Summer 6 months old

Remember Summer? We photographed her when she was just 9 days old and also when she was in mom's belly. Such a happy baby! Too cute! Nicole brought in an adorable outfit for Summer. Precious...

You can view more images from her 6-months-old session here on our website.

So...

Which is your favorite images?

Summer turns 6 months

I have been using a lot of actions in Photoshop lately. Here are 4 versions of our cute little Golden Retriver puppy (Summer) that I made into a 16 x 20 poster.

The Riverfront

We had a great day on the Hudson River yesterday in Newburgh on the historic restored River Front. We picked up Noel & Gemma (it's so GREAT to have them here!) at the airport and then headed to the Riverfront where Mom met us. Mom found a restaurant that would allow us to bring Summer with us to eat. Gemma just loved Summer. The river was nice and being with everyone was wonderful, although it was very hot outside. Here are a few photos from Sunday.



We could see the bridge from the patio where we were eating. It was a day of planes (Stewart airport to pick up Noel & Gemma), Trains (they go right by the historic riverfront) and all kinds of boats, ferry, riverboat, tugboats, barges, etc.



Christopher Columbus


Of course Tom had to find some birds :-)
This mockingbird must have had a nest close by as it had bugs in its mouth and was bringing them in. It was obviously used to people though and landed right next to Tom quite a few times.

At the restaurant Summer even got an entree -- an entire bowl full of ice cubes!!

Now there is a happy dog!!

Puppy Graduation!

Summer graduated from Puppy Kindergarden today! We started taking classes in April at Paws N Effect http://www.pawsneffect.com/ here in Hamden. They train via positive reinforcement and sure can handle dogs! I brought Amethyst (now 8) there when she was a puppy and then again for another course when she was one. Since then they have moved and expanded but still offer great training. Much of the training is, of course, for the humans, but it is very useful. Summer has some strengths and some weaknesses, but lately she is in a very timid stage. She LOVEs all people, is great around other dogs, but a door or a garbage pail in the driveway and she is scared. We have been working a lot with her and taking her everywhere with us to try and desensitize her.

Anyway, here are some photos that Tom took today at Paws n Effect.






Summer's diploma but we know that we have a lot more training ahead of us!



Summer gets her graduation present!



Piglet was very well trained...



Lexi won the 'puppy pushups' contest today!


We are trying to set up a Fall Photo Session at Paws n Effect where people could bring their dogs there and we would take portraits for Holiday cards, Wall Portraits and Canvases. We will update you when this is finalized.

MAX


PIGLET



Here is one of the two "samples" that we created as part of our proposal for a collaboration with Paws N Effect.




This is a DRAFT of the 'promotion' that we gave to Paws n Effect. We love dogs and would love to have the opportunity to photograph theirs!

Summer has been painted

Our new puppy Summer will be 6 months old on Wednesday. I took this photograph of her and then turned it into a painting.


We have been taking puppy classes, which are really to train the people not the puppies ;-) at Paws and Effect here in Hamden (http://www.pawsneffect.com/). I brought Amethyst to them years ago when she was a puppy and now they have a bigger and better facility. Summer is a quick learner, but sometimes only when she wants to. We talked to the owner and we might set up a day in the fall to offer Holiday card photographs for her dog owners. I think that would be a LOT of fun!



Created a painting from the photograph



and then framed the painting. She is sooo cute (OK maybe I am biased, but come on, she really is cute)

NEW PUPPY!

It has been too long since we last blogged. My mother was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer (spread to the liver) and then Tom's mother (84) suddenly passed away. It has been a very difficult Spring...

But we did get a wonderful new addition to the family -- a new puppy (a Golden Retriever named Summer). She was born on Tom's birthday and Amethyst (our 8 yerar old Cheaspeake Bay Retriever) just loves her (Summer brought out her maternal instincts). Amy is VERY good to her (right from the beginning, looking out for her, sharing things with her, even breaking her bone in half and leaving it downstairs for Summer when Summer was too little to get up the stairs)


Here are a few images -- she is a real cutie pie





Breanna picked out her name; Summer just adores Breanna!





Summer hit it off with Socrates right away (we think that Summer thought that she was a litter-mate). It took Summer and Leo a little longer. Socrates is a little upset that he has been "de-throned" and when Summer tries to get on "his bed" he really whacks her (but no claws out) repeatedly. His expression here seems to say "why did you bring that thing home?"



She is growing up fast! She was teething for a very long time and now has most of her teeth. For a while she wasn't eating much of her (hard) food and when we looked in her mouth we understood why -- no teeth). She has a great temperment and for a puppy she is VERY calm!