Zoo Studio Pet Photography

From the Barkives – Cadbury

zoostudio — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:41:21 +0000

Cadbury came bouncing into the studio in June, with her older sister Elly. She immediately settled in, checking it all out and getting her nose into everything (including my bag of treats!). Its always great to get a bit of puppy love in the studio! These are my favourite photos from the session, I hope you like them.

Although she loved the liver treats, she responded especially well to noises and a squeeky toy got us the lovely head tilt in the first photo. The other inquisitive expressions followed as I went through my farm yard repetoire, but I definately think the cat noises were her favourite. They learn so young…!

Thanks to Cadbury’s Mum and Dad for bringing Cadbury and Elly in, we will have to do a special on Elly to!

Photos from our Mini Break!

zoostudio — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:53:54 +0000

We just spent a few days camping at Aratula, near Cunninghams Gap, and of course we took the dogs with us. It was great to get away, and we really were away from it all without the usual running hot water and toilet block on hand. Wonderful! It was REALLY cold so we slept all cuddled together in a heap in the middle of the tent, hoping not to have to go for a walk in the middle of the night.

It was a few days of ‘firsts’, especially for our new boy Bollo. First time camping for Bollo, first time sitting around a camp fire for Bollo, first time swimming for Bollo, first time pulling Beck headfirst into the water for Bollo. Yes he had lots of fun ;-) Sophie also enjoyed herself, getting in the water and rolling in mud, as well as seeing off a wandering Staffie (she looked so tough in her pink pyjamas!). We decided that she was finding her ‘inner dog’ (too much time spent sleeping on the sofa, sometimes she forgets she isn’t human!).

Bollo has also just completed his Urban Basics training course with our friends Danielle and Paul at Urban Dog Training. When he arrived a couple of months ago from the RSPCA he didn’t even know sit, now he can walk on a loose lead, sit, stay, and my favourite of all ‘leave-it’. I dropped some chicken on the floor yesterday RIGHT under his nose, and before he could wolf it down I said ‘leave it’ and he just sat and looked at me. Such a proud dad! Had to give him the chicken anyway of course, plus a bit extra for being a good boy. He still can’t fetch beer though so more work to be done.

If you get a chance, please vote for us in the Paws and Claws Awards for best pet photographer! We are running a competition as a way of saying thankyou for your vote, more details here, you could win a fantastic Canon DSLR camera, with a lens, and a lesson on how to use it from yours truly. Fantastic!

Win a Canon EOS 1000D & Private Photography Lesson

beck — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:30:27 +0000

Zoo Studio is very excited to announce that we have been nominated for the 4th Annual Paws and Claws Awards 2010 - as First Class Pet Photographer.

To celebrate we thought it would be a great idea to run a fabulous competition in conjunction with these Awards. That way all our clients and supporters get a chance to win something too, when you vote for Zoo Studio as First Class Pet Photographer!

It’s the Peoples Choice Awards and EVERY Vote counts. So, if you love what we do and would like to be in with a chance to win one of two great prizes, please get your vote in now. Oh and don’t forget to tell your friends and family to vote too! Voting is online, fill out the Paws and Claws voting form here Voting closes on 26th August 2010.

See Terms and Conditions on this Competition for further information

Our girl Tian

zoostudio — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 06:53:35 +0000

Some of you might be wondering why I haven’t posted for a while, we lost our beautiful girl Tian a few weeks back to cancer. I wanted the next blog post to be about her, but have found it very difficult to write up until now. I know many of our clients have met her, and as you all know she was a gentle, playful, loving girl. We still miss her so much.

Travel well Tian, our wonderful smiley dog, we will never forget you.

Photo Session Update

zoostudio — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 07:21:30 +0000

Now we don’t get many Guinea Pigs in the studio… which is a shame, because as I found out today they are very photogenic! Its great when we get something a bit different in the studio, whether it is Guinea Pigs, Snakes, Lizards, Rats, Birds… we love a bit of variety.If you have an exotic pet, why not give us a ring to get a session booked?

We also had some beautiful dogs in, and an especially cheeky bunch at that. Makes the sessions lots of fun, thats for sure.

Beck and I also had a wonderful mini break in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. It was nice to get away for a couple of days, and for once I think Beck took more photos than me! I am normnally up and about early when on holiday to get the morning light, but I guess I just needed my beauty sleep.

