Samantha Grey Photography

Boulder Pet Photographer

Pet Photography

When I photograph your pet, I capture your pet's true personality and the love, warmth, and joy in your relationship with your pet.

I love hearing the stories that people share about their furry family and bring that energy to life through photographs. The laughter and the genuine affection that shines through so clearly is what drives me as an artist. The stories I tell through my lens are all about the love that you share with your pet and my love of catching them on film.

Why do I choose to exclusively photograph pets and their people?

Pets are family, and they deserve to be included in your family's collection of portraits.

Animal Rescue

Growing up in India, I was the kid who made friends with the stray dogs before I made friends with other kids. I brought treats and food to these dogs on a daily basis, and they always greeted me with the kind of affection that people think street dogs are incapable of. I'm not unique in this regard; my father did the same thing when he was in school. (I didn't find out about this until much later. I guess it runs in the family!)

Naturally, now that I'm all grown up, I am a passionate animal rescue advocate and believe that all animals deserve loving homes. I am constantly in awe of the great work that Denver's many animal rescue organizations do towards this end and I try to support them in every way that I can.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Cooper the Great Dane

Posted in Animals

Cooper is a great big goofy ball of love. He’s silly and dignified by turns. He will crack you up and melt your heart in the span of 5 minutes.

Cooper, like most Great Danes, loves his toys. People who are unfamiliar with the breed tend to think that Great Danes are these super-serious dogs. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Cooper lives with his mom, Renee. I got to know Renee through not one but two of the rescues that I’ve worked with. She is an amazing person and I’m lucky to know her.

I hope you enjoyed spending the afternoon with Cooper and Renee. I know I did.

Thank you, Renee and Cooper, for sharing your lives with me.

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Friday, February 18, 2011

Mallory the Great Dane Puppy Sleeps Over

Posted in Animals

Between travel, being sick, and shooting like a crazy person, I’ve gotten to the point where I’m sitting on a huge pile of photos to publish here. I have this elaborate plan for working through this pile, but it got disrupted by Mallory. Who’s Mallory, you ask? Mallory is a 25 lb bundle of adorable Great Dane puppyhood, and this is the story of how she came over to my house for a sleepover.

I was curled up in bed, flipping through my emails on my iPad when the email came in from BDHP. Mallory the Great Dane puppy needed a ride to the airport so that she could get to her forever home in California. Hey wait a minute! She needs a ride to the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. Why, I live practically next door to that tiny regional airport! Of COURSE I want to give her a ride to her flight out. Since she was flying out early in the morning, we thought it would be best if I drove her down from Fort Collins the night before and had her sleep over with us.

If you’re following along, what this spells is “FREE PUPPY SLEEPOVER.” Score!

I drove to Fort Collins and loaded Mallory into my car. This was the first time that she had been separated from her sister-puppy, Isabella, and she was whimpering. Her foster mom immediately covered her with her blankie that smelled of home and Isabella.

Mallory calmed down. (Also, if the sight of Mallory in her blankie doesn’t just melt your heart, you need to see a doctor. There’s something wrong with you.)

The miles flew past quickly with Mallory fast asleep in the back seat of my car. Soon enough, we were home, where Mallory immediately claimed ownership of my bed.

We settled in for the night. I was expecting a rough night with Mallory crying for her sister, but the only noises I heard were Mallory and Nick in a snoring competition. I don’t know who won, but I do know that I lost that one, for sure.

I woke up at 4.30AM to try and get Mallory ready to go to the airport. Hey Mallory?

Wake up, Mallory!

Mallory, wake up! We gotta go to the airport!

Hey Mallory! Show me your best “AWWW what a sleepy puppy!” pose!

Eventually, I got Mallory upright and almost awake.

Yep, definitely awake.

Okay, kind of awake.

By the way, want to see the most adorable Cute Overload style ‘tocks in the world?

Told you.

Anyway, we got in the car and schlepped over to the airport. Now, here’s the fun part. I was kind of expecting an industrial loading-dock style drop-off area, since that’s what I saw when I flew my Great Dane to India with me. Nope. Mallory was flying IN STYLE. Her flight was with Pet Airways, who specialize in transporting pets across the country. Their animals fly in the cabin with light, heat, etc. When I got to the drop-off area, the wonderful ladies at Pet Airways knew who she was before we even said a word. Everyone insisted on cuddling Mallory AT ONCE!

And then they took Mallory away and our sleepover was finished and I drove home. Except, I can’t quite get Mallory out of my head. What a sweet puppy. Her forever home is very, very lucky to have her!

