Tag Archives: Port Orchard

Mary Eklund, Port Orchard Pet Photographer, capturing lifestyle images of your clawed, pawed and hooved critters.

Karlee & Victor!

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I was suspicious today that something was up! It has since been confirmed that Karlee and Victor are MARRIED as of Friday, February 1st, their 4th anniversary. Again I say, Awwwwww.

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If you don’t know Karlee, well, you should! Karlee works at the Gig Harbor Mud Bay store, and is truly delightful from the inside out. She oozes joy (did I get that right, Dad?) and is a spectacular human being. She is also the daughter of one Lisa Ridens, dog trainer extraordinaire at Affordable Dog Training, and another great lady you really should meet. Victor I met for the first time when I photographed them for their holiday card, but I know him to be a hard worker and a soccer player, and based on his winning Karlee’s heart of gold, he has to be quite remarkable as well. Karlee and Victor reside in Bremerton with their two adorable Chihuahuas. Congratulations and best wishes to you both!

My Days Do Not Always Go The Way I Have Planned…

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So for sure I should be working on my sales taxes/website/organization/laundry today, but I HAPPENED to have the opportunity to photograph a beautiful girl, and am so pleased to introduce Bear! Bear goes into the backstory a bit – she was rescued by Larry and Michelle Ransom, and their boys Jake & Jordan when she was just a pup, found by the side of the road with her momma, when Larry was coaching at Pilchuk Veterinary Hospital. The year I started by business Bear was the 3rd spoke in a pretty tight pack – Jake and his girls, Bear and Jessie, a gorgeous yellow lab. Jake is a pretty phenomenal kid, and happens to be my nephew. It was my plan to do a shoot with the three of them – so adorable. Sweet Jessie, however, was discovered to have cancer and died suddenly at the age of 7, which was a terrible shock. Of course I felt terrible that I hadn’t yet taken the images I could (and still can) so clearly see in my head. Regrets are the worst! This went down a matter of months after my niece, Rachel had lost her beautiful 2 year old pup. The two events in 2 connected families so close together really solidified for me the desire to photograph pets with the people who love them, to record and tell their stories visually, and honor their place in our lives. We all know we have such a short time with our four footed companions, but the truth is, we really don’t know how short that time can be. My own dogs prior to the current furry little monster lived to 19, 18 and 14 1/2 years, but I can tell you, it didn’t seem long enough. So the chance to snap a few of Bear today, who is young and healthy and a sweet, darling soul, lifted my spirits. She rocked her shoot – isn’t she delish?

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Lucky Number 7!

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My family has had the EXTREME good fortune of living virtually next door to this family of smart, funny, loyal, caring and thoughtful and real people since before I picked up my first DSLR – if ANYONE should be creating the next generation it is these two (and they’ve not let me down, there are now 5 kiddos in the fold). She’s watched my kids, I’ve watched hers, he’s helped us fix and install things that are beyond us, our boys have been friends as long as they can remember, and our 5 years olds have birthdays 5 weeks a apart. If you’ve been following the blog for a while you will recognize the little bean from her 6 month and 1 year photos. This fall, however, I had the opportunity to photograph all seven of them (that’s 14 feet, if anyone is counting!) for the first time, and I think you will agree they are, beyond their many virtues, just flat out good lookin‘.

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It is my fervent wish that with these family photographs I have helped to document their story in a meaningful way. Love you guys!

Some Favorites from 2012!

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Thanks so much for the great year – I so enjoyed meeting such fantastic people and photographing your gorgeous pets! It has been a truly wonderful year for Four Foot Photography, and I look forward to 2013 being full of growth, learning, challenges and an ever-widening circle of people and pets I am lucky to know. I feel abundantly blessed as Kitsap County’s most passionate pet photographer and am seriously jazzed about capturing memories and creating personalized art for your homes, as well as helping adoptable dogs and cats find their forever homes through pet portraiture and social media. Oh, and I have some crazy-fun ideas and beautiful new products to introduce as well… Happy, Happy New Year!

-Mary Eklund
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The cat’s out of the bag…

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Oh, of course I’m just kidding – no felines were harmed OR bagged in the super-secret super-spy set up that Roper and Levi’s mom arranged as an epic Christmas gift for her husband. I LOVE a surprise, and this one was so much fun! Next time, though, I want theme music… Now that the plan has been executed, the gifts unwrapped and oh yes, dad was surprised and thrilled (I KNOW – can you believe he did not suspect she would hire a pet photographer and that he would be receiving a 20×30 canvas of his dogs?) – NOW I can finally reveal the amazing session these golden boys (and their kitty co-horts) provided.

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Aren’t they gorgeous? And just as sweet as they are good lookin’!

I know I’m a weirdo, but…

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Yup, it’s true. I loved being pregnant, so it is really fun for me to do maternity pictures. Such an exciting time! You may remember Rob and Pattie, providers for Bear and Barley, those shedding, drooling darlings! Well, it wasn’t my place to say (no longer a secret!), but at Bear and Barley’s session, Pattie asked me if I do maternity photos. SQUEEEEEEE! I am so happy for these high school sweethearts, expecting their first baby next February. We had a heck of a time scheduling, the weather has not been in our favor (and also somebody didn’t look any more pregnant than I do…) – finally the stars aligned and we were able to photograph their maternity session at Howe Farm in Port Orchard. Aren’t they cute?

