Perry Dog Show

This past weekend was the Perry Dog show. I have been going to this show since I got my first puppy I attempted to show which was a yellow Labrador retriever.  It only took one puppy match for me to realize that 1) that wasn’t a show puppy 2) I wanted a show puppy! That was in 1993.  I researched for MONTHS. I think I ended up getting my first “show dog” in 94. I must have bought every dog book and puppy magazine on the planet. Back then there wasn’t much online and most of what I did was circle breeders and make phone calls. Yes….actual PHONE calls. Ick! Might be why I hate talking on the phone nowadays. At the time I was married and sometimes we would just pick up and head off to see a breeder in some city somewhere. It was LOTS of fun. I ended up deciding on a Giant Schnauzer and ordered one (actually got 2) from the biggest kennel in the world (Boy was that a mistake!) and bought all the grooming tapes and tools I was supposed to get. I was immediately hooked. There’s too much of a long story to go here but let’s just skip forward to saying Giant Schnauzers didn’t work out and I ended up in American Staffordshire Terriers and with a Standard Schnauzer (my love!).  I will always love all three breeds of schnauzer.  Fast Forwarding until now, I just have one dog that I did not finish myself although he is my little soulmate.  I miss showing! I am currently on the search to find the perfect next companion for not just me, but for me and Gunner.  It may actually be more exciting that I get to plan for a more active dog that can play with him and that we can enjoy games of ball and other activities together!

So here I am and the Perry Dog show was this past weekend and I decided to go do some photos to add on to my “project”.  I hate to even call it project because really I’m just offering sessions at no cost to some select dogs and trying to photograph at least one of each breed. It’s my way of getting my INSPIRATION back into my photography. I rather lost motivation last year after being used up and spit out by so many people and pushing so hard for 4 years to not get anywhere at all. Yes I have work that is known worldwide and yes some people know my name, but I am still not able to go full time because the inquires aren’t coming and what may come are things that people don’t even want to pay for. Burned out is what I was. But now it is all coming back. My passion is returning.  And I am excited about it. I really want to heavily do Dog Photography and hope to include some traveling for it.

Enjoy some photos of some beautiful dogs I photographed at the show this weekend!

“Pyro” Border Collie

“Pryo” – Border Collie

“Digger” – Whippet

“Digger” – Whippet

“Erkahn”- Berger Picard

“Hammer” – Berger Picard puppy

“Lottie”- Berger Picard puppy

“Chase” – Cairn Terrier

Rhodesian Ridgeback- Zerek

Meet my favorite Rhodesian Ridgeback, Zerek, HPK Tropaco Selous Scout, owned by Janine Kakoyannis. This boy is so handsome and sweet! He immediately greeted me with sniffing and kisses.

 

Saluki Affair

On Friday and Saturday I clearly had an affair with some Salukis. I had expected to meet up with a nice local owner and little did I know how nice the Saluki people would be. All very accommodating and thankful. Not all breed owners are as nice, in fact some are quite ugly. One of my favorite breeds is currently not owned by me just because the breeders have a tendency to be so snippy. In any case, I enjoyed getting to know this breed a little and very much enjoyed photographing them.  Enjoy these lovely photos!

 

Huge THANKS to Renee Dubiel for meeting with me and introducing me to all the nice people!

Staffordshire Bull Terriers

I am so excited to show off these photos from two gorgeous staffy bull clients this week! The white one is Kai and the red and white one is Gidget. They are owned by Valerie Aaron. Not only are they beautiful but they both have such wonderful temperaments! I wanted to keep little Gidget. At just 15 weeks she’s at that perfect smoochie stage and I just wanted to cuddle her forever.  Enjoy!

Macon’s Local Dog Hero

AC Pup is very well known in Central GA for all ‘his’ efforts to try to help the homeless pets that are either dropped off, in shelters, needing rescue, in fosters or lost. I am sure you have seen posts about him from time to time and it’s been a year since I’ve gotten to see him! Our local hero needed some new ‘headshots’ so I was more than happy to oblige and here are my favs from the day.  He is such a big sweet boy!

AC is with Central GA CARES. You can find more info on AC Pup here- and also here – Cares Homeless Pet Club.

Show Dog Submissions Being Accepted!

Taking submissions NOW to robingattiphotos@hotmail.com

Note that I am located in Macon, GA but I will travel/meet up within an hour or so for awesome locations and CHAMPION/’SPECIALS’ SHOW dogs. This is for ALL breeds!

