Duke
April 25, 2013
Early this year, I met this hunk. His name is Duke.
Duke is one handsome Alaskan Malamute!
I met Duke and his folks, lovely husband and wife and dog-lovin’ duo Jun Sunga and Vanessa Matsunaga, during a commercial assignment for Bow & Wow The Natural Pet Foods Store back in January. We shot on-location at the couple’s place in Tagaytay. It was a beeeauuutiful day for a shoot. (Yes, that sky is real.)
Duke was charming, friendly, calm and dignified. It was love at first sight for me. So “guapo”!
Such a pro too, I tell ‘ya!
Notice Duke’s wet paws? We had been shooting under the hot sun for quite a while that during breaks in between sets Duke wouldn’t just lap up the icy cold water in his giant bowl, he would dip his paws in them too. The cutest thing!
Thank you Duke for being such a sport, for sitting and staying, for running and playing, for agreeing to pose this way and that, and for NOT hunting down the cat! Hahaha!
Thank you too Jun and Vanessa for being such gracious hosts that day, and for being inspiring examples of awesome pet-parenting.
(Jun and Vanessa share their home with three Alaskan Malamutes, Duke, Kara and Simba, and one Newfoundland named Mosley.)
Cover Shoot for The Times
September 14, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed doing this cover shoot for The Bow & Wow Times, Bow & Wow‘s quarterly in-house magazine. On the cover of the July-September Issue are Khatie, an adorable Persian/”Puspin” mix, and Mindy, a beautiful Golden Retriever, both very deserving winners of Bow & Wow’s Next Pet Model Contest which I was also privileged to take part in as photographer and judge back in June.
Compared to lifestyle sessions I do for private clients, which are usually more free-flowing and less structured, this particular assignment obviously required a little more art direction as well as props. We shot at Bow & Wow’s and Healthy Options’ head office where they allowed me to convert a portion of their training center into a colorful classroom. Oh what fun! The tricky part through was finding the right spot to set up. After I did, I drew up some of the curtains to get as much pretty sunlight as I could to stream in through the windows and get the feel of a very bright and airy classroom. Gotta love happy, natural light! I hope I pulled it off well! Meanwhile, I must say that our models Khatie and Mindy totally did! They were sooo absolutely wonderful and easy to work with. “Smart Pets” indeed! They worked very well together too. Well, for the most part I think! Haha! After discussing the blocking, Khatie got into position and just stayed there. What a good boy! Mindy did the same, although we realized she couldn’t quite fit comfortably in just one chair so we had to put two chairs side by side. (Sorry Mindy, I overlooked that part!) After an hour of shooting, Mindy drooling, and Khatie having to be reassured every now and then that Mindy wouldn’t eat him (hahaha!), we were done! Good job, you two! And good job to your wonderful humans too!!!
Thank you once again to Bow & Wow and the Healthy Options group for the opportunity of working with your team once again!
The Bow & Wow Times (print version) is available at all Bow & Wow stores, and can also be read online. Click here to read the magazine via Scribd.
Updates from June – Part 2
July 15, 2012
BOW & WOW NEXT PET MODEL
I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Bow & Wow last month on the “Bow & Wow Next Pet Model” contest, a fund-raising project for The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (P.A.W.S.).
(Photo above courtesy of Bow & Wow)
Basically, my job was to photograph the top 12 pet finalists (6 cats and 6 dogs with the most online votes) “modeling” to three themes – Play & Exercise, Nutrition, and Grooming. The venue decided on was Greenbelt 5. Because I had to work with each of the models individually, we spread out the photo shoot to three afternoons — three afternoons of unpredictable weather, I might add! But the rain always had a way of stopping right in time for the shoot. Thank God! Here are just some of the final photos, shown in no particular order:
All 12 finalists – Chanel, Cody, Dwight, Ivo, Khatie, Mindy, Oreo, P. Mach, Poypoy, Shaun, Siomai and Zorro – were a joy to work with and all of them were awesome in their own way. Equally awesome were all the pet parents who came out that day!
Good job everyone! You really all did sooo well!
Congratulations to the top 2 finalists, Bow & Wow’s Next Pet Models – Mindy the beautiful Golden Retriever and Khatie the adorable Persian-Puspin mix!
(Be sure to catch Mindy and Khatie on the cover of The Bow & Wow Times, Bow & Wow’s quarterly magazine which will be coming out soon. I’ll do a feature on that too in a succeeding post once the magazine comes out! So excited! It’s gonna be sooo cute!)
Oh! I must congratulate and thank the Bow & Wow team too! Thank you guys! It was a pleasure working with you. Special shout out to Lou Bootan and to the staff of Bow & Wow’s branch at Greenbelt 5. You guys rock!
For more info on P.A.W.S., click on this link.
