Spicing Things Up

What better way of spicing things up than stepping out of the box?  Friday I had the stupid brilliant idea of hosting some Christmas themed mini sessions to raise money for the Windy City Canine Rescue.  I emailed Lorelei to see what she thought and she jumped on board.  So much for the voice of reason!

So Saturday morning I got up early and put together a little flyer advertising the mini sessions that were going to be scheduled the next day and sent it off to all our clients.  I wanted to send it early so that there would be enough time to fill the 8-12 spots. It was so last minute I thought there was no way we would get more than 8 people able and willing to come. In an hour (by 8 a.m. on a Saturday!) the 12 spots were full and I still had more emails coming in.  So we opened it up for a little longer and then a little longer again.  In two hours we had 25 slots full and by the end of the day we had another 12 people on the waiting list.  Wow.  First off, what the heck is everyone doing up so early on a Saturday?  Secondly - who knew so many people wanted Christmas photos of their pet?

But as the emails kept pouring in, I started to panic.  Can we do this?  Is it going to be chaos?  By the time Marlin got out of bed, we were already full booked up and I knew we needed his help manning the door.  So before he even had his first coffee I was begging for his help.  Being the sweet guy that he is, he agreed.  Phew.  Lorelei is also bringing reinforcements. So now I just need to worry about posing the dogs - something I don't really like to do - mainly because they never sit still.

Jo came over late yesterday afternoon to help us figure out what the heck we were doing.  First of all, stringing Christmas lights for the background is more of an art form than you'd think.  I started off with a couple multicoloured strand.  The blue didn't show at all and the white lights were orange and overpowering.  It looked more like a Halloween themed background.

Thankfully I'd also brought along our strings of outdoor lights that are only red.  MUCH better.  Then Jo got the boys to pose.  Wow.  They were perfect.  Never even put a toe out of line - even while wearing the elf hat.  I have a feeling today won't go quite a smoothly. :)

And Tate.  Wow Tate.  He just had the best expressions the whole time. Love his pics.

I didn't take any pictures of the set up (I'll try and remember today) but basically the dogs are standing in an open doorway (facing out) and the overhead lights are off in the building behind them.  I've then strung the lights on the fence halfway across the room... Maybe 20 feet away from the door.

Who knew pictures taken at the daycare could be so pretty!

Lorelei has a white background and is set up inside the building with lights and such.  You can see her sneak peaks of the boys (and 1 of Lacey!) on her facebook page.  It's going to be wild and fun and scary and crazy all at once.  Wish us luck!