Hope you enjoy this weeks photos! For all you Facebookers out there, they will be going on there soon too. From now on we will do the sneak peeks on Facebook, and save the blog for other interesting items and important news.

Photo Session Update

zoostudio — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 10:06:30 +0000

Another week’s worth of photos for you all! A week full of Cavaliers, Pugs, a Border Collie, a Boxer, PUPPIES!, a Birman kitten and a black cat called Timmy – some of my most favourite things to photograph. Who can resist a Cavalier in a hoody? I hope you like them.

Client Session Update

zoostudio — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 08:12:55 +0000

Last update for the month of March already, where is this year going?

I’ve been on my travels a bit this week, its been good to get out and about especially seeing as Beck has been away (I’ve really missed her, but she’s back on Monday, ace!). Monday we had another day at the RSPCA, this time getting some photos for their education department. You know what they say about working with children and animals? They are wrong! We had a brilliant time, and thanks go to Kellie and Leah for helping out on the kid and animal wrangling and getting the shots they need, and Yvette for looking after me (again!) with lovely sandwiches. I get spoiled when I go there! Hope you like the pictures. By the way the Rooster’s name is Mr Perfect, and he is, well, perfect!

I have also been out getting more photos for various Greencross Vets clinics. If you didn’t know, we are going around all their clinics in Queensland getting photos of their staff with their own pets to put on the walls of their clinics. We have been getting a really good response, what do you think? Don;t forget to let us know if you want to be photographed with your pets!

We also managed to find some time for clients back at Zoo Studio base …

And its another full week coming up… we have a week full of Spaniels, Pugs, a Labradoodle puppy, a Burman kitten… the blog update might be a little late, we are celebrating Easter and our second wedding anniversary, but hopefully this extra large blog installment should keep you going for a couple of weeks!

Right I’m off for a beer. I’ve been painting our new specialist cat photography platform all day and I think I deserve it!

Photo Session Update

zoostudio — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 08:12:32 +0000

Another brilliant week at Zoo Studio! We have had some wonderful pets in this week, so many highlights and I’m really happy with the photos. Let me know what you think!

We also had a fun night last night with the RSPCA at their Roaring 20s Ball fundraiser. If you weren’t there, you missed a brilliant night, over $100,000 was raised for the RSPCA, see if you can go next year. We were proud to sponsor the event.

Photo Session Update

zoostudio — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:18:42 +0000

Only two client sessions this week, I have been very busy doing some ’special’ stuff in the studio (more on this another time, but aren’t I all secretive!). So I have included two of each pet. First up is the lovely Tess, who discovered after 15 years that she does like liver treats. I learnt that a Jack Russel is actually named after a bloke called Jack Russell, who first started breeding them for hunting. Even better he has a pub named after him which still exists – now that is a real honour! This morning we had a great time with Sophie and Amelia, for who I hope I have got two photos of each shown, but if I am being truthful I am having a hard time telling them apart – they are twins after all. Anyway as always please do let me know what you think!

Photo Session Update

zoostudio — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:44:10 +0000

We had an extra special visitor in the studio this week. Anybody who came into the studio last Autumn probably heard me talk about a Lab who I had fallen in love with. He had spent all his life from about 6 weeks old to 14 months in the RSPCA shelter at Fairfield, and at the time he urgently needed a foster home, someone who could spend a lot of time with him to train him, exercise him, love him, and let him find his potential as the wonderful dog all who met him agreed he could be. After a lot of soul searching, Beck and I decided that we just couldn’t do this, we didn’t have the time he would need and it wouldn’t be fair on our old girls. But I couldn’t get him out of my head.

Until Dave and Jenny came into his life. They have taken a very boisterous, energetic and destructive dog (Think of Marley from the film ‘Marley and Me’ but with an extra gear) and turned him into such a beautiful boy. He still has that same sparkle in his eye, the same winning smile, but now he looks to them for leadership and is gentle and obedient. Dave and Jenny you have done a WONDERFUL job. I wish the session could have lasted all day, I hope I have done him justice.

Aside from Noah, its been another busy week. Thanks to all the Greencross staff at City Road, Beenleigh for your hospitality (I hope you like your photos!!) and to all who visited us this week. As promised here is a sneak preview… do let us know what you think!!

