Dear Ellen: Press, Pups and Plowing

Dear Ellen, How's it going?  I hope you had some fun since my last letter, all I know is that I saw that you were in Boston this weekend, I didn't have time to catch up with you on Facebook!  Aside from getting over the thrill and excitement of the Wiener Nationals, I'm starting to get into a regular routine with volunteering at the SF SPCA and keeping up with my other photo work. I'm writing to you from an outdoor cafe on market street, eating and eavesdropping (my two favorite pastimes... jk!). There is a man trying to pick up a woman (who keeps mentioning her husband this, and husband that), and two businessmen discussing  a 300 million dollar deal that is closing later today (and checking out every woman who passes by).  Oh, and a woman just walked by with a rat on her shoulder.  I love San Francisco. This week the spring issue of Lafayette Alumni Magazine came out, and I was featured!  I knew this article was coming out but I wasn't sure when (they flew the photog out here to SF just to take a pic of me!).  I went to Lafayette College (Easton, PA) and graduated as an Art Major in 2002 with a concentration in sculpture and video.  The magazine features 3 alumni each issue, and it comes out quarterly, so it's a pretty big deal for me to be amongst some of the great successful alumni of LafCol!  Ohhh, sometimes I miss college, I was such a mover and a shaker...  You can check it out the whole article here. Project DOG is well under way now and I'm sooo freaking excited about it!! I met up with a purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback named Sophie at a "secret" beach in Emeryville to take some photos.  It's not really a secret but it's a "neighborhood secret" if you know what I mean.  I love shooting at beaches, especially in the evenings when the sun is setting.  The lighting was perfect and there was a lot of drift wood and other random goodies around to help make the pics more interesting!  You guys almost look like twins... isn't Sophie cute? Last week I reached out to Portland and Seattle, and some more people down in Los Angeles.  I am kind of miffed (and disappointed) that I'm not getting as much feedback from people down there in SoCal, I thought I would have a bigger response rate. Come on Ellen, please submit one of your dogs, and ask your dog friends too... I need to start an LA Project DOG snowball!  I will keep trying and hopefully I'll get some great dogs, because I know they are down there (freakin A)!  Seattle has actually been surprisingly supportive and I got about 25 Seattle dogs just since last Wed! The submissions are trickling in, but I think I just need to give it some more time and I'll have all the dogs I need.  Finding the dogs isn't really as hard as I thought, all you have to do is ask! It's really amazing to me that I've already connected with a Belgian Turvuren, a Xoloitzcuintle and an Schipperke! If you would have asked me just 1 year ago, I wouldn't have known what those words meant. ...Have I mentioned that I'm exploding with excitement about Project DOG?! I really feel like it's one of my big life projects, not just a dog photo book but a true dog campaign, and I'm actually DOING IT (and losing sleep over it)! I don't understand why anyone would doubt me or the legitimacy of this project... I'm definitely beginning to face growing opposition and people who are really mean! I know that clearly it's just some people's nature to discourage vs. encourage, which is so sad and pathetic.  How dare you doubt the Kir?  ...Obviously you don't know me, ugh! To add to the high note of frustration, today I got REJECTED from a Pet Photography Forum.  Um, HELLO?!  I got a nice email from someone who follows my work inviting me to join this new community of pet photography professionals, so I "applied".  Apparently the moderator (who will remain unnamed) will not accept me because I'm not "Pet Photographer" enough to mingle with other "pet photography professionals", because I also photograph other things, like babies and food (but pets are my primary focus).  Uhh, seriously?!  Ok, whatever. This past weekend GF and I went back to Lake Tahoe to ski, since last time we only hung around the bunny slope.  This time i graduated to the intermediate runs and got to feel like a real skier.  We went down 3 of the intermediate slopes and it was so much fun and really scary!  I think I'm finally getting the hang of it though, I just pretended I was on roller skates the whole time. Here's a short video, I think you will appreciate my undeniable talent. Gotta get back to the real world now. Catch ya on the flip side, Kira