"Overwhelming Cuteness"

My friend Mandy recently rescued two very young kittens. We just had to get some pictures of them at this adorable, playful age. The day before her appointment, she told me to prepare myself for "overwhelming cuteness" and boy was she right! These two little fluffballs are the epitome of cute. Oh, and did I mention they are named after the X-files characters Mulder & Scully? 

Dogs in Disguise

The crummy weather didn't stop dog-lovers from coming out to Arf-fest last Sunday. The event was great fun, with many dogs & people in costume for the various contests. Here are a couple of the cutest costumes of the day:

This is Boomer the Boston Terrier, dressed as Captain Blackbeard. (His peg-leg is my favorite!)

And little miss Bella, the Pug, as Marilyn Monroe:

Arf-Fest this Sunday!

 I'm so excited for this weekend's Arf-fest event! Be sure to stop by the UTurn Studios booth when you are there, the first 50 visitors will receive a fun doggie "take-out" box, complete with dog biscuits and a coupon for a free 8x10! This will be a fun and exciting event, complete with dog parades and contests, pet artists, a vendor area and much more. All of this takes place on the afternoon of Sunday, April 27 from 1pm to 6pm on Historic Commercial Street in downtown Springfield. The festivities will surround the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge area. To read more about the fun, click here.

Three Dog Weekend

I had three great dogs out this past weekend: Sophia, Roxanne & Nixon. Sophia was first, and brought several very cute outfit changes complete with matching hair bows. Too cute! Then Roxanne & Nixon came out together on Saturday. All three of these dogs had wonderful personality and spunk. Their people should be proud!

This is Nixon/Superdog, coming in for a landing...

After his superflight, Nixon got down to business and posed like a supermodel.

Meet Roxanne and her glorious ears. I just love them, and I think she looks so happy  here.

Roxanne shows her serious side as she listens intently to her Dad.

How cute is little Sophia?

Sophia all in pink, her Mom tells me this is her favorite dress.

Bloopers

As you can imagine, when photographing pets there are going to be some outtakes. In my quest to find Merlin a forever home, I decided it was time for some new photographs of him. We set out one sunny day last week, and came up with some great photos. But, I think the bloopers may have been even more priceless than the portraits, take a look...

Here's one of the portraits we ended up with...

In order to get these portraits, I pulled out a top-secret weapon: bowtie pasta. Some nice al dente bowtie pasta is one of Merlin's favorite treats, no idea why. Here are some funnies of him trying to catch said pasta...

Leo, the camera hog, was getting jealous of all the attention Merlin was getting. I decided it was time to take a break from portrait-taking and go for a walk in the woods. As I was kneeling down to take a picture of some purple violets (you can just barely see a few in the background) all of a sudden, there's a big giant dog-head in my picture. So I obliged and snapped a few of my big goofball.

And just to make sure I kept the camera turned his way, he whipped out his own secret weapon: my favorite head-tilt pose...

Lastly, we have what reminds me of something you would see on an African Safari. Some wild beast taking down it's prey...but it's only my friendly little guy Clyde trying to herd Leo back towards home. 

Men About Town - a success!

This past Saturday, I photographed the Queen City Sertoma's "Men About Town" event. What a blast! This was such a fun event, hosted by a wonderful group of people. The event is a bachelor/handyman auction, and proceeds benefit the Springfield Boys & Girls Club. I would call it a huge success, there was money raised (one bachelor at auction set a new record for highest bid, over $2500!!) and fun was had by all. Men About Town is an annual happening, so when you hear about it next year- get your tickets early! This is one you don't want to miss.

Here are a few photos of the festivities, for anyone who would like to view the entire evening click here.

Watch the Oprah show on Friday!

Through my association with the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation, I have learned that Oprah will be airing a show on Friday, April 4th about puppy mills. As most of you know, puppy mills are a huge problem throughout the nation, but especially in Missouri. Please take this opportunity to learn more about puppy mills, and be sure to visit the MAAL website for more information about how you can help stop mills in Missouri.