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By mfeeney, August 27, 2010 6:27 am

I’m trying to think of the words to describe how much fun we had during our portrait session with Taylor last weekend. She came prepared for it all. She tackled all of our requests and then some. We couldn’t have asked for a more giving and present model. This was no Zoolander Blue Steel session. Taylor is extremely versatile in the looks and the emotions she was able to convey. I believe she should be expecting a call from Wilhelmina, Ford or Elite any time now. Thank you Taylor for an absolutely stunning performance. Without further ado…

Click Taylor to see the full session on Flickr

A little bit about what we used for this photo shoot:
Camera – Nikon D80
Lenses – AF-S VR-Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G and Tokina AT-X Pro SD 12-24 F4 (IF) DX
Main Strobe – AlienBees B800 320 WS (w/Softbox and Shoot Through Umbrella)
Background Strobes – Impact DigiReady VSD300 (w/umbrellas)
Additional Fill and Hair Flash – Nikon Speedlight SB-800
Backdrops – Savage White Seamless and Black Fabric
Closet doors from Home Depot to control Background Strobe light spill
White Flooring – Thrifty White Boards from Home Depot (suggested by Zack Arias, Thx!)
Two different ladders because I’m short.

Certainly we’d love to hear your feedback as always.

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By mfeeney, August 19, 2010 6:05 am

This past weekend we had the privilege of photographing Kai’s “I’m getting close to six months but not quite there yet” shots. He’s just over four months old now and already getting so big.
We had so much fun with Shinobu and Mark seeing what kinds of expressions we could capture. Mom and Dad did a great job of interacting with Kai keeping him engaged no matter what position he was in. Kai was a little trooper and such a good baby. It was a pure joy photographing them all. We feel so lucky to have shared this time with them. We hope you love them as much as we do.

Click on this photo to be brought to the gallery.

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By mfeeney, August 18, 2010 7:49 am

Our very good friend Max Sandoval helped us take our About Us photos. After that session we took a shot with Max and his Cocker Collie pup Eli. Then something really fun happened. The sprinklers had just gone off and Eli went to play in the wet grass. These are the shots from his romp. The innocent joy of a puppy being makes us smile from ear to ear. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Click this picture to see the album.

By the way…today, August 18th is Max’s birthday!  Happy Birthday Max!  Thank you for your friendship.  We love you!  How does it feel to be 364 days younger than me?

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By mfeeney, August 17, 2010 8:52 am

This past Saturday we had a wonderful photo session with baby Kai and his parents Shinobu and Mark.  Here is a sneak peak at a few of our favorites so far.

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By mfeeney, August 13, 2010 9:50 am

We dropped Gatsby off at the Animal Medical & Surgical Center in North Scottsdale at 9am yesterday to be neutered.  From the moment we walked in everyone was very nice and reassuring.  It’s a stunning facility.  Sarah Bashaw was the doctor performing Gatsby’s surgery.  Before we left they explained we’d get a call to pick him up after 5pm.  The amazing things about facilities and doctors like Sarah Bashaw, is that they help out rescues like Boxer Luv with reduced if not pro bono rates and medicines.  Without their continued support for all of these animals our efforts wouldn’t have quite the impact they do today.

We got the call around 1pm stating that Gatsby had made it through surgery without any issues.  Thank goodness.  That’s always a worry, even for a foster parent.  We picked him up around 5:30pm and he was still a bit groggy from the anesthesia.  The nurse explained our after care steps and medicine distribution for the next few days.  Gatsby’s recovery will take approximately seven to ten days.

When we got him home he was still not himself but that was to be expected.  He didn’t actually get an appetite back until around 9pm.  We gave him water and food in intervals to ensure his stomach wouldn’t fight it.  All in all he was sore and uncomfortable but got back to being him by bed time.

This morning he was on routine with breakfast.  Now our job is to make sure his wounds heal, he doesn’t irritate or pull them and that he stays calm.  Well, as calm as a boxer can stay. 

A happy report for Mr. Gatsby!

