Thanks for visiting and welcome to the blog! As an Atlanta dog photographer, I have the amazing privilege of meeting and capturing the sweet spirits of the dogs that bring so much into our lives.
I also occasionally photograph cats and other pets, and children too, so I'll mix it up along the way. A few times a month, posts will feature dogs and cats awaiting adoption at Atlanta Pet Rescue, a no-kill shelter near and dear to my heart -- we adopted Becks there, who is now the love of my life (don't tell my husband!) and a perfect brother to the very bossy Sienna. You'll be seeing a lot of the two of them -- if they'll allow it!
From time to time, I will have news and updates for past and current clients (read: sales! promotions!), so bookmark this site and come back to visit! This is my first attempt at blogging, so I hope you'll enjoy the ride with me. :) Feel free to ask questions or leave comments!
Thought everyone should read this if the story hasn’t made it around to them already:
http://thechaistory.blogspot.com/2008/08/chai-story.html
(That’s a link to the first blog post with the whole story, there are two other posts with updates.)
It’s a horrifying story but one that should be told, and my heart goes out to Chai & his family…we will definitely be staying away from this manufacturer. 
The perfect start to a Monday morning! Michelle (another guide dog puppy in training) at 9 weeks & now at 6 months:
That one of her on her back as a puppy is sooo cute!
This must be a Golden, my Golden Radar went off! How adorable can you get?
Ridiculously cute!
thanks for the visits! 
melissa: michelle is a golden/lab cross bred for one of the national guide dog schools.
Oh MAN she is so cute. Puppies just grow way too fast. You have some gorgeous early puppy shots of her!
Those shots are so beautiful!
I would love to find out more about the program you and your husband participate in to help get these wonderful pups ready to assist! Beautiful pictures!!! They grow so fast!!
I very rarely photograph adults, but my little sister Rachel is visiting from Idaho while she’s on break from college and I couldn’t help but sneak a few — here are a few from the five minutes she could stand my camera in her face…
(This first one is Rachel in her most natural state, for anyone who knows her)
Playing around with some funky post-processing:
This month I had an unusual and heartbreaking opportunity to photograph Makaveli, one of the pit bulls who was rescued from Michael Vick’s dogfighting operation. His foster-now-adopted dad, Brandon Bond, is a well-known tattoo artist who created Atlanta Pit Bull Rescue, an organization dedicated to saving fighting dogs, rehabilitating them, and adopting them out to loving families.
After all the terrible things I’d read about the Vick operation (dogs being electrocuted, drowned…), I expected to see Mak in poor physical condition, scarred, malnourished, or worse. (The first dog I photographed for Brandon had lost both her ears from a dogfighting ring.) But he had very different scars — a world-weariness in his eyes and body language that belied his fear and uncertainty.
I included the last image below because it felt to me a fleeting glimpse of the dog beneath all the distrust and anxiety who, with the hard work of his loving family and supportive community, may one day be free of such a horrific and inhumane past.
I think Pitbulls are one of the most gorgeous breed of dogs. They have such a strong build and spirit. We have a few that come to our daycare, one of which had some pretty rough treatment as a pup. You would never guess it though. He is friendly, loveable and just plain happy. I’m glad Makaveli is one of the lucky ones!
Oh my gosh these are so good and heartbreaking. He looks like such a sweet dog. So glad he’s been rescued out of those horrifying conditions.
These are great. What a story. Keep up the wonderful work!
Lessia, thanks for sharing the all telling pictures of a beautiful animal who looks to have a great spirit and “kind old soul”. Mr. Bond, thank you for your good works and showing Makaveli and other Pits the flip side of human nature. My hat’s off to you.
These are simply beautiful Leesia! You captured so well his story and the hope for his future!
absolutely beautiful.
This was tough to read and have those images in my mind what this poor dog (any many others) went/go through. Hopefully the message will get out through people like you capturing their stories.
It never ceases to amaze me what love and positive attention will do for the spirit of a dog. My hat is off to all of the people that had part in the rehabilitation of these victims of abuse and to you for capturing such special images of Mak. In his eyes, it seems he is still uncertain. I hope in time he will forget all that has happened to him and only remember and relish in the good that is happening now and that is to come.
While preparing print orders I couldn’t help but share a few of Joey, who was a total ham during our session — his mom was afraid we wouldn’t get too many of him during the shoot (our main subject was his dachshund sister Chloe) since he and Becca (more of her later too!) were feral cats before they were taken in. But as we were finishing up, he crept out on his own and made a beeline for my treat-stuffed camera bag.
After he was finished with the camera bag he plopped up on the table for me and we just couldn’t stop laughing!
For those of you waiting on proofing galleries and table book proofs, thank you for your patience!! I am still dealing with computer problems — the new Mac had to be replaced because I was having so many problems so I’m slogging through on the old computer and dealing with the nightmare of having duplicate files all over the place in various stages of development. Thanks for your understanding! Everything should be squared away in the next week…I hope…
Oh man, I read this last week when the blog said he had received a settlement from the company. This new news is horrifying!