I have to admit that I have a bit of a weakness for dogs with wrinkles! Boxers, pugs, bull mastiffs and Shar Pei’s … anytime I hear that’s the type of dog that a client is bringing I can’t wait to meet them and see those oh-so-expressive faces.
Bosco was no exception, plus he loved squeaky toys, so one squeak and the eyebrows went up and all the forehead wrinkles deepened, love it!
Hunter was the winner of a competition held by my local vet. People were asked to upload a photo of their pet onto the vets Facebook page and then the pet with the most “likes” won a photo shoot with me!
Well handsome boy Hunter won the competition and came for his photo shoot. He’s a German Shepherd x Collie with the looks of a German Shepherd and the mind of a Collie! He was sheep dog trained as a puppy and so he’s really good with commands and even ‘talks’ when asked to!
This photo shoot was done and dusted in no time at all, Hunter posed beautifully and was so good. Now his humans have the hard task of deciding which of his gorgeous photos to print!
I’ll be a bit quiet on this blog for the next few weeks as I’m off to Africa to take photos of big pussycats and wild dogs and hopefully lots of baby wild animals. Can’t wait!
This is my 5th trip to Africa, I’m a lucky girl, and I am always in awe of the wildlife there. The privilege of being amongst herds of wildebeest and zebras, to see a pack of lions lazing in the shade of tree, watch baby elephants being nudged along by their mums … it’s just amazing.
Each trip has had it’s special moments, one trip we were at a den when the litter of wild dog puppies made their first appearance out of the den, we spent ages one year watching a baby elephant playing in the soft mud at the side of the river face planting himself just for the fun of it. Last year we visited a hyena den with lots of babies and hoped that the nearby prowling lions wouldn’t get to them.
I wonder what this year will have to offer ………………….
See you when I get back!
I’m dog sitting for 2 friends at the moment, so my doggy household is now 4 dogs. All the dogs know each other as we human friends all belong to the same running club and take our dogs for a run too so they all get along great.
This is the scene first thing in the morning while I’m making my morning coffee and they are very patiently waiting for their breakfast, I just love them!
Oh my goodness, the bigger of the two Great Danes is only 5 1/2 months old, the small one is only a few weeks but one day she will be that big. And one day soon they will both be bigger altogether! Hopefully their humans have a big house!
Bet that got your attention!
Zac is an elderly gentleman and a real sweetie. His companion is a small “white fuffy” dog who keeps him on his toes and is probably keeping him young. He has been with his rather lovely human all his life which is 12 years, and hopefully has quite a few more to go because they both love each other dearly.
Hard to imagine that this little bundle of wrinkles, cuteness and velvet fur will one day be big enough to need a single size human bed to sleep on! But that’s Great Danes for you, her humans are totally enjoying this cuddly, lapdog size … because it won’t last long!
Australian Border Collies come in a variety of colours, these 3 are all collies ranging from elderly to middle aged to puppy. They all live together and happily their human is a fantastic dog trainer, so photographing them is a breeze! Lovely, happy and calm dogs they are incredibly intelligent and love to please, and I’m always pleased when I get the annual phone call to say it’s time to update their photos as I know the photo shoot will be a lot of fun.
I first photographed Sergeant Major (known as Sarge to his friends) when he was just 3 months old. He was the most delightful puppy, already partially clicker trained and just all paws and ears and fur like velvet. His human decided that being a Great Dane he was going to grow at a tremendous rate and we would do a timeline of photos to show how much he grew in his first year.
Well, let me tell you, Great Danes grow very fast! He came back today aged 5 1/2 months, so only 10 weeks later and I hardly recognised him! And he still has lots more growing to do!
This beautiful Golden Retriever celebrated her 10th birthday with a photo shoot to mark the auspicious occasion! She’s such a gentle soul, and a very patient one too as she lives with a little fluffy white bundle of energy who jumps all over her, chases her and generally wants to play all day!
Well 2014 didn’t see too much of me on my blog, so my new years resolution (even tho I don’t believe in them!) is to try to keep up to date with my blogs!
So to start of the new year I thought I’d start with a really lovely heart warming story about a client I had in early December, Tyson. Tyson is a Bull Mastiff and very much loved by his human, Matt and the extended family. Matt came to me in a bit of a state as Tyson had been diagnosed with heart failure and been given 2 weeks to live.
He had lost 19kgs in just a couple of weeks and that had brought his weight down to a mere 84kgs! But like all the Bull Mastiffs I’ve met they truly are gentle giants. Very intimidating to look at but marshmallows on the inside!
Anyway we did the photo shoot and I asked Matt to let me know how Tyson went. To everyones amazement Tyson lived to see Christmas, and has put on weight. He’s on hugely expensive medication but fortunately the pet insurance is paying for that, and he is going great as I write this at the end of January. To celebrate we did a second photo shoot when Tyson came in with his 2 companions … pugs! Talk about a ridiculous size difference, and don’t try to count the wrinkles between them!
