It was time again for the North Shore Animal League's DogCatemy Awards fundraiser at the Capitale ballroom and restaurant on Bowery in the city, where celebrities and fine folks with good hearts gathered to do good for the League. I worked the red carpet with some press photographers, capturing smiles from NSALA spokesperson Beth Ostrosky and her fiancee Howard Stern, Richard Belzer, Miss New York USA, Katie Lee Joel, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Rachel Ray, Jodi Applegate, and many more generous actors and personalities. From there I left the wire photographers as we went in to dinner, where short films made by entrants competed for the DogCatemy Awards - all great fun, and a good cause.

While at the Gala, I caught up with Cheryl from Leashes and Lovers and lots of other friends and clients - was great to see you all, and may I say you were all looking handsome, beautiful, and were perfectly charming.

Me? What was I wearing? Well. I called the ballroom in advance, and asked what their waiters and table bus people were wearing, so that I might "blend" better and get some cool candid shots. So, black pants, black dress shirt - the usual. What I DIDN'T count on was being scolded by the coat check staff upon my arrival, who insisted that me AND my coat had better get to the kitchen pronto, because I was very late. I was also handed more than a few empty drink glasses throughout the night.

Yeah. Laugh it up, 'cause you know I took the empty glasses with a smile and nod and walked all over looking for someplace to put ithem down. . .

Anyway, if you'd like to see more from the Gala, just click the dog on my site's hompage, navigate to Client Proofs, and type the password in all lower-case: nsala

At left, what I feel was a very successful family portrait of the Speeds in Greenlawn. They were given a portrait sitting as a gift, and had the image you see printed on a 20"x30" canvas - it looked just wonderful. They're also sending the photo out on this year's holiday cards, something many of my clients choose to do - and sometimes, we weave in some personal flair for the intended recipients.

Earl here, a border collie mix, had his portrait made with a Yankees backdrop, as his owner, who received the portraits as a gift, is a big fan. Great gift idea, and a lot of fun to shoot. To get the shot, we set up a few studio strobes, and simply draped the Yankees pennant/flag instead of a paper or cloth backdrop - worked like a charm. Earl...just love that name for a dog.