Tonya Pet Photo

Austin Humane Society’s Most Adoptablest

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:33:54 +0000

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Here’s a Fun Fact: My very first pet was a beautiful but clumsy little furball kitty from the Pinellas County Humane Society. Then, when I was in photography school in Atlanta I worked at the Dekalb Humane Society and brought home my work in the form of another cat — this time a sweet, pudgy meatball named Keisha. So I’m totally psyched to be able to give back. Last week I took pictures of some of the most adoptablest (it is too a word) pets at the Austin Humane Society. They are all wonderful, and all in need of a good home and I was more than happy to help. We’re working on making this a regular thing, so keep your eyes peeled for future cuteness. And if you’re in Austin get down there and snatch one of these sweet furbabies up! ]]>

Pittie Pups

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:15:27 +0000

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Hi. Wow. It’s been a while. I have so many exciting things to share with you that I’m about busting at the seams. In fact I’ve been working A LOT. But all the jobs are top secret. That’s right – I now work on secret projects. But I can share this with you. Emancipet is giving a Valentine’s gift to all the Austin area Pitties out there. Today through February 18th, you can have your Pit Bull or Pit Bull mix spayed/neutered and receive free surgery, free microchip, and free rabies vaccination. Love it! All the details are here.

And speaking of Emancipet & Pitties…Here are some outtakes from the holiday shoot I did for them, and the lovely holiday card itself. It was a Pittie puppy parade that day, and it was perfect.

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody! Be good to each other today! xo

Pawsh Magazine

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:58:50 +0000

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Issue 4 of Pawsh Magazine came out yesterday and guess who’s in it. Sire! What? You don’t remember Sire? Well, click here to refresh your memory. And then maybe go out and stock up on some ginkgo for that whole memory thing we were just talking about.

Sire’s a gorgeous model, but between us – he’s also a bit of a diva. If he’s not feeling it, he is not afraid to pick up his poop bag and run. Trust me I know, he’s done it. But like any true professional, at the end of the day, after all the tantrums, (and all the pepperoni treats) he was worth every minute. I mean look at him, he’s gorgeous.

Liza

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:20:12 +0000

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Say hi to Liza. (Liza says hi back.) Liza had the extremely minor honor of being the last shoot of 2011. And now here we are already ringing in another New Year. And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. I suppose that means I need to start taking pictures of Dragons this year. So, if anyone has any hook-ups with some cute Dragon puppies let me know. I’ll be waiting, with pot holders on my hands.

Happy Holidays Y’all

admin — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 20:36:35 +0000

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Happy Holidays, Pt. 1

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:53:56 +0000

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Tis the season – the season for fabulous holiday puppy photos. Last weekend I had the great pleasure of shooting some holiday pictures over at Lofty Dog, the super swank downtown Austin pet store that everyone should visit. Here’s the great thing. Every dollar raised went to Animal Lovers of Austin. That’s the holiday spirit I love. Thanks to all that came out and a special thanks to Veronique, Kelly and Jason. Here’s a little holiday morsel of what we did that day.

Pittie Pride Pictures

admin — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:31:55 +0000

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I knew that Pittie owners loved their dogs before I worked the Love-A-Bull Pit Bull awareness day, but my Gawd there was a lot of love on display at Republic Square Park. Here’s how it went down. First, the Pittie parade. Imagine umpteen hundreds of Pit Bulls and various other Bully breeds and their owners marching down Congress avenue to hoots and hollers and cheers and general good timery. Next, the festival. All those pups and parents marching into that tiny little park to sign a pledge to be responsible guardians and help change the reputation of this wonderful breed for the better. And then the best part, they all came to my booth for a snapshot. Well most of ‘em did. At one point the line was seemingly miles long, so I can understand why a few people backed out. But Pittie owners are committed to their breeds and they proved to be troopers. I knew I’d be busy that day, but I had no idea. Lets look at some numbers: 227 pictures in 240 minutes. That’s easy math – just about a picture a minute. FOR FOUR HOURS. And we loved every minute of it. Did we break a world record? Not sure yet. But it doesn’t matter. We did good things for a good breed and that’s the reason we were there.

Thank you to all that came out, enjoyed the day, signed the pledge and who continue to help show the world how great bully breed dogs truly are. If you happen to be one of the 227 owners who braved the sun, wind and rain to get your picture taken, and would like a free small jpeg of your picture, just shoot me an e-mail with your number at: tonyapetphotography@mac.com And if you’d like to buy a 4X6 print, we’re selling those for $10 – 50% of all the sales will go to Love-A-Bull. A very sincere thank you to Meghan, Lydia, and Leala from Love-A-Bull. And to my favorite Pit Bull owner Carly and her beautiful Pittie Rain, who introduced me to this fabulous group. You are all rockstars and the Pitties are lucky to have you in their corner.

Sammy

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:09:24 +0000

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Take the Sammy quiz: Yorkie puppies are ridiculously _____________.*

*the answer we’re looking for is cute.

Pittie Pride

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:13:24 +0000

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Austin is home to a wonderful organization called Love-A-Bull. A non-profit that was organized to educate and advocate on behalf of Pit Bulls – a very misunderstood pup. So often the breed is unfairly demonized, mostly because of bad information and a few bad owners. So this weekend is all about the the Pitties. Saturday night starts with the V.I.P. kick-off party at Austin Speed Shop, followed by Pit Bull Awareness day on Sunday – which begins with the parade of Pit Bulls. It’ll be literally thousands of pitties walking their way up Congress Avenue and quite possibly breaking a world record in the process, all to raise awareness about all the positive aspects of these often misunderstood bully breeds. The parade ends at Republic Square park, with booths, vendors, entertainers, trainers, music, etc.

At my booth I’ll be snapping pics of all the fabulous Pit Bulls that make it out, and I can’t wait. So much so, that I jumped the gun and photographed my favorite Pittie – Rain – a rescue that was on death’s door when his owners found him. They nursed him to health, and personal bias aside, he is truly one of the most loving, (and handsomest!) gentle dogs I’ve ever known.

All the info for this weekends events can be found here. Stop by and say hi, and share in a day of Pittie love – Texas style.

Mini Donks*

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:43:26 +0000

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OK, I’ll admit it, I had never even heard of miniature donkeys before moving to Texas. Now all I can do is think about how I can procure a few mini donks of my own. In fact I already have the new living room planned out – mini donk beds, mini donk lighting, mini donk entertainment center – they make mini donk entertainment centers don’t they? Anyway, it’s still a work in progress. All I know for sure is that they’re pure sweetness in a pint-size package.

*In reality, they aren’t called mini donks – that’s just shorthand. In donkey-land the females are called Jennets and males are called Jacks, but mini donks is kinda cute too, right?