I was a little bit nervous about doing this photo shoot as one of the Labradors had lost a front leg to cancer, and I wondered about how he would manage with his photo shoot. I needn’t have worried, he was amazingly mobile and didn’t seem bothered in the slightest about being 3 legged, what a sweetheart.
As you can see their human is a bit stunning to say the least, and we joked that we had 3 gorgeous blondes in the studio that morning. I’m sure that they create quite a stir at the doggy park, between the glamour, the 3 blondes and the 3 legs they are certainly eye-catching!!
Every year I am one of the organisers of the Dogs Day Out in Mawson Lakes, it’s a fun and free community event in the suburb I live in, Mawson Lakes. We have heaps of doggy related stalls, displays, performances, advice, dog adoption and competitions. For dog lovers it’s heaven!
Anyway I run the Most Photogenic Dog Competition. I set up my mobile studio and take pawtraits all day long. It’s amazing how good the dogs are, considering that there are hundreds of dogs there, lots of noise, all sorts of comings and goings and yet they are so good at having their photos taken. I just love dogs!
Last year Ava a gorgeous Schnauzer who didn’t have the customary Schnauzer haircut just won us all over. She sat and gazed into my camera lens, and I swear she smiled! Her prize was a professional photo shoot in my studio, and when her human told me there were 2 more at home, I decided to extend the prize to them too. Lovely dogs, each with their own distinct personality (or is that doganilty?). Ave the quite reserved one, Rommel the gentleman and Sabrine the playful one. Lovely shoot to do!
This was such a fun photo shoot to do. It was started off as a gift certificate that was bought as a Christmas present, one of the border collies is a bit of an old boy at 11 years old, and so it was to get some really lovely photos of him. But when I discovered that there were five of them and they all do agility training together, I thought how fabulous it would be to get a portrait of all of them together!
So the wagon pulled up in front of my studio and was just a sea of wagging tails! I must admit at that moment I wondered if I had totally lost my mind!!! But what beautifully behaved dogs they are. A real credit to their humans who have spent a lot of time not just teaching them fun stuff like the agility training, but perfect manners too.
We had a fabulous morning, my idea of heaven … photographing beautiful, happy dogs!
I hope 2013 brings you lots of walkies, car rides with the wind in your face, treats, cuddles on the couch and a soft bed!
And if you are a cat I hope it brings you all the respect you demand! And a soft bed!
Well it’s been a crazy year and my blog is now very out of date, so I’m going to do a huge catch-up and load a whole load of stuff in one go. Well that’s the plan anyway, but I’m waiting on a client to arrive for a photo shoot, so whether it happens today or not is another matter!
I’m absolutely thrilled that my newborn baby photography has taken off with a bang. I never expected that I would be so busy so soon after starting up the business, but it’s been crazy! And one of the reasons I haven’t blogged in eons.
I completed my Cert IV in Photoimaging and got a distinction in every subject, which was rather satisfying to know that I had been doing the right thing all along! It’s one thing to be passionate about photography, and to please clients but it’s a personal challenge to actually do assignments, get assessed and put a certificate on the wall for all to see!
Having juggled my business and a full-time course for a year, I was rewarded by being accepted and fully accredited by the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers, another personal milestone, and another certificate for the wall!!
Life has been a chaotic but fun balancing act of photo shoots, editing, helping to organise and run a photography competition and cocktail night, and a Dogs Day Out event in the community I live in. Add that to another fabulous holiday in Africa, this time Kruger and Mala Mala in South Africa, taking photos of the most incredible wildlife, well it’s been one hell of a ride!!
I have to say this gorgeous looking fella, is the most beautifully behaved and well-trained dog I have ever met. Including my own dog who I thought was pretty good! Still a young dog at just over one year, he’s almost human; ask him to do something and he does, right away. Fantastic. And so handsome too! Absolute pleasure and 100% fun taking photos, I LOVE my job!
Murphy the Fox Terrier started off life as a show dog. But he grew a little bit too tall, I bet he’s glad about that because he leads a totally charmed life now, where all he has to do is have FUN!
And boy does he have a lot of energy for fun. I think I spent more time on the floor under the table playing with him and his squeaky toy, than I did behind the lens!
Gorgeous young man, and despite his best efforts, I got some lovely photos of him!
This cute little fella TimTam (named after Australia’s favourite chocolate biscuit!), is a Schnauzer, he just doesn’t have the traditional hair cut that Schnauzers usually wear. He is absolutely adorable, so friendly and so well behaved, and an absolute slave for Good O’s, one of my easiest photo shoots!
