Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Did you see Target's Sunday Circular Ad this Week?

It was so much fun to reach for the Sunday paper and see the Target circular insert. For many years I have been providing animal actors for Target (and still do) but this is the first time I actually was the photographer for an ad. I did not shoot the product just the dogs and cat but I am pretty happy with results.








all images © Barbara O'Brien Photography We are located in the beautiful rolling hills of western Wisconsin but have camera and will travel. Images are available for reproduction. Please e-mail or call with intended usage, size of print run, distribution. Barbara O'Brien Photography 612 812 8788 cell 715 448 3456 home barbara@barbaraobrienphoto.com

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Kevin's Kitty Kare

Kevin's Kitty Kare is a spoof on the recent phenomena of Doggie Daycare. A total of 17 cats, two trainers and assorted crew, (who proved to be surprisingly good at cat herding) were used to create this series of images. The morning drop off, feeding time, grooming time, playtime and nap time, are meant to mimic what happens at Doggie Daycares around the country.

The most difficult part of the shoot was keeping the cats interested and engaged on set. Ok, I admit it, the most difficult part of the shoot was keeping the cats on the set.

Through this series, I am hoping to showcase my ability to photograph numerous animals at once while showing a fun playful side to my work. Big thanks to my awesome crew and out location, Shelter Studios, Minneapolis, Minnesota  for their help with this shoot,



Morning Reception Time


Feeding Time



 Play Time


Bath Time



 Nap Time




all images © Barbara O'Brien Photography. We are located in the beautiful rolling hills of western Wisconsin but have camera and will travel.  Barbara O'Brien Photography  612 812 8788 cell  715 448 3456 home barbara@barbaraobrienphoto.com

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Woman and Her Dog both Wearing Coats



Here is another image from my recent open call audition. This lovely woman came in with her little dog and I couldn't get over how much their interesting coats and the woman's amazing hat. I asked if it was an ushanka ( a russian hat usually made of fur)  and she expressed amazement that I knew what it was. She said it was very old and starting to wear out, but I think that it what made it so wonderful. She graciously agreed to let me photograph her and her dog together. I am really drawn to her enigmatic smile and I think it makes the shot.



all images © Barbara O'Brien Photography We are located in the beautiful rolling hills of western Wisconsin but have camera and will travel. Images are available for reproduction. Please e-mail or call with intended usage, size of print run, distribution. Barbara O'Brien Photography 612 812 8788 cell 715 448 3456 home barbara@barbaraobrienphoto.com

Fashion on the Farm gets Another Nice Mention.


Click on the image to see the story. It looks so much better properly scaled. So much fun to see Hollie Mae Schultz and my project moving around the internet.




all images © Barbara O'Brien Photography We are located in the beautiful rolling hills of western Wisconsin but have camera and will travel. Images are available for reproduction. Please e-mail or call with intended usage, size of print run, distribution. Barbara O'Brien Photography 612 812 8788 cell 715 448 3456 home barbara@barbaraobrienphoto.com

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Girl and Corgi Dog From my Last Open Call Audition

I held an open call audition in last month in Minneapolis, Minnesota. People who live in the area and can bring their dogs to be photographed and tested on the set to see if they like the experience well enough to become animal actor through my agency,  The Animal Connection. I photographed over 50 dogs that day, some of whom will grace this blog in later posts and some who will surely go on to be featured in ads for companies like Target and Purina and the like.

When a young girl accompanied by father brought in a wonderful little Corgi named Ziggy I took one look at her stylish jeans and Converse tennies I just knew I had to get a shot them together.


 I love how she is just starting to walk and he is standing still entranced by something off set.

