Northeast Ohio Pet Photography » free stuff

Urban Location Scouting ~ A Contest!

Mary — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:03:35 +0000

If you’ve been following my blog over the years, then you know my favorite location for a photo shoot is at the park. Having the CVNP and Cleveland Metroparks down the road is a privilege and a delight. But I’d like to add some variety to my portfolio and would like to discover some really neat urban locations. Think grungy, brick, eroded landscapes. Or architecturally interesting locations. I know of a few, but I want to learn about the distressed brick wall with faded paint that you pass every day on the way to work. Or the rusty old bridge that you’ll now see in a new light. My challenge to you is to scout out a cool new location that I can use for a photo shoot!

And! I’m making a contest out of this location scouting expedition. Post a comment in this blog entry with a description of the location (and a google map link if you have it) to enter. You can also email me a photo of the location. Describe what you like about it and why you think it would be a neat location for a photo shoot. All entries that meet the criteria listed below will be considered and the top three favorites will get a free photo shoot of your pet at the location you submitted. You’ll also get a free brag book of my ten favorite images from the photo shoot.

Some things to consider:
- Accessibility and safety. Urban is good, but it has to be safe for pets and people (and legal to access!)
- It doesn’t have to be in an urban location – it just has to look that way
- Color, texture, contrast. Think rust, color, old and new together.
- Location, location. I’ll consider locations that are within a 50 mile radius of Cleveland for the top three shoots. But, if you have other ideas, go ahead and enter a cool site that is near you. One day I might be in the area and I’ll be able to check it out.

UPDATE: I’m going to run this contest until I get back from vacation on Sunday, October 4th. I’ve had a few people email off the list to let me know that they’re looking around and will be posting their locations as soon as they find a place that they really like. Love the suggestions that have been entered so far!

And the winner is…

Mary — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:57:15 +0000

The winner of the drawing, pulled from all of the entries gathered at Saturday’s Dog Jog, is Marie Hemlinger and her dog, Rocky! They are the lucky winners of our special one hour photo cookie shoot!

How does it work? We spend one hour capturing some fun photos of your dog. Then we take your four favorite photos from the session and have them transferred onto these beautiful photo cookies!

Congratulations to Marie and Rocky! And thanks again to all of the nice people and their amazing dogs who we got a chance to meet on Saturday.

To purchase prints from the 2009 Brecksville Dog Jog, visit the online gallery (password: brecksville)!

Textured Girlies

Mary — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 05:42:42 +0000

This was a bunch of fun. Following a textures tutorial from the MCP Actions blog and using some free textures that I found on flickr, I had some fun with these photos of the girls. I kind of like the results. I think Ellie’s portrait (on the left) has a Rembrandt feel to it. Katy’s reminds me a bit of an old print that you might find covered in dust at a hunting lodge.

The tutorial on how to use and apply textures is here.
Check out the free textures available on flickr here, here and here. Nice stuff!