Introducing Ruby & Flynn

I got my own place in 1993 and in April of 1994 I felt confident enough, and independent enough, to get two kittens, Montgomery and Zoe. They were part of my life for 12 and 14 years, respectively, and had wonderful lives with me.

After being, as I call it, "critterless" for almost a year, I felt a good remedy for all of my personal and business woes would be some kittens. I picked them out at the Santa Monica Animal Shelter and they became mine last week. Ruby and Flynn make me smile, laugh and love and as you can imagine have become my new favorite subjects to photograph. If only they stayed this little.

I feel grateful and honored to have them in my life.

Katie with her Dogs Blue and Salvatore

Katie recently hired me to do a photo shoot with her and her two chihuahuas, Blue and Salvatore. We had such a good time and I just love how the images turned out.

I just love shooting people with their pets.

Click here to view the slideshow I created from this photo shoot.

2008 - Year in Review Slideshow

I just love putting together my year in review slideshows. It always reminds me of all the fun shoots I have had all year long. I work really hard to find good songs for my slideshows and I love how my images from 2008 work with this song.

Click above or to see the slideshow on it's own page, click here.

Click here to view 2007 and here to view 2006.

Enjoy and again Happy New Year.

I Will Always Miss My Zoe

My beautiful cat Zoe passed away last weekend. She was 14 1/2 years old.

My friends have been incredible with their condolences. I am so grateful that I gave her her own blog entry in April of this year, when she was still well. My friends have written such sweet comments on Zoe's blog entry since her passing. Click here to view them.

I am starting a book project this summer called Why I Love You and part of the project involves writing a note to your pet. I wrote mine a couple of months ago and I've included it in this blog entry, along with a photo of Zoe that I took about 10 years ago.

If you want to be kept up to date on this project, just join our mailing list (the sign up box is on the right hand side of my blog), add your name and then check off the box Why I Love You the Book.

Sarah and Mia

2007 Was Another Great Year

I created a 2006 Year in Review Slideshow and I decided to create another one this year. It was another great year. Thanks to everyone who made it so successful.

Daisy The Puppy

I was hired to shoot this most adorable puppy, Daisy. I have a particular soft spot for chocolate labradors and Daisy was no exception and if you can believe it she was very cooperative especially for a puppy.

I even found a very appropriate song for the slideshow entitled "Daisy"

Click here to view the slideshow or below.

Dog Portraits by April Rocha Book

The opening for Buster and Sullivan was fantastic.

Click here for sneak peek of inside of the book of my Pet Portrait work that they currently have in the Malibu store.

Click below to view the slideshow from the evening or here.

Dog Portraits Book

Dog Portraits ...

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Book Preview

The incredible pet boutique Buster and Sullivan has asked me to create a book of my work for their stores. I just got it back from the printer and it looks fantastic! The grand opening party for their new Malibu store is this Thursday night and I'm covering the event for them and I can't wait.

Here's a sneak peek of the cover the book. I'll post images from the inside of the book on Thursday.

Laila and Daisy - Part Two

While shooting Stephanie's dogs I decided to shoot using film processed with dr5. I just love how these images look and it's completely different but just as beautiful as traditional black and white film.

Laila and Daisy

My friend Stephanie Sponsel hired me to shoot her two dogs Laila and Daisy for her Christmas card. I originally met Stephanie in a Letterpress class and besides being fellow Aquarians we both love paper. She has become an amazing invitation specialist and I can't wait to see how she integrates three images from the shoot into her Christmas card. Above are my favorites.

Linda and Rebel

Linda Sanoff decided for her husband Gerry's birthday she would surprise him with a photo of her and their dog Rebel. Gerry describes Rebel as "pure goodness" and I think it's an appropriate description. Gerry and Linda have been together since college and I swear one of the best things that have ever happened to them is Rebel coming into their lives.

Paloma the Pug

I was hired to shoot Paloma recently. She was the most adorable pug puppy and quite a funny little character too.

I just loved how these photos turned out using the dr5 process I love so much.

Miss Shelby

Shelby is a dog I've known for awhile and she's a perfect example of a great rescue dog. She literally had days to live if someone did not rescue her. Shelby was leaving Los Angeles for good so before she did I shot some photos of her. Monica, her owner, says she has the face of a clown and she really does.

Djengo Skateboarding

My friend Dina Zaphiris, co-host of the new Animal Planet series Petfinder, decided she wanted to submit her dog Djengo to the current Old Navy and Milk Bone dog contests. The Old Navy contest you just need a cute picture of your dog and Milk Bone wants photos of a dog doing their best trick. Well Djengo's best trick is his skateboarding abilities well documented in these photos. I never shoot pets in color and she needed color for these contests and I loved how they turned out.

Bella Luna Letterpress and Claudia Laub

Anyone who knows me knows that I love paper. I'm not sure why but I just do. A couple of years ago I took a couple of classes at Otis School of Design on Letterpress and was in love with the process before and fell more in love with after I took the classes. Through a mutual friend I met Claudia Laub who is the queen of all queens in letterpress. She asked me to shoot her Christmas card photo which I did and and then asked me to shoot her dog Bella Luna for her new line of stationery Bella Luna Letterpress. I made her a really large print of Bella Luna which she currently has displayed at the National Stationery Show in NYC. I know her new stationery line is going to be a huge success at the show.

Shogun the Dog

Suzanne Mayes, who I've known from when she worked at the Paul Kohner Agency and I worked at the Shapiro-Lichtman Agency, hired me to shoot her sister Michele's German Shepard, Shogun, as a surprise for her birthday. We planned the shoot a couple of months before her birthday and Michele absolutely loved the framed photos of her beloved dog. Suzanne was smart enough to order some wallet size photos and Michele takes them out of her wallet constantly to brag.

This one was the best photo of Shogun.