Second annual ‘Loop Dog Calendar’ photo shoot this weekend

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (NEWS RELEASE) – Following the phenomenal success of this year’s first “Loop Dog Calendar, “filled with professional portraits of dogs walked and trotted around the scenic 2.5-mile walkway at Wrightsville Beach, photographer Ned Leary is returning to the Loop this coming weekend.

The public is invited to bring their dogs for the shooting of the second annual Loop Dog Calendar, an annual cult-classic collection of photographs of dogs out with their owners, on Sept. 18 and 19. The shoots will be from 7-10 a.m. and 5-8 p.m. each day at the Wrightsville Beach Food Mart on Salisbury Street.

The 2011 edition of the Loop Dog Calendar will include more pictures than last year’s inaugural edition, which featured 100 dogs of all shapes and sizes as Leary encountered them on the popular Wrightsville Beach path. Every dog photographed during the two-day September sessions will be published in the calendar.

The calendar, which will be available for sale Nov. 1 at local stores and at www.NedLeary.com, costs $23.75.

Owners of photographed dogs will receive a photo of their pet via e-mail, plus the opportunity to purchase larger portraits. And at least one “lucky dog” winner of the most popular and most intriguing dog award will receive their pet’s custom portrait framed in Cape Fear River wood.

How to win?

“Paraphernalia and costumery always win points with the photographer,” Leary said, “as long as you think your dog looks its best in costume. I’m not looking for ‘Halloween,’ but one with the face the camera most loves.

“Your dog will view this as a beauty portrait. You should, too.”

But conversely, Leary said, he wants a calendar filled with whimsical, quirky pictures of dogs doing something out of the ordinary. And there’s no dog too ugly for this project.

“If you have a dog you love, that’s all it takes,” he said. “I want your dog in my calendar.”

Leary hopes to find even greater variety than last year, when he met wonderful animals in the calendar photo sessions. Among his favorites was an Italian spinone, which is “a great big dog with a real droopy face,” and a dog that smiled on command, but with a smile that was ambiguous.

“He’d bare his teeth like he was going bite your head off,” Leary said. “He looked so mean, I photo-shopped a human smile on him to make him less vicious-looking.”

Then there was the guy on the skateboard pulled by a Rottweiler and two other dogs “like a chariot out of Ben Hur,” he said.

The best one last year was a golden retriever prancing with a 6-foot-by-4-foot palm frond in his mouth. The owner said the dog won’t walk without a stick, which he drops after awhile only to find another. “That was my cover dog,” Leary said.

The dog photo sessions are free of charge. Leary only requires contact information (the owner’s name and address and e-mail), the dog’s name and birthday, and signing a doggie model release form.

Other creative projects by Ned Leary Photography include “44 Ways,” his 2010 poster featuring a collection of evocative images of each access point to Wrightsville Beach. Leary photographed the life-cycle of loggerhead sea turtles from nesting to hatching in the 2009 book “Called to Sea.” He produced a coffee-table book of images solely of a home on Figure Eight Island. And his Cape Fear Framing Co. uses century-old riverwood dredged from the Cape Fear River to create stunning frames. While his strongest suit is landscapes and scenic shots, Leary has an active portrait business as well.