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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Marble and Timber

Posted in Animals, Cats

Cat photography can be difficult. I mean, hello, they’re cats. They know that they’re the boss of you and they’re quite willing to demonstrate this to you as many times as it takes to drive the point home. So if you’re a photographer and you want to work with cats, you had better do it with humility and a total willingness to look like an idiot for your feline subjects. I mean bosses. Your feline bosses.

Thankfully, being a photographer around these two cats was super easy. They worked the camera like pros! (One of them hogs the limelight a little more than the other. I wonder if you can tell which one.)

Now, before we get into the next couple of photos, I want to emphasize that most cats are lactose intolerant. These two are not most cats. The only side effect they experience from lapping up milk-based treats like eggnog is the desire for more eggnog.

Naturally, we served them some eggnog, as a special treat.

Note: The photos below will suggest to you that the two cats are sharing this treat. Nothing could be further from the truth. Marble attacked the eggnog with the kind of speed and efficiency that makes you think of buzzsaws. Timber got her paw in every now and again when the cup was not already occupied by the other cat’s paw. By my completely unscientific estimate, I’d say that Marble got about 75% of the nog, which is both impressive and a little frightening. I would not want to come between that cat and her food.

Of course, my feline bosses told me that I can’t end this post on that photograph. So, let’s end on these portraits instead: two graceful cats, posing charmingly in their cozy Colorado home. (Stop giggling!)

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Friday, October 29, 2010

Howl-o-ween Costumes!

Posted in Animals

We had a great turnout for Big Dogs Huge Paws’ annual Howl-o-ween Costume Party at the Only Natural Pet Store in Boulder! The costumes ranged from adorable to absolutely mind-blowing.

My favorites were the flower-garden bulldogs, complete with the pint-sized bumblebee-bullie.

I mean, seriously, how ADORABLE can you get? The dogs were really good sports about wearing the outfits, but I bet they were glad to get home and go back to not being in costume! ;)

Then, of course, we had George the Horse (or as I’ve been calling him: George the Demon Steed.) Great Dane owners everywhere will both applaud and groan at this costume. Back when I lived with a Dane, we got “Oh my God, it’s a horse!” comments all the time. (And less frequently, the “Can I ride him?” comments, usually from really hopeful 5-year-olds.)

Here are a few of the other costumes that really caught my eye:

Yeah, that’s Robin Hood dressed up as a Papillon! No wait, it’s the other way around. (Remy’s mom: you’re awesome. This was an exquisite costume, all handmade!) I also fell in love with Turk (on the right) on the spot. He was just so astoundingly easy to work with. One of the things that I found very challenging in this setting was that I generally had only a few minutes with each dog, which as any photographer will tell you, isn’t enough time to get a pet comfortable and looking natural in front of the camera, especially in a high-distraction environment like a pet store. For Turk, this wasn’t even remotely an issue. He just hammed it up as if he was a supserstar canine top model!

That’s Modoc, the saddest (and largest) bumblebee in the world. I wish I could have photographed her with the much smaller Brule-the-bulldog-bee!

All in all, it was an awesome event. Many, many, many thanks to the people that came by with their dogs (whether in costume or not!) and to Only Natural Pet Store for hosting the event. Guys, I can’t sing praises for this store loudly enough. I was really floored at their amazing product selection and the kind and friendly staff there. Thanks also to Big Dogs Huge Paws—they are an amazing rescue for big dogs of all varieties, and one that I am proud to align myself with. Great job, everyone! :)

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Costume Party and Holiday Cards!

Posted in Animals

Big Dog Huge Paws’ annual Howl-o-ween costume party!

When: 1pm to 5pm on Saturday, October 23rd.
Where: Only Natural Pet Store in Boulder, CO (map)

As regular followers of this blog know, Big Dogs Huge Paws is one of my favorite animal rescue organizations in the Denver and Boulder area. So when BDHP asked me if I’d be interested in providing photography for their Howl-o-ween costume party, I jumped at the chance!

I will be offering mini-sessions (with no sitting fee!) at the event, with product packages ranging from $49 to $149. You will also be able to order holiday cards made from your photos. The drop-dead gorgeous design comes from Mariana over at Marble Sharp. She created this specifically for this setup and I am way, way, WAY in love with how perfect these cards are!

(Side Note: I highly recommend that you bring your pet’s favorite treats and toy(s) with you. I usually have freeze-dried liver treats and squeakers on hand, but you are the best judge of what gets your pet’s attention!)