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Client Session ~ Geoffrey the Rhodesian Ridgeback X

Posted on 9 February, 2012 by admin

I’ve known Geoff and his Mum for a couple of years now as they frequently visit the dog beach that I used to take my Great Dane, Luna to on the Gold Coast (before I moved to Brisbane). Geoff and Luna get on famously and he is one of the few dogs that Luna will quite happily race around with madly. Geoff just loves Luna and his mum Laurel tells me, every time he sees a similar dog at the beach he wants to go say hello, thinking it’s his girlfriend Luna!

Laurel was lucky enough to win the raffle at the 2011 Million Paws Walk at Miami which included a mini session with me. She came up to my stall on the day and was so excited she’d won. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the session ever since.

We originally booked the session in for before Christmas, but due to the weather we had to reschedule so many times I lost count. Patient clients are the best! Eventually though we had a beautiful afternoon to work with and I am so happy with how the light looks in the photos. I can’t stress enough how much of a difference beautiful light makes to the final look of your images.

Some of you might be familiar with this well known dog beach on the Gold Coast – called “the Spit” – it’s popular with locals and probably the least touristy beach on the coast. The ramp up to the kiosk at the start of the jetty is where we started our session.

I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about our session beforehand, because what I remember about Geoff was him racing around madly on the the beach with Luna. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would be hard to get him to stay still for more than two seconds! My fears were totally unfounded though, as well as having an active social beachy life, Geoffrey is also very well trained!

I am in love with this shot of Geoffrey with the kiosk in the background.

Geoff goes to obedience classes regularly and his mum Laurel actually volunteers at the Animal Welfare League, teaching kids how to interact with and train dogs. The result is of course, Laurel having a very well behaved boy.

The path behind the dunes heading up the very end of the Spit is one of my favourite places to shoot. I love the colours and the late afternoon sunshine makes the scene come to life.

The dunes are awash with little yellow flowers at this time of year and although Geoff is a big tough man-dog, I couldn’t resist posing him in front of them.

Further down the beach, the last of the afternoon light was just starting to drop behind the dunes. The view down the coastline includes the towers and buildings of Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach and beyond, leaving you in no doubt that you’re on the Gold Coast!

Every time we had Geoff “stay” in a particular spot, when we’d finished Laurel would release him and he’d come racing along the dunes towards us, jumping big gaps between the dunes in some very impressive leaps and bounds.

Another aspect I love about shooting at the Spit are the dune trees – their long spindly bare branches make for an interesting background.

I couldn’t resist this shot of Geoffrey, silhouetted against the sky as the sun was setting.

Although he was rather tired (his second trip to the beach that day), Geoffrey was good enough to give me a lovely head tilt to finish off the session. I love this boy! Thanks for a great session Geoff and Laurel, I will have to bring Luna down for a trip to the Spit sometime soon.

Client Session ~ Biscuit and Checke the Greyhounds

Posted on 30 January, 2012 by admin

Biscuit and Checke’s mum was lucky enough to score a session referred by Alexis, whose four Greyhounds I photographed early last year. Initially we’d decided just to photograph Biscuit, as they’d never had much luck getting good photos of his big sister Checke. They brought her along anyway though and, well, you’ll see what happened!

To begin with though, meet Biscuit.

The session took place at a park on Mount Tamborine and after scoping out the area and deeming it safe, Biscuit was let off lead. Not 5 minutes into our session, he spotted a rabbit! Luckily with some quick thinking by Mechalle and excellent training, Biscuit was recalled and a crisis averted. Anyone who owns or is familiar with sight hounds will know this is not an easy feat!

After a bit of a shaky start to life, originating from an unplanned litter which could not be registered as racing dogs and with no less than four different homes by the age of 11 weeks, Biscuit found his way into the home of Mechalle and husband Graeme.

At just 3 and a half years old, he’s actually officially known as Biscuit CCD JDX SD SPD ET – which means he has titles in agility, obedience AND endurance. In fact, he holds the honour of being the first Greyhound in Queensland with the ET (endurance) title and the second in Australia!

What a clever boy!

With all this training under his collar, he also makes a fantastic model, staying just where we put him and responding beautifully to treats and toys being tossed around. Of course there were birds in the trees to check out too…

Big sister Checke is had a somewhat different start in life. She raced until she was three and a half, then retired. Mechalle and Graeme fostered her and when it was time to move onto her forever home, she had something to say about it – protesting very loudly – until it was decided that she would stay on with her favourite person in the world, Graeme.

On previous occasions when trying for photos, Checke had been a most unwilling model. She seemed to be a lot more relaxed outdoors though (previous attempts had been in a studio) and my sneaky long lens proved a real advantage.

Mechalle noted that Checke never sits down like this but we figured out it must have been because she was on a steep hill, how funny!

Checke was also quite happy lying down in the grass, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine. What a stunning old girl she is at 10 years old.

Towards the end of the session, we managed to get both dogs sitting and laying down in the general vicinity of each other. If there is something I love most about photographing Greyhounds, it’s that they’re usually quite content to stay in the same place for a while, with very little encouragement!

To finish off, how awesome are Checke’s ears! One up, one down.

Checke and Biscuit were both adopted through a great Greyhound rescue organisation called Friends of the Hound. To find out more about adopting a Greyhound of your own, please check out Friends of the Hound Greyhound Adoption Group. They do fantastic work!