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I can hardly wait to meet the baby!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maternity Photos, Kitsap County Photographer, Mary Eklund, Four Foot Photography, Howe Farm, Port Orchard Photographer, Key Peninsula, Gig Harbor, Baby Photos

Mike & Duke

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I received a call late this summer (last summer already? Ack!) from Mike, who had seen my display at Woodside Animal Hospital and was interested in getting some photographs of Duke, his black lab and especially an image of the two of them together for a holiday card. I met them out at the public pier on the Port Orchard side of Sinclair Inlet, which was a really fun spot to shoot. There were folks fishing and crabbing and the sun was really sparkling off the water. Poor Duke – sooooo many wonderful, fishy smells! It turns out Duke hails from Kelso, my old stomping grounds! He is one lucky dog – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love love my clients – people who value the companionship their four-footed friends provide. In return, Duke lives the life of Riley! 

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When I first saw Mike’s lovely home (with all that clean, juicy wallspace!), I will admit I was thinking BIG CANVAS! However, I feel the artwork in your home is so personal (and that’s what I do!), it also has to mesh with your individual style. Mike selected a collection of 8 images in varying sizes, mounted on stainless standouts, for a very clean, modern look. It was also easier to choose 8 images than 1! I’m not going to share the Christmas card in case you are on Mike’s  list, but suffice it to say a Santa hat and reindeer antlers are involved…FABULOUS! Oh, and as we drove away after delivering Mike’s order, my 7 year old said, “That guy is AWESOME!” Right you are, buddy. Thanks, Mike and Duke for your business, for being such good sports, for looking after each other and also for sharing your relationship with me. I look forward to our shoot next year, and seeing you out and about on your bike rides/runs!

Grandma

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Meet Grandma! I took some employee photos for the wonderful folks at Woodside Animal Hospital, but was quite distracted by resident feline “Grandma”.

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Here is the post from Woodside’s page September 10:  “In the spirit of Senior Pet Health Month, we would like to introduce the newest addition to Woodside Animal Hospital. This is Grandma. She came to us as a stray with a broken pelvis and severe dental disease. With a lot of TLC, she is doing well and gets to spend her days with our practice manager in her office.” She is hilarious. As you can see, Grandma has adjusted nicely to her new digs, and appears to be fitting in just fine!

Picasso = Art

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Allow me to introduce Picasso! This handsome dude belongs with Jeremiah, who I met at the Gig Harbor Mud Bay store (if you haven’t been there, you must check it out – they have great products and staff).  Thanks to Hollywood in the 90’s, Rotties have a bit of a reputation as tough guys, but I have yet to meet one that was not a big sweetheart, and Picasso certainly falls well within that category. Like good looking men everywhere, he was more than happy to show off his genetic superiority, and pose away. Thank you Jeremiah and Picasso!

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Heart (and dogs) of gold…

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The winner of this year’s Four Foot Photography PetsWalk contest has become one of my favorite people. Katie, her husband Dave, and baby Casey share their  home and hearts with Mae Mobley and Minnie Mae.  I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite things about my work is meeting people who care so deeply for the animals that share and enhance their lives. Katie lives that to an extent that puts her in the category of extraordinary.

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Katie works at Kitsap Humane Society in Silverdale several days a week, even though Dave is in the Navy, and she is on her own with the baby and doggehs when he’s deployed. I do love red dogs! Both of these girls are rescues, Mae from KHS, and Minnie came to KHS in Silverdale with a group of little dogs that had run out of time in California shelters – she came home with Katie “for the weekend”, but that was a year ago…Katie is so passionate about her work and rescue that for their anniversary, in lieu of gifts, Dave donates to the shelter. I delivered the products she ordered the other night (all the better to get in one more snuggle with the darling Casey and pet those lovely red-gold girls. Aren’t they just perfectly matched?), and this morning I was preparing to deposit her check – across the top it says, “Adopt your next best friend.” Of COURSE it does.

Mae & Minnie haven’t had an easy go of it – last winter Minnie was attacked by a big dog and nearly killed, and both have been affected by it. So while we were doing our session, things unfolded in such a way that Mae became extremely protective of Minnie when strangers approached, and we shot more than half the session with Katie wrangling the girls and me holding Casey (so good natured!!!) on my hip and shooting one handed, unable to change my settings or zoom the 24-70mm lens I had on the camera, let alone switch lenses! I was not so hopeful about the results, and we made tentative plans to reshoot. I cannot tell you how surprised I was that some of my favorites from the session were shot under those conditions – all that studying and learning, those expensive workshops and training, and these images came out great in spite of many challenges. A great lesson in humility!

You will see Mae and MooMoo again, as we are going to do a “booster” shoot to get some photos of the two girls together, as they are as tight as can be. And also so I can get my hands on that sweet, juicy baby…

I was so excited when I received her float wraps – gorgeous girls!

Kitsap County, consider yourself lucky to count these amazing people among your populace!