Today is the day! Wishbone Photography is in the vendor tent with a booth, showing off photography and talking with whoever wants to know what’s what about Wishbone family and pet portrait photography.

Oh! And we’ll be giving out details about our forthcoming $3,000 year of photography prize for the photo scavenger hunt we will launch on June 1.

We also will be handing out discount cards for sessions that are setup for this summer, to those who drop in and “like” our Facebook page and/or sign-up for our Wishbone newsletter.

Big day! The hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. We’ll be there all day. Stop by, say “hi,” and get what we got to give ya.

Related post: Wishbone Photography from Bark in the Park 2011

Wishbone Photography is proud to be part of something new, great and good in St. Louis: Splendid, a vibrant quarterly magazine dedicated to “Celebrating the Good Things in Life.”

Splendid is debuting with its Summer 2012 issue, and includes contributions by me and Becca. Besides being asked to write and photograph for Splendid, I also excitedly embraced the invitation by founding heart of Splendid Jean Lopez, the designer and the Lopez in Lopez Needleman Graphic Design, to be a collaborating editor for the magazine.

Splendid is an oasis of positive, inspirational and creative in a world that can get distracted by so much else. Sound refreshing? We think so, and know there are many Splendid Lifers that agree.

To get your debut copy of Splendid and share your ideas for future issues, stop by our Wishbone Photography booth at Bark in the Park on Saturday, May 19, in Forest Park in St. Louis. Not going to make it to Bark in the Park? Stay tuned for more information about where you can pick up copies after this weekend.

So get ready. We’re about to uncork the Splendid in life!

“Ellie” is the most recent dog I’ve photographed for my Victims of Dog Fighting series. Ellie is a 5-year-old Pit Bull Terrier. She was used at a fighting dog kennel for breeding until she was rescued in July 2009 from a location in Missouri.

She is one of the “Missouri 500,” the name given to the group of dogs rescued during that raid on a ring of fighting kennels throughout the Midwest. Well more than 500 dogs were rescued when all the pregnant dogs had given birth to their puppies while in temporary custody of the Humane Society of Missouri, (HSMO). HSMO was the leading organization in the rescue that supported the historic raid by a multi-agency law enforcement effort.

Ellie was pregnant at the time, when she was around 2 years old. Based on biological cycles, it’s speculated that Ellie was carrying at least her second litter and possibly her third. Though pregnant at the time, she weighed only 30-something pounds. Compared to her present healthy weight of 45 pounds, she obviously was malnourished.

Ellie needed patience and compassion, adopters who would understand that nearly three years after being rescued and placed into a loving home with comforts, toys, healthy opportunities and companionship, she still fears the sound of aluminum foil tearing, crumpling … anything to do with aluminum foil, really.

One of her owners, Todd, says, “Ellie has made such remarkable progress, though. She never lived in a home before being rescued. At first, the sounds of a TV, a light switch being flipped, a dishwasher all sent her running. It’s been a slow process, but she has little breakthroughs, little by little.”

Ellie has earned a Canine Good Citizenship certificate through the American Kennel Club since being rescued.

More Victims of Dog Fighting portraits:

“Sugar Bear” | Pit Bull Terrier

“Pitunia” | Pit Bull Terrier

“Rico” | Pit Bull Terrier

Here is “Champ,” Mr. May in the forthcoming 2013 Love A Golden Rescue fundraising calendar. You may have seen his playful energy in a photo I posted Saturday morning not long after the session in Queeny Park in Ballwin, Mo. Champ is 5 years old, adopted as a puppy through Love A Golden. A photogenic reddish-golden boy!

Above, a slideshow of outtakes with the real deal on the horizon. Calendars will be available for purchase to benefit Love A Golden and many more dogs like Champ starting in September.

More Love A Golden Calendar Photography:

“Mae” | Miss March

“Isaac” | Mr. February

“Casey” | Mr. November

Used with permission of Rally to Rescue magazine, Nestle Purina PetCare.

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This is the opening spread of a Rally to Rescue magazine feature about sporting breeds — e.g. Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Brittanys — that have the instincts and passion for being family companions in the field and home. Some of them just need the right opportunities.

I wrote the five-page story and photographed the Chesapeake Bay Retriever and one of his owners, who live in northern Missouri near where I grew up. The photo shoot took place at the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area in St. Charles, Mo.

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More Editorial Dog Writing & Photography:

Dog & Cat Magazine Cover Photography

Dog & Cat Magazine Feature Stories

“Josh” is Mr. August in the 2013 Love A Golden Rescue fundraising calendar. We met in May, due to logistics and the wonderful warmth and humidity that confused us into thinking it already was summer. Josh’s owner drove down from Springfield, Ill. We did the photography at Queeny Park in Ballwin, Mo. The calendar will be available for purchase starting in September, and we’re almost there.

To see more outtakes from photo sessions with all the participating wonderful Golden Retrievers adopted through Love A Golden, click through these links: “Champ,” “Sedona,” “Crosby” + “Abby,” and “Luke.”

This morning I met a 5-year-old adopted Golden Retriever “Champ,” who is Mr. May in the 2013 Love A Golden Rescue Calendar. I’m still looking through the photos from the session with Champ, deciding what to post on this blog as his outtake-photo preview. But this one is so fun and  represents the session well. Champ enjoyed running and bounding through grasses short and super-tall, and I love his playful energy in this photo. You can see dew drops he is kicking up flying in the air behind him.

So, I guess this is a preview to Champ’s preview.

More Outtakes of Love A Golden Calendar Photography:

“Luke” | Cover Golden Retriever

“Reeves” | Mr. April

“London” | Mr. January

“Sugar Bear”is a 15-year-old Pit Bull. Like Pitunia, she was rescued from an individual urban fighting situation in St. Louis in 2000. You can see she not only has scars, incisor-sized patches carved into her coat by opponents more than a dozen years ago, her ears are shorn. Owners sometimes crop off ears to fashion a tougher image for dogs they put into fighting rings.

This portrait is part of an on-going Victims of Dog Fighting Photography Series. The project is in its early stages. The work and concept continues to evolve, but the broad purpose is educational. With each photography session, I learn more about dogs that once lived in fighting situations — whether as fighters, breeders, puppies, or as … I don’t yet know what. Through what I learn and the photographs I make, the goal is to carry the information forward through public awareness opportunities.

See the portrait of “Rico” and read my accompanying blog post to learn more about the project.

Related blog posts:

HeARTs Speak

Giving Back | Karma

Love A Golden Rescue

“Luke” is the cover boy for the 2013 Love A Golden Rescue calendar!! Like a few others photographed for the fundraising calendar, this session took place at Castlewood State Park in Ballwin. And like all the others, Luke’s specific scenic location was special for his session.

Can you guess from the photos above where it took place within Castlewood? If you can’t, that’s OK; I’m being a bit coy here. I want the cover scene to be a secret until  the calendar becomes available for purchase in September.

More to come!

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More Love A Golden calendar photography:

Session #8 with Reeves

Session #7 with Mae

Session #6 with Isaac