Susan Schmitz – Owner/Lead Photographer

I've always had a love for animals and art. It wasn't until I hit my mid-life crisis (Well, maybe it was a 1/3 life crisis... I'm still young... most days) and I moved to Sedona that I was actually moved to explore my artistic side.

I just started taking photos as a reference for my drawings & paintings. Then I started to appreciate the instant gratification of a photo. Once I learned Photoshop, the geeky-techy side of me was completely hooked! I found the perfect blend of personal interests; dogs, photography and technology. And from this merger, A Dog's Life Photography was born... and so was I.

Laura Sand – Photographer/Account Executive

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had three loves in my life… music, animals and photography. The first memory I have of taking pictures was when I was about six years old. I would run around my house and back yard taking pictures of all the things that I loved…my parents, my brother, my cat… well mostly my cat. The first memory I have of listening to music was the same year, although there is photographic evidence of me grooving to tunes through headphones before the age of two.

I’ve learned that life is very short and you only get one shot at it. I’ve followed my dream to a place that I never knew was possible. I met Susan in prison! Ok, let me clarify… it was the greyhound prison program’s graduation day and we were both there for the celebration. We clicked immediately and she began teaching me the ropes from the very first moment. The rest… as they say… is history.

My New GRANDSON!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

I know this post doesn’t belong on a dog blog. But hey… It’s my blog and I can brag on it if I want to!

This is my brand spanking new, one and only grandson. His name is Remy Etienne Richey and he was born last Saturday, August 29th.

My husband and I went to Houston to meet him and to see my son and his girlfriend Jessica over the weekend. It was a great visit and it was wonderful to see them. We had the pleasure of meeting Jessica’s parents and they such wonderful people! They welcomed us into their family with open arms. My heart feels very full!

I took these photos in our hotel room the first night we were there. I was under the dull yellow hotel room lights with very little light coming through the windows. Since I couldn’t exactly pack up all of my studio lighting equipment and take it with me, I had to resort to harsh on camera flash! Yuck. Luckily, I had a flash diffuser with me.

I just love tiny little feet and hands! They just fascinate me..

I was all psyched up to take a million photos over the weekend. Since I knew I was going to run into this issue of being out of my element without my studio strobes, I picked the brain of my friend and fellow photographer Danielle Daigle about photographing babies using only natural lighting. Danielle is incredible with natural light and she rarely uses any type of flash. check out her awesome work here.

I was excited to put all of her tips and tricks into play. Then, this happened……….

That, my friends, is a 3 week old 24-70 Canon 2.8 L lens…. or at least it used to be. I was rushing around and didn’t zip up my backpack all the way and my camera fell out and came crashing to the ground, landing on the top of my lens. My only saving grace was that I had a UV filter on it that took the brunt of the damage. It is now in the intensive care unit at Tempe Camera. Please send warm wishes for its speedy recovery.

Well, I guess that’s all the more reason to book my next trip to Houston to see Remy again and get some more photos. For my friends and family that are itching to see the rest of the pics, go to my “people photography” website at www.susanricheyphoto.com, click on Clients and enter the password = remy.

Oh, one last thing… the name is Gigi, not Grandma!

Basset Hounds

Featuring the dogs…

By A Dog’s Life Photo…

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by adogslifephoto

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Christine - congratulations, Gigi!!! what wonderful news!

admin - Thanks for your your warm wishes on the lens recovery Danielle & Scott. I just got great news from Tempe Camera that they were able to bend the filter ring on the lens back into shape and get the broken filter off. The lens got by with only some minor scratches on the body. The glass is in good shape. Whewwwww! I got lucky.

J Scott - Ouch! A least you didn’t drop the baby. Congratulations on the grandson I just took some photos of my 10 month old grandson a couple weeks ago. I don’t have them online yet. My understanding is that the front element is the least expensive to fix… hope that’s true.

Danielle Daigle - Congratulations on your grandson!! He’s so gorgeous!

The photos came out beautifully. You did an awesome job!!

Now… I almost cried when I saw that amazing lens cracked. Oh… so horrible!! I’ll say camera prayers for it. I’m sure tempe camera will fix it right up.

Thanks for the shout out too!! I’m so happy for you… your grand-baby is super cute!