Charlotte Reeves Photography

Although it’s sometimes a struggle (for both me and my clients!) to get up for an early morning session, the benefits always far outweigh any inconvenience. Especially at such a beautiful location as the site of my second Townsville session. The northern beaches of Townsville are just gorgeous – calm water, sand and pebble shorelines, heavily forested mountainous islands out to sea and looming green mountains inland. Some might call it paradise!

My doggy models this time were Vash the German Shepherd and Riley the Great Dane cross. Unfortunately this mischievous pair had somehow devoured an entire bag of fertiliser overnight so were both feeling a little worse for wear in the morning, more so Riley who I suspect consumed the majority of it!

For the first hour or so of our session, Riley was not her usual bouncy self and spent most of the time wandering around looking very unwell and feeling sorry for herself.

When Ruth and her partner Nick decided to bring a puppy into their family, Ruth knew that she wanted a Great Dane. She’d done her research and was ready to wait for the right one, until she saw and ad in the paper advertising some Great Dane cross pups and decided to investigate. The mum of the litter was a sweet, gentle harlequin Great Dane and the dad a huge Great Dane x Mastiff. After the long drive out of town to the cane farm where the pups were, Riley ended up choosing Ruth, being the first of her littermates to say hello and sit at her feet, then never leaving her side while she met the others. In Ruth’s words, “I just had to have her so we bundled her into the car and drove the hour and a half back home on a Sunday afternoon with nothing and totally unprepared to have such a little puppy but we managed and spoiled her rotten afterwards. She was so small her head easily fit in the palm of my hand, now both my hands easily fit in her mouth!”

That was two and a half years ago and Riley has had a pretty blessed life so far. Fortunately on the morning of the shoot, after drinking copious amounts of water and making some very weird and growly stomach noises, she was feeling a little better and went and found herself a coconut to play with.

Soon after bringing Riley into the family, Ruth and Nick decided it was time to get another dog. Nick had grown up with German Shepherds and they were also looking for a good guard dog, so a Shepherd was the obvious choice. A breeder in Brisbane was chosen, the litter was born and Vash was picked out for them to take home at 8 weeks. From the day they brought him home, he was instantly the boss of Riley. Although independant when younger, as Ruth says, “I spoiled and cuddled him too much and now he is a sooky little boy who loves people and would walk off with just about anyone who gives him a pat or throws a ball. But he is still our little Prince.” He certainly looks like royalty this shot!

Vash never used to be interested in chasing balls, sticks or toys, much preferring to tackle his big sister while she was playing fetch. One day though it just clicked and now he’s unstoppable. He is so intense and focused while playing fetch that his front leg usually comes up in a “point” while he’s waiting.

I love their shadows in this shot.

When Riley isn’t off destroying coconuts, she joins in with the fun and games too.

These two just love exploring, often with Riley following Vash’s lead.

With the sun rising higher into the brightening sky, we moved into the backyard, literally still right on the beach. The early morning light coming through the palms was amazing and Vash soon proved to be an excellent model.

He did need constant rewarding with a game of fetch though to keep him happy!

Meanwhile, Riley had brought her coconut along and was quite content ripping pieces off the outside in games of tug with whoever would play! The game involves completely stripping the coconut of the husk, then when the husk is off Ruth and Nick drill a hole in it and let her drink the milk. Needless to say, Riley loves it!

As I know myself with Luna (she also has a coconut obsession whenever she can get her paws on them) you need to stay well aware of where they are at all times to avoid being clocked with these rather heavy and hard ‘toys’ that are swung around with great force! Riley seemed to have no qualms about constantly hitting herself in the head with it, along with anyone else who managed to get in the way.

Due to her love of coconuts, the best way to get Riley’s attention proved to be stealing her coconut. If you look closely in her eyes in the image below, you can see me holding the coconut in one hand and camera in the other to get this shot. What an intense look!

Riley is a very ’sniffy’ dog, she loves to check everyone and everything out by thoroughly smelling it. She was constantly pausing to sniff the air, I wonder what she could smell?

Both Riley and her little bro Vash are living the life. Their mum and dad quite obviously love them to bits. I don’t blame them, what a gorgeous pair! To finish off the blog post I just had to include this shot of Miss Riley on one of her many trips to the tap for a drink, displaying her big wet slobbery chops. Lovely!

I’ve been nominated once again in this year’s 4th Annual Paws & Claws People’s Choice Awards! The awards are the largest pet and animal industry awards in Australia. The category description for First Class Pet Photographer is:

“This award is for a  fantastic and creative pet photographer that has a combination of artistic flair and modern creativity capturing the emotion of the moment.”

After winning the First Class Pet Photographer category in the 2009 Paws and Claws Awards, I’d love to receive the award two years running and like last year, I’m up against some stiff competition.

Unlike last year, nominees this year have the opportunity to offer additional prizes for voters and so far I have seen some great incentives on offer to vote for some of the other nominees. I’ve decided however that instead of offering prizes for voting for me, I’d like to receive votes based only on my merit as a photographer and small business owner.

I’m proud of my business and what I have achieved over the last few years, so feel that any votes I receive should be based on that rather than the prospect of winning a prize. After all, they are supposed to be the People’s Choice Awards! I would much rather give back to my supporters unconditionally by running my own little competitions and giveaways (as anyone who follows my work and my Facebook Page will know) as well as taking the time to provide some light entertainment and imagery through my blog and also Luna’s blog.

