to go with Sasha's fur colors. Sasha was a beautiful rottie who has sadly passed.

While playing around with the sliders in a gradient (which I often do), I stumbled upon a beautiful combination with Sasha. However, Sasha's mom was pretty clear that she didn't want any blue or green in the piece, so instead of selfishly putting a blatantly blue proof in Sasha's gallery, lol, I decided to have it live here. :-)

I love this one as I think it has all of the visual drama that I normally think of when I think of rottweilers. Sasha was so beautiful (with a remarkably large head!), and I think the black of the trees and the hint of sunset provide a nice contrast to her black fur and auburn eyes.

Enjoy!

Stumble It!

I decided to put this post up just in case any of the folks who are signed up for my event at Lucky Dog Daycare in Tacoma on Saturday the 16th just happened to stumble onto the blog looking for information.

I would have posted this info sooner but we are still finalizing details. I swear whenever I work with Lucky Dog I am always late with the planning stage, lol.

I am very excited however as this will be the 11th (12th?) event I have done at Lucky Dog. I have done 10+ 'Decopaw Daze' events at Lucky Dog Outfitters and I just love Jen and Tara (the owners) and their customers.

What the event is:

Customer Appreciation Photography Event featuring the services of Cowbelly Pet Photography

Who is it for:

30 Lucky Dog Daycare patrons and their pooches

What is involved:

A mini shoot of/for each of the dogs owned by the 'lucky' daycare patrons signed up for the event

What time does it start?

The daycare has the list of the folks who are signed up, and what time their appointment times are. The first shoot starts in the morning and the last shoot ends in the late afternoon. Check with the gals at the daycare if you need to find out your appointment time.

What does it involve?

It will involve a documentary-style shoot of your pup in their favorite romping place- the daycare. We will take some outdoor shots on the playground, and in the yard, some indoor shots, some shots on the bus, whatever your pup likes. We can find out from Jen and Tara where their favorite spots are and what they love to do. We will be documenting "A Day in the Life of "YourDoggie" at Lucky Dog Daycare". :-)

What is included?

As far as I know (and again, these details will be ironed out by weeks-end), each client will receive a free 5x7 print and have the option to purchase discounted print packages, plus a special offer only available to daycare patrons.

The whole process will be super easy and fun.

What should attendees do to prep?

Nuthin! Unless your pup has been rolling in goose poop, no preparations are needed. (Goose-poop rollers may want to get hosed down and spritz on some cologne first).

IF your pup is concerned with looking good for his/her photo shoot, he/she may wish to have a manicure, and spa treatment prior to the shoot (read: bath). They may even elect to bring a change of wardrobe if they are of the fashion-minded canine set (read: cute outfits, hats, etc). If they are concerned about being anxious for their big moment, they may wish to go for a short run to blow off some steam so they can be nice and relaxed for the shoot.

What should attendees (doggy parents) do during the shoot?

Again- nuthin!

The best shots come when there is the least amount of involvement from the parent. Sorry- I know this sounds terrible but it's true, lol!

The rules are basically: don't call or say your pups name. Don't make hand-gestures to get your pup's attention. Don't worry if it looks like it is taking longer than it should, or if you think they aren't doing something they should be doing or are doing something they shouldn't be doing. Don't worry about me getting frustrated- it rarely happens.

Your job is just to relax and watch and have fun and watch your pup shine!

If I need your help I will be sure to ask for it. If I need to place you in a certain spot I will give you direction. If I look confused, it's just because I am visualizing the next shot. (I tend to look like a deer caught in the headlights when trying to envision something, lol).

What if I have more questions that aren't answered here?

Please don't hesitate to ask! Feel free to email me anytime at info@cowbelly.com

And by all means feel free to get excited about the event- you (and your pups) deserve it!

Looking forward to meeting you! :-)

Jamie Cowbelly Stumble It!

And get yourself a brand-spanking new one that expresses your love (or obsession) with pets!

Several months ago I put up a post about the new mobile website I contribute content to called Pet Lounge. Well, I was so excited that I accidentally jumped the gun because they were still in beta mode at that time. (woops).

Well now they are totally live and they are just waiting for folks to come and download their favorite pet-themed ringtones and screensavers! At less than $2 for a wallpaper, it's a super affordable way to add a little bit of color and joy to your life. Heck- you could even have one for every day of the week and still not break the bank.

Along with lots of Decopaw art screensavers from yours-truly, there are also a whole host of other fun images, including some of the cutest kitten photos I have ever seen.

Or, if it's your ringtone that really makes you yawn (or annoys the people in your office), try downloading a houndog or purring kitty ringtone- they are so cool! I guarantee you will be the only person in the elevator whose phone is mooing, lol.

Click on the link to be taken to their site: http://www.petlounge.net/

PetLounge.net; Funky Pet & Animal Wallpapers & Ringtones for Your Mobile Phone












Be sure to bookmark the site- they will be adding new content soon- including more decopaw and standard Cowbelly photo wallpapers and some fun and colorful decopaw flash screensavers.

Have fun!!

Jamie Cowbelly Stumble It!

This is Scout. Scout lives in the Greenlake neighborhood of Seattle. Scout's mom June came to an art show opening I held at Great Dog Daycare. It turns out that I knew them from before my pet photography career. I used to walk a dog who lives 3 doors down from them named Yuki.

Ok- Yuki is not just any dog, she is my goddaughter (or as I like to say 'dog-daughter'). She is the 2nd most love of my life, behind Fergie. In fact, in some ways she is even more special to me than Fergie. Words cannot express how much I love Yuki (seen pictured below Scout, the black lab). I have never met a dog before her, or since, quite like her.

SO, I found it really ironic that years later, June would randomly show up at one of my art shows, and have already decided to use my photography services, not knowing that we had in fact met, and chatted, before. And that I was the one that walked by her house on a daily basis with yuki. I had even rubbed Scout's head a few times!

How funny!

Here is Scout. He is funny. He is crooked. I like him like that. :-)














Scout was so much fun to photograph. I had a great time, and I think he did too, although as luck would have it we ended up doing the shoot on the first really HOT day this year, and poor Scout was a bit on the warm side to say the least. I kept trying to get him out of the shadows for better lighting and scenery. He wanted to stay there because it was the only cool spot to be found. He was a great sport! We had a blast playing with his rubber ring toys. If I had more time I'd post a few pictures of him inside in front of the fireplace- he is SUCH a looker. Handsome, handsome boy...

And here is Yuki, the original love of my life:
(she is an American Bulldog for those who would like to know)




















Yuki is the biggest, sweetest dog you will every meet. When she wags her body stuff gets knocked over- like tables and big stuff. She loves everybody. You can just wrap your arms around all 100 pounds of her and she will try and squirm free and lick you all over and grab whatever toy is closest.

She really is the sweetest. Well, unless you are a dog that she doesn't know, in which case she would want to kill you.

Hey- we all have our flaws, lol!! Stumble It!