Cleo the stunning dalmatian, belongs to a friend of mine from the running club I belong to. We meet once a week and always take our dogs with us, they have an absolute ball. We run for about an hour and Cleo is one fit dog, she’s also quite handy for pulling you up hills!
Whilst my friends were living the life of luxury cruising around the islands of Fiji, I stayed home and minded the dogs, am I a good friend or what?! I must say my own fur baby,Oscar, is very good at sharing his home with other dogs, I think he quite enjoys the company. So for 2 weeks there were 3 dogs in the house, I looked like the pied piper when I went out walking them all together! It was fun, but I think the cat is happy to be back to just one dog now.
Bella, the butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouth spaniel was beside herself with excitement with other dogs to play with, 2 walks a day and all those wonderful smells to check out in a new neighbourhood! Her tail never stopped wagging, in fact her whole body wagged from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail.
Little old man Bailey was most unhappy about having his photograph taken, he just wanted to be left alone to sniff out all those wonderful smells in my studio from the countless doggies that have visited it! Some bribes in the form of Good O’s (they work every time!) and a few cuddles from mum, and we were soon clicking away.
Another doggy photo shoot for a birthday present! This time a 21st birthday for Melissa and the gift was organised as a surprise from her lovely partner Thomas. Jesse the miniature shetland collie had broken her foot as a puppy and had hobbled aroundever since, she’s now 10 years old and a lovely gentle dog.
Lexie was very laid back about her pawtrait session and watched me with a slightly bemused expression as if to say “why on earth are you crawling around me on your hands and knees?”
Her tail never stopped thumping throughout the entire shoot, and according to her owner she has her ‘is that the dog food container I hear’ look on her face!
Believe it or not this handsome little man is 10 years old!
A rescue dog from the Animal Welfare League, he certainly landed on his paws when he got taken home by Sam! What a wonderful life he leads now, a very lucky little chap and a pleasure to photograph … he knows he’s gorgeous!
Bella is just the most affectionate little thing, nothing she likes more than to snuggle on your lap and go to sleep. I’m sure she thinks she’s a cat!
She feels the cold and had me laughing at her antics with a blanket she found in my studio. She burrowed into it, pulled it over her head and turned around and around underneath it until she was completely invisible. She’s so tiny you would never know there was a dog wrapped up inside it … until you get close enough to hear the snoring!
But one squeak of the squeaky toy and she was out like a shot, ready to hunt it down and chew it to bits!
I’ve been waiting to add these photos to the page, but they were a surprise birthday present for Caitlin’s father so I’ve had to bide my time waiting for the birthday to happen.
It was quite an operation getting both Caitlin and her labrador puppy out of the house without raising suspicions and I got a phone call at 7.30am to say could we do it NOW!!!
Despite still being a puppy, Dyson was very well-behaved and I’d have to say a lot calmer than my usual experiences with puppies! A credit to Caitlin who has taken on her role as dog trainer with great enthusiasm and success.
See more gorgeous RSPCA animals on the RSPCA Pawtraits page.
Being a huge supporter of animal rescue and rehoming organisations, I offered my time (& talent!) to the RSPCA, to get some endearing photos that will hopefully help these gorgeous, but abandoned or abused animals find loving homes.
I had a wonderful time, the people who work at RSPCA SA are just fantastic and the volunteers were amazing, coming in on a Sunday to help bring the animals into my make-shift studio. Everyone really got into it, and it was a fun time, the animals were fabulous … calm, responsive and ultra friendly, which I’m sure is a direct result of the care and compassion they get from the staff and volunteers at the RSPCA.
If you think you can give a permanent and loving home to a dog, cat, rabbit or guinea pig, think about going and seeing what the RSPCA has waiting for adoption, instead of heading off to the pet shop. As you can see these creatures are just gorgeous, and they certainly deserve a second chance at a life.
I’ve created an RSPCA page with all the photos I took on it, have a look!
Two gorgeous canine brothers, what fun I had with them. The photographs were a surprise birthday present so the dogs were smuggled out of the house and dropped off at my studio, with their owner telling me I’d never get a decent photograph of the two of them together because they were so playful and didn’t do as they were told. Half an hour later I had the most wonderful collection of photos of the two of them and of each one on their own!
The owner swears drugs were involved because she just can’t believe how well behaved they were! No drugs, but I will admit to a little bit of cheese bribery!! Check out the photographs of these two dogs on the Pawtraits page.
Basset Hounds were bred to have short legs so that their large, sensitive noses would be close to the ground, and to have long ears that would stir up the leaves and undergrowth and stimulate scents. And the white tip of their tail? So it could be seen when their short bodies disappeared in the bush!
Nellie took her photo shoot very seriously, nothing was to be rushed and we were to give her the respect that a dog of her high breeding and pedigree deserved! What a great temperament this dog has, she let her 3 humans climb all over her and still retained her dignity. Check out Nellie on the Pawtraits page
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