BIRTHDAY EXCURSION//BAY AREA'S BEST DOG PHOTOGRAPHER JESSE FREIDIN
Birthday Cupcakes from Outer Space
This past week I packed up only the essentials (5 cameras, 8 kinds of film, a box of various camera accesories and attachments, 3 camera bags, 1 tripod, 1 light meter, Pancake's life jacket, dog food, and a change of clothes) and headed North for some much-needed R+R. Doubling as a 30th Birthday Celebration, this trip combined basically my favorite things in life: my friends, my dog, my cameras, and nature.
I love all things Outer-Space, so my friends made me the best box-cupcakes ever! And yes we ate them all.
Pancake's Vacation
I told Pancake to bring a few books at least, but he ignored me and just slept as much as possible. He alternated between sleeping on this apparantly amazing cement porch floor, and sitting in the exact same spot watching all the farm animals across the way.
Pancake's Vacation
Vacation Barn
The barn on the property was one of the main reasons I wanted to stay at this (secret) location. The old wood and open sides made for amazingly beautiful diffused light. I made all my friends sit for me inside the barn basically every day. I was overjoyed. They were patient and accomodating (and beautiful) subjects, as per usual.
Vacation Dogs
Pancake, being the little social butterfly that he is, made friends immediately with the neighboring farm dogs. The big one we called "Dinner Dog" because he silently just appeared at the back screen door every evening at dinner time. The tiny guy was called "Oscar", and he and Pancake wrastled for hours on end.
Robot Costumes
I'm a very lucky guy, and have the best group of friends a nerdy artsy dog-loving professional photographer could ever ask for. I told my friends I wanted to make robot costumes and take robot portraits while on vacation. After years of obliging my crazy photo concepts, they happily picked up scissors, tin foil, boxes, rusty wire and constructed some incredible hand-made costumes. I even made one for Pancake. Of course, amidst this robot photo project the lonely mailman decided to pull up deliver a package. I think he wanted to stop and make a costume too. Or at least a tin foil letter.
Happy birthday to me. Vacation was great. Now on to a busy busy Summer!!