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By mfeeney, August 12, 2010 6:58 am

We took Gatsby in a couple of weeks ago for his follow up Valley Fever titer test. This is a blood test to find out how much dilution is required for a patient’s blood serum not to show any Valley Fever antibodies.
His test results came back as a 1:8 which is down from 1:16. His number was originally much higher so to see this kind of improvement in three to six month increments is very encouraging.
Due to the severity of Gatsby’s Valley Fever infection we’ve been unable to get him neutered, until now. Now that his titer numbers are low enough he has been cleared for surgery. We’re taking him in this morning to be neutered. As crappy as that may sound, it gets Gatsby one step closer to becoming eligible for adoption to a loving and caring home.
We’ll let you know how he’s doing tomorrow. Fingers crossed for an uneventful surgery.

Comic courtesy of “off the mark” http://www.offthemark.com/main.htm

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By mfeeney, August 4, 2010 6:35 am

I have to give credit to Marco Kuiper of www.marcofolio.net for inspiring this post. You can check him out on Twitter at @marcofolio.

My original obsession with typography and the messages they evoke started with the company quotablecards. The next time I became very aware of the typography world (and I don’t use world lightly; it’s all encompassing) was when we started the creation process for our logo.

Today, I discovered a whole new continent of that world: Typography in motion (or kinetic typography). As Marco states in his blog, it “refers to the art and technique of expression with animated text.” Many of these are set to movie and TV scenes or music that most people will be familiar with.

From what I can tell many people create Kinetic Typography with the Adobe After Effects, Swift 3D or cinema4d programs.

Luckily, Typography in motion isn’t only limited to YouTube (where you can find a great assortment of these videos).  Vimeo happens to have a whole channel dedicated to this type goodness.  How did I miss this?

I’m going to break out some of my favorites from YouTube and then ones from Vimeo.

YouTube:

Oceans Eleven
This video does a great job with adding in some extras that go along with the movie script text.

The Matrix
This video stays true to the movie using the look and feel of the old television.

Wedding Crashers
For this beginning scene Brian Cain goes the extra mile with the dining table and hair.

Iron Man
This is the build up to the Jericho.

Star Wars
The bar scene.

Rocky Balboa
Motivational Speech

Seinfeld – The Marien Biologist
One of the best monologues by George.

Abbott and Costello
“Who’s on First?” routine

The Beatles – Help!
This is soo fun!

Psychiatric Answering Machine
A funny take on what a mental health hotline self service machine might sound like.

Vimeo:

TV – Beth Fulton’s take on Todd Alcott’s poem.

Imagine – shoumas creates a portrait out of words.

Google – Hungry Beasts take on the empire.

The State of The Internet by JESS3

Eric Hutchinson “Ok It’s Alright With Me” by Chris Marrs Piliero

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By mfeeney, July 29, 2010 6:18 am

We had the privilege of shooting our friend Phil Manfredi for our second installment of the Passions project. This time we are delving into the Musician. Phil is a percussionist who specialized in drums but, has added the piano to his repertoire. This session was taken at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona with his piano. At the end of the shoot we had a little MadMen fun with him and his wife Darcy. Here’s Phils take on the Good and Bad of being a Musician:

You have undoubtedly seen the glorified life of a successful musician. The money, the fame, the glamorous lifestyle…it is all wonderful, but definitely not the norm. Only the special few actually get to be in the spotlight.

The majority of musicians spend lonely nights trying to find just the right note…just the right lyric…to complete the perfect song that will bring them the fame and fortune. Most often, it never comes. Broke and frustrated, the dream of being a star eventually fades away.

Take One:

However, his passion for music never dies. It is merely expressed in other ways.

Take Two:

“There is nothing more enjoyable than sipping a martini and playing piano for my wife. It turns out, that’s all the fame I need.” – Phil Manfredi

We hope you enjoy and welcome your feedback!

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By mfeeney, July 29, 2010 6:18 am

As we were working on the primary shots for the Musician, we were excited by how many other prospects we had. We’ve posted them to our Flickr account to share with you.

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By mfeeney, July 28, 2010 6:11 am

If you’ve read some of our previous posts you’ll know that we are Boxer foster parents to a sweet boy named Gatsby. The rescue that we foster for is the Boxer Luv Rescue in Phoenix, Arizona. They are an amazing organization that helps those pups that can’t help themselves. They rescued Gatsby from the euthanasia list and we are so happy they did! When Gatsby is ready for adoption, the family who gets him will be the luckiest ever.

The Boxer Luv Rescue is having a Bowl-a-Rama to raise funds to help with the many functions they do to help these amazing animals.

If you’d like to support Boxer Luv Rescue in their efforts to save, care for, and place Boxers into loving families, please click here.