Handsome Boys

I have been slacking on the blogging lately, but I have been super busy! Both Celeste and Miriam from my previous post were adopted and Silva (pictured below) was adopted 3 days after our shoot! 

This project has been so fun and rewarding, I only wish I had more time to hang out with these beautiful souls. I am a little bummed because it was requested I leave leashes in the photos, but secretly I am a little happy because it saves me on some editing time :)

First Love Connection

I received great news last night! My first foster dog/model was adopted!!! I am not sure if I had anything to do with it, but what a happy ending! I am so happy for this love match.

Single Ladies

I am so thrilled to begin my new project. I am a day foster volunteer with Maricopa County Animal Care and Control. I take adoptable dogs out of the shelter for a day of hiking and fun, and of course, they get a full photo shoot while they are out! I am hoping to capture their personalities and they will find perfect families :) Here are my first two single gals for the project "I'm a Keeper, Are You?"

Snow Day for Nikita

Nikita loves the snow! Although she didn't understand me telling her why we couldn't have snow all the time - but Phoenix doesn't really support a white Christmas! Good thing snow is only an hour or two away. 

Nikita in Prescott, AZ

Happy New Year! For the first shoot of the year, Nikita was the model in Prescott, Arizona. Of course she will always be my favorite model, although 2014 holds big plans for JAK Photography :)

These images were shot with my new 50mm 1.4 lens and edited with my new Lightroom 5 and Photoshop.

Japanese Garden

 Sunday I spent the day wandering around the Japanese Friendship Garden in Downtown Phoenix. It was a beautiful and peaceful spot that I hope to return to. The koy fish are so used to people feeding them that they swarm up to you when you reach the water's edge, and they beg for food very similar to a dog. Some of the fish had to be larger than a chihuahua too.

I am pretty proud of how I pulled this image together in Lightroom/Photoshop. It was a really hard exposure to capture. 

On this image I wanted to pull out the details and make the colors pop. I loved the range of colors and contrast in the fish swarming around food. I don't think it is super dramatic, but it makes the image a little more dynamic than the before shot.

Canon EF 40mm f2.8 in Pet Photography

I got a Canon 40mm 2.8 as part of a bundle and haven't really used it. Since I am in the process of cleaning things out for the new years and taking inventory, I wanted to test out what I have and see if it would satisfy my needs so I could postpone spending more money. Nikita enjoyed playing ball in the dog park while I tested the equipment.

I was pleasantly surprised at the speed of the lens for the action shots, although I prefer a more shallow depth of field. For the portraits I really wanted a different aperture, but it did yield sharp photos. Of course I was fighting midday sun in these.