Ansel, Izzy, and Zeke

This post is quite bittersweet. This trio's eldest brother, Ansel, was diagnosed with cancer and was only given a few months to live. At 10 years old, for a Dane, Ansel had already had a long and fulfilling life. Rescued and adopted from Great Dane Friends of Ruff Love, Ansel spent the better years of his life in a loving family and even had the opportunity to see his 2-legged human brother born. Unfortunately, Ansel gained his angel wings on Sunday - just days after our session. I don't want this post to be all sad and bring you down (even though it's making me tear up). Instead I want to honor Ansel and his sweet family.

Ansel's family loves Uptown Charlotte so, even though we had our hands full, we went for it! Three people, three dogs, and a baby - haha! We were struggling! Luckily, some friends showed up to lend a helping hand and we were able to capture some fabulous images of Ansel and his sister, Izzy, and brother, Zeke.

This is by far my favorite image of Ansel...

And Izzy (on the left) and Zeke (on the right)...Zeke is an Italian Greyhound who was very interested in the other dogs walking by. However, I quickly discovered that a, "You wanna go on a walk?" or " You wanna go on a car ride?" made him focus right on me!Izzy, on the other hand, was only interested in the tennis ball. Yep, she wasn't going anywhere without that thing!And my boy, Ansel... Ansel's dad was especially close to his boy. Because Ansel's tumor was putting pressure on his rectum, he was having to potty quite frequently. Dad was very patient with Ansel and did everything he could to clean up his accidents and to make him comfortable. I just had to sneak this picture in...Lastly, we wanted an image to remember Ansel with his baby brother. And they look off into the landscape together... run free sweet boy... xx...

Rylee, Chloe, and Zoey

This trio of pups' session has been on the calendar since May. They got a prime Fall slot and I'm so happy for that!!! The gorgeous, gorgeous colors were just starting to appear at the fabulous location we found. It brought out all the special beauty in these three ladies! This trio consists of Rylee, a lovely Golden Retriever who was going to be the main focus of the session; Chloe, a mini-Doxie with a chill attitude; and Zoey, a prim and proper Yorkie with stunning locks.

Everything for our session lined up - the pups were wonderful to work with, the weather and lighting were spectacular, and to top it all off, the parents were troopers!! The mom was totally chill and let things flow naturally while the dad was an awesome assistant (I'd offer him a job in a second). :) I couldn't ask for a better shoot!

We started off focusing on Chole and Zoey. Mom just wanted a few shots of them so we wore them out so they could relax the rest of the session.Now it was time to focus on Rylee - the sunshine of her mom's life. :)Rylee is such a gorgeous girl with a fun and quirky personality. I think you can totally see it in the images.She can have her serious look but it's perfectly balanced with a goofy side. In fact, her parents said she was being especially goofy during the session. Show off!Rylee LOVES sticks!!!! She even smiles when she fetches them!We left the park right around sunset and got to capture some wonderful views of Uptown Charlotte..."Oh, you wanted to see the skyline?"

Many, many thanks go out to Rylee, Chole, Zoey, and this trio's wonderful parents! What an AMAZING session. I love all of your babies and can't wait to see you again!

Griffin and Prim

Two awesome pups in an Uptown Charlotte park? Who could ask for more? After a session delay because of rain, I finally got to meet Griffin, an white-ish Lab mix, and Prim, a Boxer mix. This pair are best buddies and Prim makes it her full-time job to take anything away from Griffin that she can.

We spent the session exploring small bits of Frazier Park including some flower beds (don't tell!!!), some stinky water, the creek, and a super cute bridge. Griffin and Prim were great to work with and they had their sit and stay down nicely. Griffin would bark at me from time to time but he was just telling me to hurry up and give him a treat. Can't say I blame him! ;)

This is Miss Prim...

And handsome Griffin...This shot of Griffin makes me smile. He looks so happy to be laying the grass with a nice new toy! At the time of our session, he was still recovering from having a tumor removed from his spleen. Fortunately, he is now cancer-free but his parents will have to check regularly to see if the tumor returns. By the looks of this photo, I'd say he's feeling pretty good! And Prim's always happy and proudly wears a big smile on her face!I loved this bridge that lead into the park. Griffin and Prim were happy to show off just how cute they could model on it. I'm not sure who has my vote for favorite! ;)Such a cute family! Oh, as a side note, I die for mom's dress!I'm only including this shot because I wanted to show the stinkiness that Griffin and Prim dove into. OMG! That water could make you gag! Lol!But I love the wet look it gave them for the next couple shots! It's the "dirty beach hair" that's all the rave! ;)We moved on to the second location where Prim could run free a bit. Despite being toward the end of the session, she wasn't about to slow down!Griffin loves his mommy...Since we were so close to Uptown, we had to get a nice skyline shot!

