Samantha Grey Photography

Cooper the Great Dane

2011-03-03T15:38:53Z

Cooper is a great big goofy ball of love. He’s silly and dignified by turns. He will crack you up and melt your heart in the span of 5 minutes.

Cooper, like most Great Danes, loves his toys. People who are unfamiliar with the breed tend to think that Great Danes are these super-serious dogs. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Cooper lives with his mom, Renee. I got to know Renee through not one but two of the rescues that I’ve worked with. She is an amazing person and I’m lucky to know her.

I hope you enjoyed spending the afternoon with Cooper and Renee. I know I did.

Thank you, Renee and Cooper, for sharing your lives with me.

Mallory the Great Dane Puppy Sleeps Over

2011-02-18T22:33:48Z

Between travel, being sick, and shooting like a crazy person, I’ve gotten to the point where I’m sitting on a huge pile of photos to publish here. I have this elaborate plan for working through this pile, but it got disrupted by Mallory. Who’s Mallory, you ask? Mallory is a 25 lb bundle of adorable Great Dane puppyhood, and this is the story of how she came over to my house for a sleepover.

I was curled up in bed, flipping through my emails on my iPad when the email came in from BDHP. Mallory the Great Dane puppy needed a ride to the airport so that she could get to her forever home in California. Hey wait a minute! She needs a ride to the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. Why, I live practically next door to that tiny regional airport! Of COURSE I want to give her a ride to her flight out. Since she was flying out early in the morning, we thought it would be best if I drove her down from Fort Collins the night before and had her sleep over with us.

If you’re following along, what this spells is “FREE PUPPY SLEEPOVER.” Score!

I drove to Fort Collins and loaded Mallory into my car. This was the first time that she had been separated from her sister-puppy, Isabella, and she was whimpering. Her foster mom immediately covered her with her blankie that smelled of home and Isabella.

Mallory calmed down. (Also, if the sight of Mallory in her blankie doesn’t just melt your heart, you need to see a doctor. There’s something wrong with you.)

The miles flew past quickly with Mallory fast asleep in the back seat of my car. Soon enough, we were home, where Mallory immediately claimed ownership of my bed.

We settled in for the night. I was expecting a rough night with Mallory crying for her sister, but the only noises I heard were Mallory and Nick in a snoring competition. I don’t know who won, but I do know that I lost that one, for sure.

I woke up at 4.30AM to try and get Mallory ready to go to the airport. Hey Mallory?

Wake up, Mallory!

Mallory, wake up! We gotta go to the airport!

Hey Mallory! Show me your best “AWWW what a sleepy puppy!” pose!

Eventually, I got Mallory upright and almost awake.

Yep, definitely awake.

Okay, kind of awake.

By the way, want to see the most adorable Cute Overload style ‘tocks in the world?

Told you.

Anyway, we got in the car and schlepped over to the airport. Now, here’s the fun part. I was kind of expecting an industrial loading-dock style drop-off area, since that’s what I saw when I flew my Great Dane to India with me. Nope. Mallory was flying IN STYLE. Her flight was with Pet Airways, who specialize in transporting pets across the country. Their animals fly in the cabin with light, heat, etc. When I got to the drop-off area, the wonderful ladies at Pet Airways knew who she was before we even said a word. Everyone insisted on cuddling Mallory AT ONCE!

And then they took Mallory away and our sleepover was finished and I drove home. Except, I can’t quite get Mallory out of my head. What a sweet puppy. Her forever home is very, very lucky to have her!

Marble and Timber

2010-11-17T10:33:23Z

Cat photography can be difficult. I mean, hello, they’re cats. They know that they’re the boss of you and they’re quite willing to demonstrate this to you as many times as it takes to drive the point home. So if you’re a photographer and you want to work with cats, you had better do it with humility and a total willingness to look like an idiot for your feline subjects. I mean bosses. Your feline bosses.

Thankfully, being a photographer around these two cats was super easy. They worked the camera like pros! (One of them hogs the limelight a little more than the other. I wonder if you can tell which one.)