So, if you’d like to support me this year and cast your vote in the field of First Class Pet Photographer for Charlotte Reeves Photography, there will be no sub-competitions and prizes for voters, but I will pledge to continue supplying a friendly, professional and exciting service, all the while giving back to my friends, clients and supporters as I have always done.

To vote, you’ll need to fill out the official voting form on the Paws and Claws website. I’ve created a screenshot of how to fill out the bottom section of the form correctly, see below. Thanks for your vote!

The awards presentation will be held at the 8th Annual Gold Coast Pet & Animal Expo on the 5th September. I’m having a stall at the Expo and would love to meet you and your furry family members if you come and check it out.

What an introduction to Townsville! The first of my Townsville dog photography sessions was very early in the morning. I met Greta and Lily and their Mum and Dad at their house and sat down for a chat and a cup of well-needed coffee while Judy told me the girls’ stories. It was also good to have some time for the girls, especially Greta, to get used to my presence. Would you believe that both these gorgeous girls were rescues? How people could ever give such beautiful dogs up I’ll never know, but I am so thankful for their sake they found their way into this wonderful home.

After the coffee kicked in, we headed out to the front yard to get some shots before the sun flooded in. Meet Lily and Greta!

Lily is four years old and an awesome mix of Dogue de Bordeaux (aka French mastiff) and Bandog. About a year ago, Lily was rescued from a small town right in the centre of Queensland called Muttaburra. Judy’s daughter was going to foster and rehome her, so Judy and her husband Derek helped out by travelling to Torrens Creek (halfway between Townsville and Muttaburra) to meet up with her former owner and collect her. Once they had her home though, she never left and ended up being adopted permanently.

It’s pretty easy to see why. Aside from her killer head wrinkles and fantastic expressions, Lily is a lovely big cuddly girl who just adores people and pats and is under the mistaken impression that she’s a lap dog. She has also been very good with  some foster puppies. She used to view an open gate as an opportunity but now it’s either “happy, happy – they’re home!” or “awwww – will you be long?” – and seriously, how could you stay away very long when she’s pulling the face on the left?

If you can’t yet had enough of her luscious wrinkles, this should do the trick!

Four year old Greta has a rather more dramatic story. She was found in someone’s yard in Townsville, alone and terrified.  It took four days to catch her and get her to the pound. When she went to her first foster family she had to be carried from the pen to the carpark on her bed as she wouldn’t get up.  The first time Judy saw her she was lying on her bed in a pen at the pound visibly shaking in fear. Judy took her home, only for her to escape from their yard (complete with very high fences) in just a few hours.  She had crossed the busy main road at the front of the property and gone to ground on the river bank on the other side, spending the night there before being discovered in the morning and having to be slowly coaxed out of her hiding spot.

In the year that she’s been with Derek and Judy, she’s come along in leaps and bounds. No longer immediately running and hiding from visitors, she is still cautious, but was coming up to me for pats within a few minutes of my arrival. What a difference! While initially a little less confident around Derek she bonded closely to him when he had time off work with a back injury. He has become her “safe place” when she is in unfamiliar situations.

Obviously Greta has a fair proportion of Great Dane in her breeding, with her gorgeous ‘merlequin’ colouring, blue eyes and sweet little pink and black nose. Her tail however is something else – long, thick and almost kangaroo-like!

After some getting to know you time at their house, we loaded the girls into the car and headed off to their favourite place, a beautiful fenced dog park amid landscaped parkland on the river. Luckily it was early in the morning and we had the park to ourselves. Although Lily is fantastic and gentle with people, she does still have some issues to work through with dogs other than her best friend Greta.

The girls absolutely love going to the park, especially Greta who really comes out of her shell running around, playing and exploring with her beloved sister. With all the space afforded by the dog park she doesn’t feel trapped by people and can relax and play and run to her hearts content.

Although from completely different breeding, the girls are very well matched in size and strength so have an absolute ball together!

For two rescue dogs who didn’t have the best start in life, they play so beautifully together and are very good at sharing!

I love this black and white of the two of them, tongues out, having a rest before racing off to further fun and adventure.

Their best trick at the park is getting up on the dog agility ramp. Usually only because it means they are at head level with their Mum and Dad and are guaranteed get lots of pats and cuddles, but we managed to convince them to stay there for this shot!

After a good run around and lots of playing, the girls were nice and relaxed and treated us to some great doggy expressions.

Greta had been taught by her previous owner this little trick of putting her paws up, very gently luckily. I love the way she gazes into her Mum’s eyes, how sweet!

It was lovely to see Greta so relaxed and happy, quite a different dog than the one I’d first met at her home.

How lucky were these girls to have found their new home and each other! It’s great to know there are stories with happy endings out there, and I’m so glad to have discovered this one.

You might remember back in April this year when I shot a commercial session with dog accessory company EzyDog – you can view some of my favourite images from the session here. Since then, they’ve created an awesome printed catalogue that features their many top notch products, illustrated with some of the lifestyle shots I took on the day. I think the designer has done a fantastic job integrating them into the design!

If you want to see the whole EzyDog 2010-2011 catalogue, entitled ‘Now go and play!’, you can view it here. Just thought I’d share the spreads that feature my work, enjoy!