Do you have a special you are campaigning or are you a professional handler with some nice clients that might want photos for advertising OR are you a breeder with some exceptional dogs out right now? I am looking for at least one of each breed for my personal project. You get a shoot at no cost and I get to have fun working with many dog breeds on my own terms.  Anyone that submits photos but is not selected, will be able to have a shoot at a drastically lowered fee if they would like.

I’m back! Looking for Show Dogs!!

I’m finally back! Well…sort of. I am not at it FULL time but at least I’m getting ramped up. My special project is called {DOGS} A Furtastic Love.  I have been a dog lover since I was old enough to walk and in 1994 I decided I wanted to show dogs. I have had many breeds but started out with 2 Giant Schnauzers, then after tons and tons of research ended up getting a Standard Schnauzer that was the love of my life, and then I got heavily into American Staffordshire Terriers. I primarily showed and bred the AmStaffs from ’95 until ’01 (under the kennel name Sandune AmStaffs) where I had some pretty good success and had a lot of great loves. There’s really too much to type or explain about the breeds I’ve had and the dogs I’ve shown and the things I’ve been through so I’m just going to skip forward to now to save your eyes from all the reading! I currently have just one French Bulldog. He’s the current love of my life. He is a champion and he’s neutered and he is the loyal companion to me and my now 7 month old son. I am currently hoping to have another dog but that won’t be until later this year at the earliest. After having many dogs for so many years, it is hard having just one and quite honestly, poor Willie is bored without a buddy to do doggy play with!

So here I am and I am reaching out to the DOG SHOW world. I am searching for EXCEPTIONAL dogs and taking submissions to robingattiphotos@hotmail.com to select at least one of each and every breed.  Please let everyone you know that shows dogs or is a handler, know that I’m making this offer! I will be super selective so please don’t get your feelings hurt when I don’t pick your pet. I am looking for show dogs because I’m very particular on dogs being bred to the standard and want to honor especially owner handlers since not everyone can afford professional show photos.  I am located in Macon.  These photos can be used by the owners in ads or just for enjoyment and of course I will be using these too. I am offering special pricing for any pets that you would like photographed from March – September 2013 so if you are interested, please just ask! 

Enjoy a few lifestyle shots of a gorgeous Berger Picard puppy and young Rottweiler. Both owned by my friend Lisa Sims.

Halloween 2012!

This is my first year that I’ve had a Halloween where I didn’t have time to decorate or plan or anything! There is a good reason though and that’s  I have a son now I’ve been busy having fun with! Next year things will be all out and SO much fun. I did do a few fun things with him such as a Monkey costume and Superman but no decorations otherwise. I love Halloween though- LOVE it! I love seeing everyone dressed up and watching people get into character just because of what they are wearing.

I did do a few photos though and I’m going to share them here.  Below is my friend Hal Clay with his 4 month old son Thorin. Hal made the TARDIS in the photos and all the props are his own. Thorin was such a trooper during this shoot and he is such a love! Don’t you just love Thorin’s matching mustache to his daddy’s? You may recognize him from other posts in this blog. We have worked together a lot!

 

Here is my own almost 3 month old son Gunner as the Cutest Monkey and then as my Superman!

And here’s my friend Ashley Lanier, she came over this weekend and did her rendition of a Droog from Clockwork Orange. Hair and makeup by my darling friend Nina Williams.

I’m not done here!

Just a little news update for those that had been keeping up with my work but wondering where I’ve been. I am on a little break until late Fall while I have a very much surprise baby! I am hating not being able to work right now but I’m now 32 weeks pregnant and quite full of little one which has taken all my wonderful energy away. Never fear though- I’m looking forward to getting back at it probably late October. I appreciate all my fans and friends and clients for being understanding and for waiting to work with me either again or for the first time! I’ll be pressing even harder to put out even more exciting work and doing more versatile jobs since it isn’t just all about me anymore – it’s me and baby taking on the world!

Thank you all for understanding and for your support! I’ll be back!

XOXO!

Name Change!

Everyone take note that I’ve gone back to my maiden name and that pretty soon everything including the business name will all be the same. So if you start seeing less Robin Cook and all Robin Gatti…..that’s why! I know it will take some getting used to but the logo will stay the same so hopefully that will help everyone out to get used to the change!

So pretty soon you’ll just be seeing ROBIN GATTI PHOTOGRAPHY!