Now, before we get into the next couple of photos, I want to emphasize that most cats are lactose intolerant. These two are not most cats. The only side effect they experience from lapping up milk-based treats like eggnog is the desire for more eggnog.

Naturally, we served them some eggnog, as a special treat.

Note: The photos below will suggest to you that the two cats are sharing this treat. Nothing could be further from the truth. Marble attacked the eggnog with the kind of speed and efficiency that makes you think of buzzsaws. Timber got her paw in every now and again when the cup was not already occupied by the other cat’s paw. By my completely unscientific estimate, I’d say that Marble got about 75% of the nog, which is both impressive and a little frightening. I would not want to come between that cat and her food.

Of course, my feline bosses told me that I can’t end this post on that photograph. So, let’s end on these portraits instead: two graceful cats, posing charmingly in their cozy Colorado home. (Stop giggling!)

Howl-o-ween Costumes!

2010-10-29T22:44:21Z

We had a great turnout for Big Dogs Huge Paws’ annual Howl-o-ween Costume Party at the Only Natural Pet Store in Boulder! The costumes ranged from adorable to absolutely mind-blowing.

My favorites were the flower-garden bulldogs, complete with the pint-sized bumblebee-bullie.

I mean, seriously, how ADORABLE can you get? The dogs were really good sports about wearing the outfits, but I bet they were glad to get home and go back to not being in costume! ;)

Then, of course, we had George the Horse (or as I’ve been calling him: George the Demon Steed.) Great Dane owners everywhere will both applaud and groan at this costume. Back when I lived with a Dane, we got “Oh my God, it’s a horse!” comments all the time. (And less frequently, the “Can I ride him?” comments, usually from really hopeful 5-year-olds.)

Here are a few of the other costumes that really caught my eye:

Yeah, that’s Robin Hood dressed up as a Papillon! No wait, it’s the other way around. (Remy’s mom: you’re awesome. This was an exquisite costume, all handmade!) I also fell in love with Turk (on the right) on the spot. He was just so astoundingly easy to work with. One of the things that I found very challenging in this setting was that I generally had only a few minutes with each dog, which as any photographer will tell you, isn’t enough time to get a pet comfortable and looking natural in front of the camera, especially in a high-distraction environment like a pet store. For Turk, this wasn’t even remotely an issue. He just hammed it up as if he was a supserstar canine top model!

That’s Modoc, the saddest (and largest) bumblebee in the world. I wish I could have photographed her with the much smaller Brule-the-bulldog-bee!

All in all, it was an awesome event. Many, many, many thanks to the people that came by with their dogs (whether in costume or not!) and to Only Natural Pet Store for hosting the event. Guys, I can’t sing praises for this store loudly enough. I was really floored at their amazing product selection and the kind and friendly staff there. Thanks also to Big Dogs Huge Paws—they are an amazing rescue for big dogs of all varieties, and one that I am proud to align myself with. Great job, everyone! :)

Costume Party and Holiday Cards!

2010-10-21T00:30:39Z

Big Dog Huge Paws’ annual Howl-o-ween costume party!

When: 1pm to 5pm on Saturday, October 23rd.
Where: Only Natural Pet Store in Boulder, CO (map)

As regular followers of this blog know, Big Dogs Huge Paws is one of my favorite animal rescue organizations in the Denver and Boulder area. So when BDHP asked me if I’d be interested in providing photography for their Howl-o-ween costume party, I jumped at the chance!

I will be offering mini-sessions (with no sitting fee!) at the event, with product packages ranging from $49 to $149. You will also be able to order holiday cards made from your photos. The drop-dead gorgeous design comes from Mariana over at Marble Sharp. She created this specifically for this setup and I am way, way, WAY in love with how perfect these cards are!

(Side Note: I highly recommend that you bring your pet’s favorite treats and toy(s) with you. I usually have freeze-dried liver treats and squeakers on hand, but you are the best judge of what gets your pet’s attention!)