Hair of the Dog

zoostudio — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:21:14 +0000

I’ve just spent a couple of brilliant days at the Queensland Australian Institute of Professional Photographers seminar called (appropriately enough for me!) Hair of the Dog. I’ve spent the time with lots of professional photographers from all over Queensland and the rest of Australia, learning from some of Australias best and most experienced photographers from all parts of the industry. Sam, our photo retoucher, was there too and we have learned a huge amount. Watch out from some new ideas soon. I think its important that I continually strive to be the best photographer I possibly can, and how could I not learn when in the same room as people who have shot covers for Time magazine (Russell Shakespeare), or been named Australia’s Wedding Photographer of the Year three times (Rocco Ancora)? There were so many great photographers running workshops, I had such a wonderful time.

We also had a brilliant week in the studio, I hope you enjoy the photos.

Photo Session Update

zoostudio — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:31:07 +0000

Its been a week full of pairs of dogs this last week, Labs, German Shepherds, Fox Terriers, and an old friend with a new brother. You might recognise Raz the Border Collie from some of our marketing, here he is with his new little brother Doza (very cute – Border Collie crossed with a Staffie as a best guess).

As always let us know what you think!

Photo Session Update

zoostudio — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:42:53 +0000

The weekly blog update is a bit late this week, Saturday was CRAZY busy (in a good way!) but here are the photos from the last week or so.

If you are reading this blog, do leave a comment and let us know your thoughts! Especially if you are a proud parent of one of the animals photographed. I look after the blog, Beck looks after our Facebook page, and she is crowing because she is getting loads more comments than I am.

Shadow, the black Kelpie cross in the first photo, is a very special dog, and is photographed in her working clothes. Can you guess what job she does? Keep an eye out for more on her soon… meanwhile enjoy the photos!

RSPCA Qld Montville Gourmet Food and Wine

zoostudio — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:52:26 +0000

We had a fun night last night, at the RSPCA Montville Gourmet Food and Wine evening at the Poets Cafe, Montville. I gave a talk about how to improve your pet photography, including live demonstrations of me photographing Benjy. The top photos below are the last two photos I took of Benjy last night. Benjy is currently at the RSPCA Noosa shelter looking for a new home, so get in touch with them if you are interested in giving him a home. Also there was Bob Irwin, who spoke about some of the issues surrounding Australia’s wildlife and especially about the plight of Koalas (more information here), and Mark Townend (RSPCA QLD CEO) also spoke. Altogether about 150 of us enjoyed the evening. I didn’t get much time for the gourmet food but I did find some time for the wine …

Afterwards we stayed at Coolabine Ridge, a wonderful new Eco Sanctuary just outside Mapleton. We wish we could have stayed a bit longer… so we booked in for our Wedding Aniversary in April! Many thanks to Ron and Helen for their wonderful support of the RSPCA, and for putting us up. We woke up to the most wonderful views and total peace and quiet – shame we had to get up and face the Brissie rush hour traffic!

Photos below are of Benjy, myself and Beck with Bob Irwin, some of the ladies from the RSPCA with Bob, and RSPCA Mark Townend with friends.

RSPCA Volunteers Photo Sessions

zoostudio — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:16:45 +0000

Its the end of another busy but fun week at Zoo Studio. Its been a special week, we spent a couple of days at the RSPCA making some photographs for their publicity and marketing. I had a couple of firsts; first duck photographed and first kookaburra photographed in a studio (you will have to wait a bit for those photos!) and had a real blast with a load of the RPSCA volunteers. We also photographed loads of cats and dogs, a turtle, a chook, a couple of possums, lots of birds and RSPCA volunteers from all departments. They are a wonderful bunch and the two days sped by so quickly. Thanks guys for all your help! You should be seeing all the other photos soon!

On top of that we had some wonderful dogs in the studio. Hopefully you will enjoy their photos too.

Ken

First photos of the new year

zoostudio — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 05:54:38 +0000

I actually made my main New Years resolution just before Christmas, and that was to update the blog more frequently. So far, so good…

I photographed the Detroit and Ellie the Boxers just before Christmas (I love Boxers!), the other photos are from this week. By the way if you are an RSPCA supporter and you think you recognise the pug in the top hat, its Monty. Monty lives with Stuart, the manager of World For Pets, the RSPCA superstore in Springwood. Monty is often at the store, wearing his top hat or his sombrero, and was also helping supervise the recent Santa Paws event. He is one of the most beautiful Pugs I have photographed and a real character. Is he our star of the week? Leave a comment and let us know.

