Kayla's Boys

My friend Kayla, a groomer, has been wanting me to photograph her poodle DaVinci literally for years and we just never really got around to it.  Last year she got a second poodle, Roman, and this Saturday, I went over and we took pictures.  While Kayla was finishing getting ready, I wanted to photograph DaVinci - he's a really cool dog and loves me, so figured that he would listen to me enough to get a couple good shots before Kayla finished her makeup and trimming Roman.

What I instead learned was that DaVinci HATES getting his picture taken.  We're pretty sure the flash of my Alien Bees reminds him of lightning.  This is one of the only shots I managed to get of him before Kayla came downstairs - he was half hiding behind the wall.  I felt so bad, poor puppy!!

Roman, the more skittish dog who doesn't like being touched, was all for it.  He sat nicely and posed and moved his head different angles and basically completely shocked me and Kayla.  We had been expected the opposite of what the boys gave us.

Kayla was in some of the photos as well.  DaVinci hid underneath the stool she was sitting on, so she decided to sit on the floor with them.  Her puppies love her!!

I took this last shot afterwards using only the window light and imagine Roman to be saying "It's ok, it's all over now!"  From this shoot I learned that while I do love pet photography, you have to be prepared for the animals to behave out of character and that it might take more time and effort than expected.  I'm just glad DaVinci still loves me!!