I had the absolute pleasure of photographing Marni, Chris and their dogs in the studio and wanted to share their images with you.  Here is a little information about Marni, and what she does…

Marni shares her life with her rescued companion animals who she says “rescued her.”  They are Oliver, 13 year old Shih Tzu, Cali, 10 year old Sheltie, Sydney 5 year old Sheltie, China and Panda both ferrets, Harley and Zuni Bear both cats and her human companion Chris.

Marni is the owner and trainer for HumaneK9.  She has worked with the Humane Society of Broward County for the past 14 years and currently continues her dedicated work there.  As part of the staff at the shelter, she has had the opportunity to work with and train a wide variety of dogs of all breeds.  It is with this knowledge and other forms of education that has prepared her to excel in the field of dog training.

At HumaneK9, we feel very strongly that a successful relationship is created between dog and human by building trust and mutual understanding.  We believe in and use humane training methods that enhance the communication between handler and dog.    We teach our classes using positive-reinforcement based training and encourage the use of humane “people empowering” techniques in our classes.  We do not employ or tolerate harsh and inhumane punishment-based methods, as we feel that this type of punishment breaks down the relationship between dog and handler and in itself, escalates aggression.

Marni is also the Manager of the Animal Assisted Therapy Program (pet therapy) at the Humane Society of Broward County.  In this capacity Marni trains, evaluates and certifies all people and pets interested in volunteering with the Humane Society of Broward County’s Animal Assisted Therapy Program.   As a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, Marni is consistently on the cutting edge of new dog training methods such as but not limited to: clicker training, target training, rally obedience, behavior modification as well as others.    In addition, Marni is a certified American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Good Citizen Evaluator and conducts classes to prepare people and dogs to take their CGC test.

I bought a set of colored gels for the studio lights and they arrived the other day.  I didn’t have long to play with them, but I did want to share the results I got from them.

Since the fabric backdrops I have weren’t hung up, I just threw them over a chair.  I put an orange gel on the light on the left and a red gel on the light on the right…shooting at the fabric….here are the results:

The top photos are of the fabric before the gels and the bottom photos are of the fabric after the gels.  As you can see…you can basically change your backdrops to whatever color you’d like!    Tons of possibilities here!

I plan to experiment much more, hopefully this coming week.

Even though I had a cold (still do actually), we had a great time in the studio this past weekend doing two different sessions.  I must say…before we get to the photos, I’ve got to give a huge shout out to the BEST photographer’s assistant in the word…my husband.   From adjusting props, making silly noises and faces, wearing some of the props (even arranging a phone call from Santa to our little five year old subject), to just being an all around amazing guy… he did it all!    And can you believe that tomorrow he and I will have been married 13 years!  Yes!  I just want to say to him, Happy Anniversary baby, I love you!

Here’s some shots of my husband in action:

No, that’s not a giant attacking the set, that’s him adjusting some props for the baby:

Here he is again, adding more props:

And, he doesn’t normally like his photo taken, but he did take one with his mom and his little niece!

Ok, and now to the photos from the two sessions!

Yesterday we had two shoots in the studio and I just wanted to share a sneak peek of Rhyan Elizabeth…this beautiful baby just so happens to be one of my nieces!