Coffee shop treats inspire canine photo book
Buzz’n’Bagles isn’t just about getting a drive-thru fix of Java and a meal — for canines it’s all about the dog treats.
“I would say about eight out of 10 cars will have a dog in it,” owner Trish Meyers said. “We’ve had some comments that once they start pulling into the driveway, the dog starts howling.”
Regular John Stalowy has been going to Buzz’n’Bagels every day since he moved to Bigfork nine years ago. He said often times he has his dogs with him and he looks through the window to the other side of the drive-thru and sees another customer with a dog.
“That’s when he got this crazy idea,” Meyers said.
The crazy idea of Stalowy’s was to publish a coffee table book of photographs featuring the dogs of Buzz’n’Bagels. He set up his photo studio just under the canopy in front of the drive-thru the first weekend in August. He captured photos of over 100 dogs in two days.
Some are happy, some are mopey, some are being held by their owners and some are hanging their heads out the back seat’s windows. His dog portraits are crystal clear and perfectly lit because, while he’s new to the book-making business, he’s taken photographs for the last 40 years.
His studio, John Stalowy Productions LLC, is located on Montana Highway 35, across the highway from the Bethany Lutheran Church. He started his own studio when he moved to Bigfork from Chicago and left his custom-home building business, Stonegate Builders, behind him.
He studied with portrait photographer Marc Hauser while living in Chicago. Stalowy now uses his photography to help develop brands for local companies such as Proof Research Inc. and S.K. Knifes, and he recently did portrait-work for the Glacier Symphony and Chorale’s Virtuoso Violins Art Auction.
This dog book idea is something he’s wanted to pursue for three or four years now and said this year was the year to finally do it.
“This was a fun project,” Stalowy said. “These people love their dogs.”
And he loves his dogs as well. Stalowy has two dogs, which he takes with him on occasion to Buzz’n’Bagels — Millie, a dachshund-dorkie mix, and Boscha, a husky-golden retriever mix.
The project is ongoing, as Stalowy is setting up his photo studio one more time at the drive-thru on August 25. He’ll be there from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
He is planning on writing a small biography for each dog he’s photographed and is still searching for a title for his book. Anyone interested in learning more about Stalowy’s studio can visit his website, www.johnstalowy productions.com.