Here is another shot so you can see just how darn cute he is!










all images © Barbara O'Brien Photography We are located in the beautiful rolling hills of western Wisconsin but have camera and will travel. Images are available for reproduction. Please e-mail or call with intended usage, size of print run, distribution. Barbara O'Brien Photography 612 812 8788 cell 715 448 3456 home barbara@barbaraobrienphoto.com

Friday, February 10, 2012

New Sheep Tee Featuring one of my Images






Farm Boy Farm Girl Brand is using one of my sheep images on their new line of tees. So fun! Farm Boy Farm Girl Brand is owned by Dan Adamson and Brian Goldman and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Their clothing lines are so fresh and fun!


all images © Barbara O'Brien Photography We are located in the beautiful rolling hills of western Wisconsin but have camera and will travel. Images are available for reproduction. Please e-mail or call with intended usage, size of print run, distribution. Barbara O'Brien Photography 612 812 8788 cell 715 448 3456 home barbara@barbaraobrienphoto.com

Happy to be Included in Wonderful Machine's Recent Email Promotion



Was happy to see that I had been included in Wonderful Machine's most recent email promotion.
Wonderful Machine is a group of dedicated people who are helping me and many other photographers promote our work and find new clients.





See the Wonderful Machine email blast here.






all images © Barbara O'Brien Photography We are located in the beautiful rolling hills of western Wisconsin but have camera and will travel. Images are available for reproduction. Please e-mail or call with intended usage, size of print run, distribution. Barbara O'Brien Photography 612 812 8788 cell 715 448 3456 home barbara@barbaraobrienphoto.com

Barbara O'Brien Shoots Fashion?

I am excited to share that project I did with creative art director/stylist extraordinaire Hollie Mae Shultz of HMS Styling is being featured in the February 2012 issue of VECU Magazine.


It was amazing day last October when Hollie Mae and her crew of models, stylists, hair and makeup people and my crew of photo assistants, digital techs and animal wranglers all met for a day of high fashion shooting down on the farm.



Our first shot was with our lovely model, Kelly was with six Irish Wolfhounds that were provided by my good friend, Beth Renstrom.  Our poor model was outweighed by at least 6 times by the 4 dogs she was holding. It is amazing she was able to hang on! Although it didn't make it into the spread, I still really like it.


We next moved to the cornfield for the beauty close up. I discovered photographing people alone is much easier than photographing them with animals. At least people understand what you are trying to do.

We next went to the barn where Kelly our model posed with Hank, my Cheviot sheep. We had to keep shooing my many cats away as they wanted to be in the shot as well.

We moved to the interior of my 100+ year old barn and shot Kelly with a beautiful swan named Sundra.
Sundra was an old pro at his as she had recently modeled for Hotel Bel Air - Los Angeles photo shoot.


By then, our star animal model had arrived. An incredible Friesian horse named Jupiter who is owned by my friend, Andi Carter. Everyone was amazed at how this very big and spirited horse behaved like a perfect gentleman for Kelly our model.



We then did some shots of Kelly walking down the road with Louis, our sweet elderly Morgan horse. I love how the fringe on Kelly's clothes mimics the horses mane.

By now we were losing light and we quickly grabbed our pony Dixie to pose with Kelly for our last shot.

All in all it was an amazing day and I am thankful to Holly Mae and her crew and to mine, Larry Hunt, Heather Byington, Michael Karns, Kevin O'Brien, Suzie and Molly Goossens, Elizabeth Hoey, Hannah Rivard, Sarah Slater and Cory Avery for all their hard work in making this happen.








all images © Barbara O'Brien Photography We are located in the beautiful rolling hills of western Wisconsin but have camera and will travel. Images are available for reproduction. Please e-mail or call with intended usage, size of print run, distribution. Barbara O'Brien Photography 612 812 8788 cell 715 448 3456 home barbara@barbaraobrienphoto.com

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Nice Shout Out From COMMUNICATIONS ARTS MAGAZINE.

Nice Shout out from Communications Arts Magazine.


Last year I had the pleasure of working with KICK!, (formally Hartung Kemp) of Minneapolis, Minnesota on their new line of packaging for Blackwood Pet Foods.

