Monthly Archives: April 2010

Client Session ~ Holly & Russell the Australian Cattle Dogs

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Looking at Holly, you wouldn’t guess she’s close to 16 years old! I just love the older dogs as they always seem so wise and in tune with the ways of the world.

They seem to have everything sorted and know their place in the world, spending their days relaxing and enjoying what life has to offer.

Still obviously enjoying her time with her devoted family and little bro Russell, she cruises around checking stuff out and is always up for a cuddle!

I just loved her beautiful thick coat, discovered while giving her many pats and scratches throughout the session. Cattle dogs have a rain-resistant outer coat with harsh long guard hairs, then a short dense undercoat. They really are a hardy dog – bred to withstand harsh and varied weather conditions of this country as well as the rigours of working cattle in the scrub.

Though she’s a bit slower these days, she still gets around fine on those sturdy Cattle Dog legs.

Always accompanied by a wide doggy grin!

Holly has a wonderful acreage property to roam around on and enjoys little trips down to the paddock where there are lots of things to sniff and take in. Here she is by the pool, checking out the goings on in the paddock further down.

I love how alert she looks in this one!

Although Holly was meant to the be main subject on the day, I just couldn’t ignore her ‘little brother’, Russell who was insistent that he should also be recieving treats and getting lots of attention.

Another Australian Cattle Dog, Russell is no spring chicken either at 10 years old. What a gorgeous smiley matching pair they make!

We concentrated on Holly for a bit longer before letting Russell have his moment in the limelight. Our session was quite slow paced but I do tend to ask a lot of my doggy models in terms of attention, so I’d say she slept well for the rest of the day! Here she is getting a head start on the resting, looking regal and totally the boss of ‘her’ backyard.

Just like his big sis, Russell is a lovely happy cuddly boy.

He was very attentive to treats and made my job so easy.

Just one more of the two of them. What a lucky family to have two beautiful dogs like these!

Mother’s Day Special!

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Looking for the perfect gift for your beloved mother this Mother’s Day? If she adores her dog then the perfect solution is a “Mum and Furbaby” photo session gift certificate. Your Mum can choose to have some photos taken of her with her fur child, or she might choose to have her doggy as the exclusive modelling star, whatever she feels comfortable with.

Remember I also photograph other pets such as cats and horses, so no worries if your Mum’s favourite furbaby is not of the canine variety.

My Mother’s Day special this year includes a personalised custom gift voucher which includes the session plus a beautiful 12 x 18 inch (30 x 45 cm) framed print of her favourite shot. All this for the super low price of $295 – my way of giving back to mothers everywhere this Mother’s Day!

To arrange the gift for your Mum, just get in contact (call me on 0402 322 973 or flick me an email at pix@charlottereeves.com.au) and let me know the following info:

  • her name
  • your name (plus any siblings who are chipping in!) for the gift certificate
  • a personal message (1-2 lines) for the gift certificate
  • your address (I’ll send the certificate here so you can present it personally to her on the day)
  • her address (so I can send her out some additional info after Mother’s Day so she can book her session)

The cutoff day for purchasing the gift is Tuesday 4th May to allow me time to create the certificate and send it out to you.

Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue Inc.

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If you are a horse enthusiast, you might be interested in this. This letter was passed onto me by a friend in order to raise awareness of this fantastic organisation and help them reach their donation goals so they can afford liability insurance, essential to keep them running. Here’s the open letter from the  Founder of the organisation which explains where they’re coming from and what they are aiming for.

Dear Supporters of Horses,

I am writing to you with a special appeal for Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue Inc.

We are growing in strength and numbers, and building strong ties with the community. As a registered, sanctioned and incorporated organisation, we are required to hold insurance.

This insurance is expensive, and we need $1700 just for the basic public and property liability insurance, and another $1000 for additional insurance that will help protect our members.

We have delayed doing this because that amount of money in one hit was difficult for a new organisation to achieve in the first six months of operation. However, the time has come for us to do this.

