Charlotte Reeves Photography

Driving through the countryside north of Melbourne towards my last session of the visit, I was a little concerned about the weather. I’d driven through intermittent rain and patches of fog and hoped that my destination would miraculously be clearer and brighter. Danielle had given me a hand-drawn mud map of how to get to their property so I was busy following this, my GPS most unhappy with me as it thought I was driving in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly I noticed that I was surrounded by burnt-out forest and realised this must have been one of those areas devastated by the Black Saturday bushfires a little over a year beforehand. Blackened stumps and lush green regrowth peeked through the heavy fog all around me as I wove my way through the bush on rough dirt roads. Eventually the road opened out into a pocket of cleared land – my destination was just a little further down the road – past new fencing and guide posts.

Out of the forest it was a little clearer, though still trying desperately to rain us out. We got started right away just in case we didn’t have much time to work with!

I was greeted by Dixie and Sam. At the respectable age of 11, Dixie the Border Collie + Shetland Sheepdog cross can only be described as an absolute darling.

I love older dogs as they always seem to possess a sense of wisdom and understanding that the younger ones have yet to discover. Dixie is no exception, this girl is super smart!

Her younger companion, Sam, is a Labrador + Kelpie mix and just a baby at two years old. He’s rather tennis ball obsessed, and for about the first 15 minutes this was my view as he dashed off down the paddock retrieving his beloved ball again and again.

It wasn’t all blurry running-through-the-grass shots though, he stopped for moments of focus and concentration as he eagerly waited for his ball to be thrown.

Even when it was time to go back up to the house for some more relaxed shots, he still wanted to bring his beloved ball along for the ride!

We decided to put Sam in the house for a little while to settle (as his Mum says “Sam doesn’t have an off button”) while I concentrated on Miss Dixie for a while instead. When the bushfires came through, the family decided to stay and do all they could to save their house. It proved the right decision; while most of the unattended houses in the street were unfortunately destroyed; they managed to defend and save theirs, even after a couple of very close calls! The doggies were safely tucked away inside during the inferno, the best place for them to be. After hearing horror stories of other families, livestock and homes that hadn’t been so lucky, I’m so glad these guys managed to save their house and their beloved dogs.

Dixie actually came with the house when they bought it, many years ago! The old owners moved on and she stayed put, so Danielle and her husband inherited her along with the property. She was an outside dog with a rather bad habit of chasing cars up until they took over, but she now has run of the house and is very well behaved. What a good turn of luck for Dixie!

When Sam came along a few years later, she took a little while to warm up to his crazy puppy ways. I’m glad to report though that they are now firm friends.

And at eleven years old, when having a game of rough and tumble in the paddock with Sam, it’s good to see Dixie gives as good as she gets! She leaves the maniacal running in circles to the younger of the pair like the smart girl she is, and instead carefully chooses her moment to pounce and attack! The light was a little low to get sharp action shots, but these should give you an idea of the two at play.

After a good ball session as well as a play session with Dixie, Sam was finally ready to settle down and do some serious modelling for me.

What a star!

His cooperation had to be rewarded of course. Sam’s other favourite thing to do? Like many dogs lucky enough to live in the country, swimming in the dam of course! We trekked off down the paddock, Sam leading the way.

It wasn’t exactly a warm day, in fact, I’d consider it pretty cold – but I do hail from from the Gold Coast! If the air temperature was anything to go by, the water in the dam must have been freezing. Sam didn’t hesitate for a second though. Seeking out an old tennis ball he must have stashed away for this very occasion, he proceeded to dump it at our feet then swim around eagerly waiting for it to to be thrown. Definitely a water baby at heart!

I think Sam would have happily done this for the rest of the day, but we thought we better get him out of the water and back up to the warm house and a nice dry towel!

I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to see some of the countryside around Melbourne as well as the city itself. I’m even more glad to have met this special family and their dogs! Thanks for having me guys, oh and special thanks for the amazing coffee and muffin afterwards, delicious!

For my second last Melbourne session I was due to meet with Kim and her best friend, Buddy the three and a half year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, first thing in the morning. The day was to offer me a taste of what Melbourne can dish up weather-wise when it feels like it. I awoke to oppressive heat, drove through a thunderstorm – thunder, lightning and bucketing rain – and arrived to clearing cloud and then finally sunshine, before a cool change rolled in accompanied by heavy cloud! Wow, what a morning! Despite this, we managed to work around the weather to get some stunning shots of both Kim and Buddy.

When I arrived we packed into the car and headed to a lovely and huge grassy park on the foreshore. There was also a great little boardwalk winding it’s way through the adjoining swamp, so we took a stroll along that to begin with.

Buddy was great, never going too far, just strolling along checking out the sights and sounds. Kim’s done some training with him so he was quite easy to plonk somewhere and give the ’stay’ command to. This bench provided a good pedestal to display his handsome self!

Kim and Buddy are obviously quite devoted to each other. It actually proved a bit of a challenge to separate them at times, with Buddy always wanting to be within a few metres of his Mum.

There were lots of opportunities for quiet time, cuddles and kisses though, so cute.

How gorgeous is this boy in his studly new collar?

There was time for a bit of posing with his Mum before we headed back to the house.

Buddy is your typical Staffy – though perhaps a bit more calm and well behaved than most I’ve met! Such a good boy.

He’s certainly got the hang of that intense Staffy stare!