Ode to my Graphic Designer

2010-10-18T20:38:07Z

Over the past few months, I’ve been working with the extraordinarily talented Mariana Wallig of Marble Sharp (a graphic design studio) to design my brand identity. Today, we’re launching the new website design, which is a huge milestone for us. Mariana designed my logo, website, business cards (pictured below), and letterhead. Her work has consistently blown me away. When we started, I thought that she would create these things for me and that over time I’d settle into them, and eventually they’d feel like “me”.

I was completely wrong.

Every single thing that she has designed has felt like it belongs to me, right from the start. The design leans heavily on my Indian heritage, but makes it bold and fresh with the kind of expert touch that only a designer like Mariana can bring to a project. I thank my lucky stars every day that I chose to work one-on-one with a great designer than design my identity myself or go to a place like 99designs. I go to one person for all my design needs, and that person is so familiar with me and my business that she creates beautiful work that’s always perfect for what I need it to do. (Even when i don’t even know what I need, exactly. Or perhaps, especially then!)

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing more of Mariana’s work with you, but the very first thing I want to share are my business cards. Early in the process, we both agreed that we loved the idea of having a variety of cards that fit a theme. Eventually, we decided that the backs of the cards would feature different animal silhouettes, and email addresses like woof@, meow@, chirp@, etc. Now that I have the cards in hand, I have a great time fanning the cards out in front of clients and letting them choose the card they like best.

Check it out, I even have a giraffe card. If I ever run into a giraffe owner, oh boy am I ever going to have the right business card for them!

(Mariana, you’re amazing.)

Regan’s Birthday Party

2010-10-08T06:29:08Z

People who take the time to celebrate their dog’s birthday party have a special place in my heart. (Especially when you add BBQ, pool, and beer to said party!) Amber, you’re awesome and Regan is very lucky to have you.

P.S. If you ever want to know what herding cats feels like, try getting a party full of dogs to wear their birthday hats. Even if the other dogs had been inclined to keep their hats on, Regan was determined to keep this from happening. She ran around, grabbing the hats off the other dogs almost as fast as Amber could put them on.

Blaze the Basenji

2010-10-04T20:43:08Z

Basenjis are such curious dogs. During his session, Blaze constantly darted from one place to another, sniffing and investigating what was going on. I have never seen any dog keep tabs on a back yard quite this effectively!

Macy the Havanese

2010-10-18T20:40:04Z

Macy is a three year old Havanese who is currently being fostered in Denver. She spent the first two years of her life locked in a cage at a puppy mill. She is slowly learning to trust the world around her. During my session with her, she was too terrified to come close to me, but she was intensely curious about the noises that my camera was making. She desperately wanted to come closer to investigate things, but was just too terrified. The session was a hard one for me because my standard response in these situations is to coo to the animal in front of me and try to comfort it by softly stroking it, but I didn’t want to stress her out more than she already was.

Macy, I hope you find a home soon.

Travel Part 1: Banff

2010-09-08T20:23:14Z

I’ve been missing from the blog for a while. I’m proud to report that at least some of that is due to some long-overdue travel. I went to Canada for a week. My favorite day that week was by far the day that I went to Banff. I loved the rough texture of the Banff mountains. Frazer and I cracked jokes about how the Banff mountains were all rough and raggedy because they hadn’t been around long enough to develop the more sophisticated texture that the mountains in Colorado have developed.

Our first stop was the historic Banff Springs Hotel. I loved the European feel of the property. It’s perfectly situated for a photographer – a grand building with the majestic mountains acting as a backdrop. (Imagine my delight when I found out that this was the result of a mistake made by the builder. The hotel was supposed to FACE the mountains!)

For sunset, we went to Lake Moraine, a UNESCO world heritage site in the Valley of the Ten Peaks. I was fascinated by the impossibly turquoise-blue waters of the lake. It’s a color that I associate with travel brochures, not reality. If you’re ever in the Banff area, take the time to visit Lake Moraine. (At sunset!)

Although I was reluctant to leave, Frazer pointed out that (a) I was running out of light, and more importantly, (b) it was starting to get downright chilly. We headed back down the winding road when I spotted this reflection in the water from about a kilometer away. I readied my camera and took the shot from a moving vehicle. (It worked out surprisingly well!)