(Part 3 of “Updates from June”, continued in next post…)
Hobbes & Landes’ Calendar Dogs
November 10, 2011
When Hobbes and Landes invited me to partner with them for this project, I was delighted! Okay fine, more than delighted… I was thrilled! Via a photo contest Hobbes launched in partnership with Bonifacio High Street, twelve “most PAWtogenic” doggies were chosen to grace the pages of Hobbes and Landes’ Limited Edition Dog Photo Calendar for 2012. Oh! And I was asked to take the photos. Yay!
I met the pawesome doggies for the first time at the awarding ceremonies held during the “Pet Appreciation Weekend (P.A.W.)” at BHS last October 16. I could tell that each dog was wonderfully unique and figured it would be great to come up with a different concept for each dog. Because pet-friendly BHS was a major event partner, I was given freedom to shoot within the mall grounds. So I decided to make use of different locations around the mall that would hopefully help showcase each dog’s features and distinct personality.
Here’s a sneak-peek of the mini sessions I had with each of the twelve doggies.
First off is Bimby, a handsome 9-month old yellow Labrador Retriever photographed next to perhaps the most famous landmark at BHS – the huge suspended rock. I thought this curious installation would be a fun backdrop for Bimby’s charmingly sweet face and inquisitive Lab eyes.
When I met pretty little Cassie at the P.A.W. event, I could tell she was the kind of dog that was loved, babied and cared for like a little princess. I thought the flowery trellis-covered walkways spread throughout BHS would be a pretty place for her, with lots of nice light to bring out her fur’s gorgeous color.
Dopey is an adorable Beagle pup that had absolutely sooooo much energy to expend that day. I could tell how attached she was to her mommy too. So before I could get the images I wanted by the cafe where I had planned to shoot her set, I had her and her lovely mommy both run around and play together first as I followed them with my camera. Soon enough, Dopey calmed down and agreed to sit and stay next to her mommy while I snapped away!
This sweet dog is Edge. Cool name, huh? So I thought to myself, “Edges and Hedges!” Edge is photographed here on the edge of the BHS steps, his beautiful chocolate brown coat looking great against the its colors. Edge’s expressive, kind, Labrador Retriever eyes are captured here too, peeping out from one of the neatly trimmed hedges in BHS.
Ahhh… now this little furry friend won my heart. This is probably my favorite set because of its over-all cuteness factor. Meet Hoby!!! When I met Hoby Bear, a chubby and round Toy Poodle with buttony eyes, I got inspired immediately and knew what concept I wanted for his session. Taken indoors this time at Hobbes and Landes!
Kumi seemed like a really fun-loving little Shih-Tzu. I remember that his photo contest entry was of him running wild and free in the beach. So for his calendar shoot, I figured we’d do something different for him — more urban, more structured, but still have Kumi’s fun (and funny) personality shine through. And it did!
I was so worried the day of Muchi‘s session because the weather was so erratic and I had planned to shoot outdoors at the activity center of BHS. True enough, it rained that afternoon. Although the rain had stopped it was unusually dark out and Muchi’s time slot was right before sunset. No worries… I simply had to resort to plan B. But wait… I had no plan B!!! Hahaha! So I had to come up with one on-the-spot. Hobbes and Landes, here we come! In just a few minutes, Hobbes and Landes’ Playmobil area was transformed into a Play-Muchi area for this funny Chowchow in red shoes. In China, the Chowchow is referred to as “Songshi Quan”, which literally means “puffy lion dog”. Check it out! I think the Playmobil lion agrees! But Muchi thinks otherwise. “I’m way cuter than you!” Muchi says. Hahaha!
The perfect backdrop for a Rottweiler named Noodles? Giant green noodles of course! Hahaha! These green noodle-like listening tubes are a favorite spot among kids at BHS… and now among super gwapo dogs too!
Queen Truffles, the Daschund that won the photo contest through most number of “likes”, made everyone’s heads turn when she arrived at the P.A.W. event on a float (yes, a float!) and dressed up in an elaborate pink gown with a tiara on her head. Let’s not forget those false lashes too! I later learned that this was just one of her many haute couture-ish outfits and the contest just one of many she had joined. Whew! Naturally, I had to find a spot in BHS that was fit for this queen.
Named after Mel Gibson’s character in Lethal Weapon, Riggs the Pomeranian seemed just as skittish as the movie character. This lively dog just kept going and going and going like an Energizer bunny too. Sooo funny! Another good work-out for me! So cute and all-smiles…Riggs!
Dashing Stewy! This little cutie’s race car driver outfit was the inspiration for this set! Interestingly, the whole session was a bit like a race too. The weather wasn’t very ideal, the sky was overcast and I was losing light fast. So we had to work double-time! Stewy was such a good sport though.
Timi is a darling French Bulldog and new mommy to 6 pups. When I first saw her photo contest entry and saw her black and white coat, in my mind I immediately reserved this spot at BHS for her session and planned to give this new mom a glam shoot she deserved. Timi… you’re one beautiful, classy momma!
To all the pet-parents I met, thank you so much. I had so much fun! I hope you did too! Don’t forget to visit Hobbes and Landes in December and grab a copy of the calendar!