Client Session ~ Maddie the Border Collie x Kelpie

Posted on 15 December, 2011 by admin

When Grant contacted about doing a super secret surprise session for his wife for her birthday, I was so excited! I love suprises and what better one to receive than beautiful photos of your beloved hound.

Grant’s job takes him away from home quite a bit, so miss Maddie is Ange’s constant faithful companion while he is away. Another reason I was looking forward to this session was the location – these guys are lucky enough to live in beautiful northern NSW, just inland from Tweed Heads and surrounded by green rolling hills, country roads and lakes.

We started off the session on the deck of their house. The light filtering through the surrounding foliage was gorgeous.

Although more than happy to play fetch all day long, Miss Maddie was less than eager for her close ups. We worked out that the focus beep of my camera sounded rather similar to the warning sound her collar made when nearing the boundary fence of their property (as Maddie does love to roam). Also, big professional cameras can be pretty intimidating even without the beeping!

We did end up getting a few cute shots on the deck anyway, the afternoon colours of the filtered sunshine were amazing against her black and white.

To Maddie’s relief, we soon bundled into the car and headed off to a country road nearby where she often enjoys meandering walks with lots of her favourite thing – fetching sticks!

This girl LOVES her sticks and is never far from one!

Maddie was much happier out on the road in familiar territory, and of course sticks make everything in life that much better!

I love this shot of Maddie racing towards her stick, with such an intense look on her face!

With the help of her beloved sticks, we even managed to get some lovely close ups of her out and about enjoying her walk, totally in her element.

Since the session was organised on the sly without Ang knowing, we were able to complete the experience with a surprise viewing and ordering session at their home – we set everything up and when Ang came home from work there was a lovely slideshow of all Maddie’s images on the TV in their lounge room! I love seeing people’s reactions as they view their images for the first time!

2012 Calendars

Posted on 12 December, 2011 by admin

It’s that time of year again when you turn your trusty wall calendar over to December and suddenly realise “oh my, the year is almost over!” Never fear, I have a couple of different calendar options for you to get you sorted for 2012. You can purchase these online through the Red Bubble website.

The Pets calendar features images from client sessions in 2011. View and purchase the Pets Calendar.

For Luna fans, her annual calendar is filled with images from 2011 and includes a couple of special guests. December includes, as always, a special santa hat image. View and purchase Luna’s calendar.

If you’re a past client (doesn’t matter how far in the past) and would like a calendar featuring your pet only, I also create custom calendars using your images. You can either choose the images you want in the calendar yourself or leave it up to me. There is a $50 setup fee and calendars are then available for purchase online for $27 each + postage. Just send me an email to get the ball rolling!

Here’s a calendar I made for Albert the cancer survivor. You can view Albert’s blog post and read his story here.

Client Session ~ Sahara the Bengal and Julius the Ragdoll

Posted on 8 December, 2011 by admin

This was one of the most fun sessions I’ve had in a while, and strangely enough, it involved cats and people, not my usually specialty of dogs! The lovely Heidi contacted me looking for some images of her and her partner and their two cats for some promotional material and press releases for their business. She specifically wanted some shots of her and her partner David, holding their cats. It proved a little difficult to get both cats co-operating as cats do tend to have minds of their own, and they have their own ideas about sitting nicely in people’s arms when they’d really much rather be off doing what THEY want to do.

After some rather humorous out-takes involving a pair of very unhappy-looking kitties (think bared teeth, body contortions and ears laid right back), we put that idea aside and eventually worked up it, starting with some shots of each individual cat.

Sahara is a two year old Bengal and is a real stunner. I love those leopard spots which are legacy of her wild cat heritage – Bengals are actually hybrids between Asian Leopard Cats and domestic cats, though a few generations removed from a direct cross.

She is alert and playful, always keeping an eye on what’s going on and very inquisitive about everything.

Julius is a four year old Ragdoll and is much more laid back, typical of the breed, very cruisy and cuddly. Except when be is being held and we’re trying to get photos of him, of course!

What a gorgeous fluff ball he is.

Out in the garden it was easy to see Sahara’s wild heritage. She has these amazing wildcat-like stalking and trotting gaits, not like your regular domestic kitty.

Heidi and David’s yard was a great spot for some casual portraits, with the late afternoon sun filtering through the trees. We initially had them lying here with Sahara, but unfortunately Sahara didn’t wish to co-operate and after much wiggling and protesting, regained her freedom and ran off. These shots are the aftermath of this, there was lots of laughing and it just goes to show what a great relaxed fun loving couple these two are!

Julius was a little more co-operative and we managed to get a few shots with him before he had had enough. This is my favourite of these guys.

Sahara was off busy hunting and patrolling her territory, I think she’d spotted a bird here. We managed to stalk her and grab her for one last attempt.

When working with animals, patience is the number one attribute to have. Luckily it paid off towards the end of the session and we managed to capture a number of images with Sahara, this being my favourite.

Despite the fact our feline models were somewhat less than willing at times, I had a fantastic time with these guys and there was much laughter and chats. Thanks for a great afternoon Heidi and David!

I just thought I’d include some praise that Heidi sent through. I love it when clients send me this kind of thing, it does help to know I am on the right track!

“We couldn’t have asked for anyone more professional, lovely and talented to take our photos. Not to mention having a really fun time at the photo shoot. Charlotte has such a natural and amazing style to her photographs that definitely make them stand out. If you are looking or thinking about having some beautiful photographs taken of you and your pets that you will cherish forever, you should definitely get in touch with Charlotte Reeves Photography, you will be so happy with the results.” – Heidi