Charlie’s Angels is one of only TWO official and sanctioned horse welfare charities in Queensland. We are fulfilling a vital role and helping to meet the gap in horse welfare and we will only get bigger from here.

I am appealing to you for some assistance to help us meet this cost so that we can continue to direct our much-needed funds to our horses.

Donations $2 and over are tax deductible.

If you can contribute any amount of money, it would be greatly appreciated at this time.

You can donate via internet transfer, cheque/money order or PayPal. Click HERE to be taken to payment options.

Thank you so much for your assistance in helping the horses.

Joanne Schoenwald
 President/Founder, Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue Inc.
 www.charliesangels.org.au

Commercial Client Session ~ EzyDog

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This week I was fortunate enough to be asked to work with the fantastic guys at EzyDog to produce some lifestyle photos for use in their latest brochure. Most dog people should be familiar with the brand as it’s stocked in most pet supply stores in Australia, not to mention selected stores worldwide!

If you’re not familiar with the brand, EzyDog produce functional, comfortable collars, leashes, harnesses and accessories focused on the outdoor dog. Soft rubber neoprene (the same material used in wetsuits) is reinforced with nylon webbing for strength, with hooks and rings to make each item customisable and adjustable.

So onto the photo session! Billy and his Mum were chosen as the talent, with the aim of getting some outdoorsy style photos as well as some urban shots. I suggested Pizzey Park in Miami on the Gold Coast as the park location as it contains a fantastic off-lead dog area with cool features such as a pine forest, lake, paths and open grassy areas. Perfect! I actually found a video from 2007 of my two girls enjoying the park – you can watch it on YouTube here.

We met bright and early at the park and were delighted to discover the weather was going to co-operate – light cloud interspersed with patches of gorgeous early morning sunlight.

If there are any potential Gold Coasters out there thinking about a session with their pooch, please consider this awesome location! The pine forest was just beautiful in the early morning light and at this time of year with all the fallen pinecones on the ground, what a fantastic backdrop.

If you’re wondering what has Billy’s attention so firmly in it’s grasp in these shots, it was his new toy for the session – a DogStar Flying Disc. What a cool retrieval toy, he just loved it! Here he is with a similar product, the Fido Flyer. Billy was clearly asserting his ownership in these shots!

I just loved Billy, a two year old Border Collie x German Shepherd. How cool is his colouring! So energetic, but also so well behaved. What a great model.

Pizzey Park features a lovely lake complete with ducks, along with a cute little jetty sticking out into the water. We took Kaya and Luna to this park when Luna was just a little tyke, and soon had Luna jumping off the jetty fetching sticks – what a brave girl! You can watch the video on YouTube here.

Although I’m sure he would have been more than keen to do the same, there was no dock diving on the cards for Billy – he had serious modelling work to do. Our next location was urban Hedges Avenue in nearby Mermaid Beach. Pretty well known on the Gold Coast as the most expensive real estate in the region, Hedges Avenue is home to many flash houses and is constantly busy with walkers, joggers, cyclists and expensive cars!

I took advantage of the manicured sidewalks for some detailed product shots.

I also used some of the trendy houses as a backdrop for Billy and his Mum taking a stroll along the street.

Billy and his Mum are pretty dedicated running partners, so this was nothing out of the ordinary for them!

I couldn’t resist a black and white conversion on this street scene, the high key light suits it so well and I loved capturing the bond between these two.

By the end of the session, we’d pretty much managed to wear poor Billy out! There was just time for a couple more close-ups of the EzyDog collar and leash he was modelling.

And of course I couldn’t resist one last shot of the handsome Mr Billy.

What a fun session! I hope to be working more with EzyDog in the future, so if have a young, well behaved and energetic dog and live on the Gold Coast, keep an eye out for any casting calls I might put out there. Make sure you become a fan on my Facebook Page to stay updated!