Ken

Back from our holidays

zoostudio — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:28:15 +0000

Well we are now back from our holidays! We spent a while camping around the Upper Hunter Valley in New South Wales, trying to dodge the thunder storms (our dog Tian goes MAD during thunder storms), learning how to cook on a camp fire, having a go at fishing (didn’t catch anything though) and generally enjoying getting away from it all. We love to take our two Goldies Sophie and Tian camping with us, we even wrote an article in Paws and Claws magazine about camping with dogs, and they love it too. Well except for the thunder.

Being a photographer I got plenty of photos, hope you enjoy the ones below. Maybe they can give you some ideas about where you can go camping with your dogs. If you have a favourite dog friendly camp spot let us know!

Photo info – clockwise from top;

- Beck, Tian and Sophie on the beach at Corindi. Corindi Beach Holiday Park is right on the beach, the park and beach are both dog friendly and definitely a great place to spend a few days.
- Camp fire cooking at Ferndale Park. Another dog friendly camp site, right on the edge of the beautiful Barrington Tops National Park.
- On the road again!
- Ken fishing (well dangling a rod) at Lake Glenbawn. Lake Glenbawn is one of the wonderful New South Wales State Parks. You really feel like you are away from it all, but with a hot shower just over the hill. Our favourite spot!
- Sunset at Lake Glenbawn
- Sunset at Copeton Waters State Park. Where I took the photo from can be under water when the dam is full, its currently at only 8% capacity.
- Thunder storm at Copeton Waters. Luckily it passed us by, it was throwing huge hailstones which wouldn’t have been good for the tent…
- Lake Glenbawn
- Corindi Beach, rainbow between the storms
- Field behind Corindi Beach
- Rainbow at Corindi Beach
- Lake Glenbawn
- Tian at Lake Glenbawn
- Tent set up at Corindi Beach
- Beck reading with her new Kindle by Lake Glenbawn

Latest Photo Sessions

zoostudio — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:52:31 +0000

Its been a busy run up to Christmas, and as there are a few people who have just done photo sessions but won’t get to see the photos until the new year, I thought I would post a sneak preview for you all to look at. All these beautiful dogs and cats have been in the studio in the last few days. Let us know what you think!

A Great Camping Spot for our two Goldie Oldies … oh and us too ………..

zoostudio — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:52:19 +0000

Sophie and Tian (our two oldie goldie Retrievers) have been enjoying the fabulous hot weather and Tian is definitely enjoying our swimming pool. Although her mum (that’s me) is getting a bit tired of cleaning up all the mess afterwards though ;-) But it is wonderful to see her so happy and it’s great for her arthritis!
We took Sophie and Tian camping last month, to an absolutely fantastic spot – Lake Boondooma –(recommended by one of our clients) It is perfect for camping with dogs….. fresh water for the girls to swim in, plenty of private camping spots and camp fires allowed with wood provided! A magical place which provided us with the perfect opportunity to relax and unwind. See http://www.wondai.qld.gov.au/lakeboondooma.php for more details. Oh and if you like fishing apparently it’s a top spot! Below are some of my favourite photos (take by Ken obviously) from the camping trip.

Some Important Partnership News

zoostudio — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:50:22 +0000

- It‘s official – Zoo Studio are very proud to announce we have become the Official Photography Partner for RSPCA QLD AND we are also the Official Photography Partner for Greencross Vets in Queensland. So it’s been another busy few months and Zoo Studio are so proud and humble to be working with these two outstanding organisations!

Zoo Studio will be actively involved with the RSPCA QLD Santa Paws at the end of November (more details to come soon), Million Paws Walk in May and of course RSPCA Awareness Week. Check out the RSPCA QLD’s Don’t Knock Appeal – a fabulous online initiative. The RSPCA Qld’s Doorknock and Don’t Knock Appeals run annually between the 25th of September and the 8th of October. All money raised will go towards looking after the abused, neglected and abandoned animals that are in the care of RSPCA Qld.

Of course we are helping to raise funds and awareness for the amazing work they do and have set up our own Don’t Knock Appeal site – here http://www.everydayhero.com.au/zoostudio - so please give generously J We think every pet deserves a loving home!

We are also working with Greencross Vets on a number of initiatives including the annual Greencross Vet Calender, images for all their clinic walls and website as well as very special offers for all Greencross Vet clients. So stay tuned for more details soon!

Also big thanks to those who voted for us in the Canon Creative for a Cause competition (mentioned below). We made the finals but didn’t win the grand prize. Oh well lets see if we can do better next year!