Friend Session ~ Orbit the Great Dane { Part II }

Orbit the Great Dane’s Mum works at as a vet nurse, and the lucky boy gets to go to work with her every day and hang out at the vet surgery. While I was there with them, I thought Orbit would be a good subject to try out a new lens that I was borrowing from a friend (for camera geeks, it’s the Canon 70-200mm f2.8 with IS) in practice for a shoot later that day.

One of Orbit’s favourite games, chasey around the picnic tables…

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It wasn’t long before I caught some sweet moments between Orbit and his Mum…

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But he was soon back to being cheeky with his toy.

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The longer lens allows me to step back but still focus in on the little details.

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Makes everything easy when I have a gorgeous subject (intensely focused on the treats his Mum was holding just out of frame).

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Friend Session ~ Orbit the Great Dane { Part I }

Continuing on with the Great Dane theme that has been developing lately, I thought I’d post some shots of a friend’s dog whom I photographed when I was down in Sydney lately. Orbit is a large, silly and loveable blue boy who in true Dane style, likes sleeping, playing with his toys and is totally devoted to his owner.

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Orbit and my Luna are just one day apart in age but since they live in different states (about 10 hours away) they haven’t yet had the opportunity to meet. Though I’m sure if they did, Orbit would be stunned by Luna’s beauty and poise and might look a little bit like this -

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What would a doggy post be without some lovable head wrinkles in blue.

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Stay tuned, more to come of Orbit soon!

Client Session ~ Boo the Great Dane

Probably my most ironic session location yet – “Boo” the Great Dane, photographed in a cemetery! Boo and his Mum live just down the road from the intriguing St Stephens Cemetery and regularly stroll through the broken gravestones and memorials and amazing old trees on their daily walks. I was so excited to shoot there, and although the light didn’t quite cooperate on the day with looming heavy cloud, the atmosphere was still pretty special.

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So enough about the location and onto the star of the session – Boo! This lovely boy was 9 months old at the time of our shoot and your typical gangly and exuberant Great Dane teenager. With a tongue that rarely stayed inside his mouth resulting in a constant endearing doggy grin, he obviously enjoys his walks through the cemetery and adjacent park, running through the long grass and sniffing around the old gravestones.

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I just love his distinctive white chest blaze.

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We managed to persuade Boo to sit down and relax for a while in the long grass an open corner of the walled cemetery enclosure, resulting in some nice quiet shots.

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Then it was back to exploring again.

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Before settling down to chew a stick, Boo looking at me with a familiar ‘dare you to come and get me!’ attitude.

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In the grounds of the cemetery is also St Stevens Anglican Church. Built in 1874, it’s a lovely old church featuring gothic revival architecture and these amazing doors! The light was fading fast by this stage but we had time for just a few shots of Boo featured in the doorway.

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If you’d like to know more about this very special place, check out the Wikipedia article on the history of the Camperdown Cemetery and then head over to the offical website of the St Stephens Church in Newtown. Interesting stuff!

Client Session ~ Chopper the Great Dane Labrador Mix

Chopper is the chilled out, mature big brother of Bozley and Giselle and yep, he’s a foster failure too, and it’s easy to see why! At seven years old he is starting to slow down a little, but still loves to get amongst the action every now and then.

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Though given the opportunity (a lovely sunny front garden devoid of the annoying young ones) he quickly switched to lying in the sunshine, soaking up the rays.

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A big solid boy thanks to his Great Dane heritage, Chopper also has the look of a big cuddly overgrown Labrador Retriever.

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Big brown eyes and an old grey face are a beautiful combination.

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I couldn’t resist making a feature of his lovely head wrinkles too of course.

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Client Session ~ Bozley the Staffy Mix

Where do I start with Bozley! First up, he was a foster failure. It must have been a combination of his endearing sooky nature and his exuberance for life in general that made him impossible to pass up. There are definitely two sides to this boy and I knew I was in for meeting a real little character when in the questionnaire, his owner gave him the following description:

“Bozley is cunning, sly, impetuous, loving, eager to please, dominant, the class clown and bad to the bone. He is also extremely cuddly.”

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I certainly wasn’t disappointed – Boz was a complex character! Such a busy boy, so much to do, checking the fenceline perimeter, giving his Mum kisses and cuddles, rolling in smelly mushrooms along with sniffing absolutely everything in the front yard. A challenging boy to shoot but very rewarding.

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Ok, so I admit I am obsessed with head wrinkles!

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