I hope you enjoyed Griffin and Prim's sneak peek! Best wishes to Griffin on his recovery!!!

Pebbles and BamBam In The City

This session couldn't come at a more appropriate time. I've been longing to move to Uptown Charlotte for years and there is a very small chance that it finally might happen. I've had my eye on a set of condos (more like townhomes) that I've loved since they were built a few years. With rates as crazy low as they are right now, it may actually be the time we could make the move happen. Of course we have several obstacles in our way. First, we have to even see if we can get financed. With me being a small business owner and my husband changing jobs last year, we might not even get past the first hurdle. Secondly, and another big one, we have to sell our current house. I love where we live (Cornelius) but a more central location would be ideal for me and my clients. We are heading to the bank tomorrow to tackle the first obstacle!!! Wish us luck! Anyway, enough about me!!! I just love Uptown and I think Charlotte is a really beautiful city. I would be so proud to live there!

Obviously I was very excited when repeat clients, Pebbles and BamBam, wanted to have another session with a totally different vibe than their super-adorbs Fall shoot. This time they wanted a more urban feel with cool buildings, backdrops, and skylines. This was going to amazing! I already knew they were well-behaved and would be great for a more stimulating city shoot.

Enjoy...

They're just two little dogs in a big world.There are so many cute little vignettes throughout Uptown. Pebbles and BamBam looked unbelievably adorable everywhere we put them! Oh, and they got plenty of attention too!As long as we kept the hotdogs coming, the pups were happy to cooperate. Here, Pebbles was tired of waiting and just went for the treat...This session was a surprise for Pebbles and BamBam's grandmother. She though she was going to dinner but instead she ended up in the middle of a photo shoot. She was starving but she worked it for us!We enjoyed a beautiful sunset overlooking the growing Charlotte skyline. I HAVE to take my dogs to this location and get some photos. It would be perfect in my *possible* new Uptown condo. ;)It was a pleasure working with this family again. I hope they enjoy the totally different vibe with this awesome urban setting!

Ollie and Otto - Morkie Overload!

***WARNING!!! CUTENESS MORKIE OVERLOAD!*** Seriously. You may not want to continue on if you are in a place where you can't giggle and say "aaaawwww"!

These two Morkies (Maltese/Yorkie mix) take the cake when it comes to cuteness! Ollie and Otto, a brother-sister pair who are not even half a year old yet, are the two smallest, fluffiest dogs I have ever photographed. To give you an idea of how small they are, Ollie just hit a big milestone of reaching 2 whole pounds!

We started off their photo shoot in their totally awesome Uptown condo where they got to know me and the camera. This is Otto, the brother and the fluffier of the pair...

And this is the sister, Ollie...Time to pack up and head out to one of Uptown Charlotte's prettiest parks! I love how these two fit right in their mom's bag.Once out in the park, these two went CRAZY!!! I fortunately took a ton of pics because 1) they are so adorable when they run, and 2) when you can't see their faces, these guys tend to look like the unrecognizable fuzzy balls of fur that float out from under my couch (but WAY cuter and MUCH faster)! Ok, maybe not at all but you know what I mean! Haha! We had so much fun!!!I love Otto's dive for his ball here!Between the running, ball throwing, and searching for dead birds, we managed to grab Ollie and Otto's attention for 3-second intervals for some quick "posing". Gotta love puppies!!! :)

And back to playing!Bum-in-the-air alert!!! Before we called it a night, I took a quick picture of Ollie and Otto's new bling. Their collars are SO small and I love the name tags their mom found on Etsy (obviously I blurred out the phone #).

The pups were all packed up and ready to rest up for another day of high-energy play. Seriously love these two...

I hope you enjoyed these two Morkies' sneak peak. They were a blast to photograph and I really CAN. NOT. wait to see them again! :)

Phoenix

It's been a little crazy over here at McGraw Photography and I have a ton of great stuff to catch up on! I'll start out with a shoot from a couple months ago... This is Phoenix - a new club in Uptown Charlotte with a state-of-the-art sound and light system. Definitely a cool place to check out if you are ever roaming the streets of Uptown. The woodworking, fabrics, and details were amazing to photograph.