The deck provided some nice soft light and cool eye reflections.

Buddy gets to spend his days while his Mum is at work, hanging out at his ‘grandparents’ place – it’s like his second home! Here is is staking his claim on the deck.

And posing it up among the flowers along the garden path.

Kim and her baby boy are just the perfect match for each other, don’t you agree?

Kim owns and runs the website www.mystaffy.com.au – which sells plush staffy toys of her own design. Kim has also donated her time and expertise to establish a website for Stafford Rescue – a rescue and rehoming service run by The Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of Victoria Inc. If you are an enthusiast of this wonderful breed, make sure you check out these great sites!

Amanda contacted me just days before I was due to leave for Melbourne to book a session, so we hurried the process along and got it organised, taking up my one remaining spot! We met at the Royal Botanic Gardens in the heart of Melbourne, what a beautiful spot.

Amanda and Josh mainly were after some photos to celebrate their engagement and to plan their upcoming wedding, but of course the kids came along too. Both German Shepherds, Rajko (almost 2, right) and Archer (just 6 1/2 months, left) were a lovely pair.

Being a bit older and less excitable, Rajko stood out as the modelling star!

Though young Archer didn’t disappoint with his cute puppy-ish expressions!

The gardens were huge and we spent a long time just wandering around and exploring, stopping every now and then when we found something cool. This park bench had some lovely light amongst the trees that we just had to make use of.

The backlight coming through from the late afternoon sun was gorgeous too.

Right near the Botanic Gardens is the Shrine of Remembrance, one of Melbourne’s most iconic landmarks. It’s a pretty amazing building, offering epic architecture and great views over the gardens and the city.

The lions in the statue kind of reminded me of Rajko and Archer, guardians to Amanda and Josh, and it was fun making visual parallels.

I just love old architecture and interesting features and the shrine didn’t disappoint, this door was just fantastic!

Melbourne really turned on some lovely light for me.

I couldn’t resist these shots of Archer, being very cute!

Plus a couple more of the whole family.

After finishing up at the shrine, we took a rush trip to the Abbotsford Convent. What an awesome place! So many cool nooks and crannies, stone and wood textures and amazing old architecture. Make sure you follow the link above to learn more about this fantastic location.

We left the dogs having a well earned rest in the car for this part of the session and concentrated on love-birds Amanda and Josh. There was actually markets and lots of awesome smelling multicultural food (I just happened to be starving too, typical!) happening in the main part of the convent, so we found some deserted little corners and got shooting.

When we came around a corner to find this tree, I was delighted! I love trees and this one was a beauty. In the failing light we grabbed a couple of quick shots under its leafy green branches, then moved on.

Some of the buildings in the complex are in a sad state of repair, but are being slowly restored back to their former glory with the help of fundraising and getting the public involved. Much of the architecture around the back side of the convent looked pretty original, including this loading dock door.

And another one, just around the corner.

The last stop in our self guided tour was what looked like it used to be stables, in their original condition! Just amazing. I even took some shots with my trusty film camera loaded with black and white film, so it will be interesting to see how they turn out as well when I get the film developed.

Amanda and Josh (and their gorgeous pooches) were so fun to work with, happily obliging in whatever strange things I asked them to do. I wish them all the best for their wedding and a happy future together!

We’d booked Scout and Nelle’s session for daybreak but when I arrived, it was still quite dark! Not being used to the sunrise/sunset times in Melbourne, I’d taken a guess and been just a bit too much on the safe side. Scout and Nelle’s Mum and Dad were good sports though about the early start, so we all packed into the car and headed to their local park. When we arrived, the whole place, which was actually a series of sports fields, was covered in a thick blanket of fog. It was also quite chilly, not at all what I was used to back on the Gold Coast!

It didn’t slow the dogs down in the slightest though. As soon as we were out of the car and on the ovals, they were racing around madly after their beloved tennis balls. The light was a bit dim to get sharp action shots, but this gives you a pretty good picture of the ‘fog dogs’.

With active dogs such as these, it’s always a good idea to let them run off a bit of energy before the serious modelling business begins, so we spent a good half hour playing ball! The sun finally made an appearance and started clearing away the fog, though it hung around for quite some time in pockets. The light was worth waiting for, just beautiful.

Scout is the older of the pair at two years of age. He seems to take the lead in most situations with younger Nelle (10 months) happy to follow.

The morning light didn’t let us down with beautiful golden rays coming through the trees. I’m totally in love with this shot!

And I love this candid of Nelle at the park. Black dogs can sometimes be tricky to get shots of that look good in black and white, but her eyes in this one just make it.

Eventually lots of other dogs started arriving at the park and with Scout being such a social boy and needing to say meet and greet most of them, we decided to pack up and head home for some more relaxed photos. Doesn’t Scout look handsome in this shot in a patch of sunlight?

I thought we might have done too good of a job wearing them out, but with some tasty treats on hand, they soon perked up.

Scout’s happy face was tending to feature in most of the shots.

So we gave him a rest from the camera for  a while and concentrated on the beautiful Nelle for a while. I just loved her on their red bed!

Such a sweet and gentle girl.

Photo sessions can be pretty tiring for the pups – it’s a combination of physical and mental stimulation that tends to make them crash out for the rest of the day, so my clients tell me! Here’s my final shot of Scout, well on his way to having a well-earned rest.