The article can be found here:

http://www.commarts.com/exhibit/blackwood-pet-food.html














all images © Barbara O'Brien Photography We are located in the beautiful rolling hills of western Wisconsin but have camera and will travel. Images are available for reproduction. Please e-mail or call with intended usage, size of print run, distribution. Barbara O'Brien Photography 612 812 8788 cell 715 448 3456 home barbara@barbaraobrienphoto.com

Friday, February 3, 2012

THE GOODNESS OF GOATS


A few years back I had an assignment to photograph a small goat dairy near Winona, Minnesota. I happily documented the owner and family with the milk goats and even managed to get some nice images of their massive billy goat who was the undisputed leader of the herd.

They also had many adorable baby goats and I had fun feeding them bottles and watching them play. I noticed that three little white goat kids had escaped from their pen and mentioned this to the owner. She laughed and told me not to worry; those three are always getting out. I finished shooting and was beginning to load up my gear when a small white kid goat jumped into the back of my open mini van.
“Hey!” I shouted, and was reaching towards him to pull him out, when the other two kids goats jumped in one right after another. They were duplicates of the first goat. All white with big perky ears, and short wagglely tails.  “Hey!” I said again, laughing. The owner came over and stated, “You may as well take them. They are too small for the butcher. “

She explained that they were triplets, and although weaned and ready to go, they weren’t worth anything at the sales barn because they were on the small side. They were males and although she’d like to, she can only keep the females or does for her dairy.

I remembered my husband, Kevin’ s prior agreement with me that sheep were ok, but no goats! Goats, from our experience, were nothing but trouble. You can’t keep them in their pen, they like to jump on cars (at least the pygmy goats do) and they eat everything in sight.

But when their three little faces peered out at me as if to say. “Well? Let’s get going,” I knew I was done.  Being an animal person, I always have an empty crate in the back of my van, so I loaded the goats in it.

My four sons were thrilled when the goat kids jumped out of the crate and ran right up to them to be petted. Kevin… not so much. “Goats,” he sighed, shaking his head. “I thought we agreed. “
“They were going to be butchered.” I told him. “I couldn’t let that happen.” As if on cue, the goat kids ran to Kevin, pushing on him with their heads and wagging their short tails. “Ok.” he said to them, while he scratched their heads. “You’re here. You may as well stay.”

The younger boys promptly named them Marcus, Aralias, and Tiberius. They tend to name animals after what they are reading and it happened to be about the Romans at the time.
I set the goat kids up in a horse stall with an old calf hut for even more shelter.  It wasn’t long before they figured out that they could crawl under the bars of the gate to freedom.

They became our constant companions. Whether it was chore time, where they insisted on stealing corn from the chicken feeders, or haying time, where they jumped on and off the bales as I tried to move them around, or just hang out in the yard time, where they tried to nibble on the book I reading, they were always part of what we were doing. When a crew came to insulate the house, the goats managed to sneak into the back of their open truck and had to be locked up for the duration.

We have learned that we can forget about trying to keep them in their pen. There is an old saying, that if your fence can hold water it can hold a goat. We have found this to be true.

Just when I thought I had closed all the gaps large enough for a small goat to crawl under, they learned to jump right over it. I watched in amazement as they jumped straight up and over, one right after another, like small deer. I wonder why nobody has started the sport of goat agility like they do for dogs. I think goats would be excellent at it.

And forget about having a garden; although the goats do eat weeds, they also eat all the good plants and shrubbery as well. I remember the first spring we had them, I had a lovely plot of tulips that were just about ready to bloom. The goats had escaped again, and it only took them moments to eat the tops off of every tulip.




I won’t say they’re all bad though. Now that they are full grown, topping out at 75 pound each, they protect the sheep and will drive away dogs they don’t know. They are good company and are always curious about what we are doing. Being white, they photograph well, and are easy to find in the dark. And finally, they are always guaranteed to make me smile.





all images © Barbara O'Brien Photography We are located in the beautiful rolling hills of western Wisconsin but have camera and will travel. Images are available for reproduction. Please e-mail or call with intended usage, size of print run, distribution. Barbara O'Brien Photography 612 812 8788 cell 715 448 3456 home barbara@barbaraobrienphoto.com