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 3
July 16, 2012
(Photo above not mine / Courtesy of Bow & Wow)
Capping off the month of June for PPBD was the Bow & Wow Benefit Dinner for C.A.R.A. (Compassion and Responsibility for Animals) Welfare Philippines held at The Rockwell Tent in Makati.
Everyone who graced the event, whether human or canine, celebrities and non-celebrities alike, came dressed in their best and dressed to impress! Hosted by socialite philanthropist Tessa Prieto-Valdez, the dinner featured a delectable buffet by Margarita Fores’ Cibo / Cibo di M, organic wines by Healthy Options and Wine Story, and a drool-worthy doggie buffet spread for furry guests by Bow & Wow plus dog-friendly desserts by Swell Sweets. My husband (who was my date-slash-assistant for the night, haha!) and I enjoyed ourselves immensely, especially coz this was our first time to literally “wine & dine” with hundreds of other pet-parents and their dogs.
What I personally loved most about that night though, aside from meeting so many wonderful dogs, was being able to meet, listen to, and converse a bit with the heart and soul of C.A.R.A., Ms. Nancy Cu-Unjieng.
As she spoke that night on stage about the state of animal welfare in our country and the work C.A.R.A. has been doing for the past 7 years, every now and then my eyes would well up with tears. Clearly it was a touching speech, but made more so by the person who delivered it. You cannot fake that sort of passion and compassion; I could tell hers was genuine through and through. I’m certain everyone in the crowd felt it too.
C.A.R.A. currently cares for hundreds of rescued dogs and cats that are fostered by volunteers in their own homes until the time they get adopted. I met one of their rescues that night — a puppy mill dog named Cooper, in the photo below with his awesome foster mom and animal advocate Li-an Ascalon. Despite being rejected and abandoned, Cooper that night seemed like the gentlest and sweetest little pup ever!!! If we didn’t already have 2 pets of our own and 4 other fosters at home, my husband and I would’ve probably adopted him right there and then!
A whopping P550,000 was raised for C.A.R.A. that night – P450,000 from ticket sales plus a pledge of an additional P100,000 from Healthy Options Group of Companies top executives, Romy Sia and Christian Tan. (So cool!!!) The funds will be used for C.A.R.A.’s recent undertaking called “Save the Laguna Pitbulls”, a rehabilitation project for more than 200 pit bulls rescued from a cruel dog-fighting syndicate in Laguna run by Korean nationals. (So NOT cool!!!)
Would you like to help? For more info on C.A.R.A., click on this link.
Updates from June, Part 2 Updates from June, Part 1Updates 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…)
