Charlotte Reeves Photography

These girls were the subjects of my very last session in Townsville and have the amazing privilege of living in doggy paradise! With the best doting parents a doggy could wish for, along with a gorgeous beach on their very back doorstep, life doesn’t get much better than this. This was another very early morning session and although slightly cloudier at times than Vash and Riley’s session, still came through with some wonderful light.

Jessie the German Shepherd is 11 years young and the fourth of the same breed for this Shepherd-loving family! She really has no concept of her age and although might not hear and see as well as she used to, still cuts a striking figure on the beach with her stick of choice, racing around like puppy.

Maggie is a bit of a first for this big dog loving family. Kylie and Jon were having Christmas drinks a couple of years ago with their then-neighbours, who had a gorgeous little fluffy puppy that Jon fell in love with. It turned out that the rest of the puppies from the litter needed homes too, so Kylie and Jon quickly decided to bring the only girl left into the family. Maggie the Maltese x Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is now two and a half years old and very much part of the family!

She is very much loved by her Dad and gets snuggles at every opportunity, as well as these special belly rubs. So funny to watch! She will just stand there as Jon puts his foot under her chest, and goes all the way along her belly and up her back legs. Maggie loves it and will stand there for as long as it’s on offer.

Although at the time of booking it was just a two dog family, there was a third little dog hanging around when I arrived to do the shoot. Buddy is a 6 year old Maltese x Poodle, advertised in the paper as a giveway. He was originally intended for a workmate who loves Maggie. I’ll let Kylie continue this story…

“When we saw him we all fell in love with him and he was so quiet and well behaved, we thought he would be perfect for Brian. We got him home and noticed he had really bad breath and when we looked in his mouth we were horrified to see how bad his teeth and gums were. They were so infected and dirty, the teeth and gums were grey. We took him to a wonderful vet in Townsville who looked after him but unfortunately his teeth were so bad, most of them just fell out once they started to clean them. Not to worry, he still manages to chomp his way through life. The longer we had him the more we fell in love with him. He is so gentle and loving and after what we put him through at the vets, we felt we couldn’t give him away, so now we have to find another dog for Brian!”

I love this shot of Buddy and Maggie, looking into their future together.

As the session was originally intended for just the two dogs and Buddy was still a bit sore from his dental work and desexing, he doesn’t star as much as the other two in the photos. I am glad I managed to get a few of him for the family though, it was great to hear they’d decided to keep him! So, back to Maggie and Jessie.

Maggie was absolutely hilarious on the beach. She alternated between racing madly around in figure of 8’s in a blur of white fur and violently displaced sand…

To digging holes and burying herself…

There wasn’t really a lot of middle ground, it was either flat out, or, well, flat out!

After spending a while on the beach, we retired to the ‘beach shack’. I just loved this place. It has been in Jon’s family for 50 years with Jon’s dad building the original beach shack way back then. Since then, it’s undergone some pretty extensive renovations with an extra floor added and a lot more room, including the best man-cave shed I’ve seen in a while. It’s still managed to retain a lovely relaxed beachy kind of feel about it though, it was so nice to relax on the back deck with the dogs, I’m sure they appreciated it just as much as I did!

Before posing the dogs on a comfy wicker chair for some shots, I asked if it was ok that the dogs be up there. I don’t think Miss Jessie especially is allowed up there often, but they said it would be fine for the photos, so up they went.

Jessie made herself quite comfortable.

A little too comfortable perhaps. I was later told that for days afterwards, the dogs thought it was well within their rights to jump up on the chair and make themselves comfortable whenever they liked! It was worth it for the photos guys, I promise! Oops!

Little Buddy was content to just hang around and observe the proceedings. Doesn’t he just have the sweetest face? And a gorgeous temperament to go with it, he really deserves this new life he’s found for himself.

From the deck, the view over the backyard and to the beach not far beyond was just too inviting, so we moved into the garden for a few more shots. As long as there were treats and interesting squeaking things involved, Jessie was a keen model.

What a beautiful girl, how’s that wise expression.

I get the feeling Jessie spends long hours in this garden, observing the goings-on, and of course sleeping!

With all the beachy mischief well and truly behind her, Maggie had her serious modelling pants on.

And who could resist those big brown eyes!

I love this one of the two girls.

That was the last of my Townsville sessions! As all the photo sessions were from the same family, I felt like I got to know them over the few days that I was there. Such a genuine, caring, down to earth and especially dog-loving family would be hard to find anywhere else! Thanks for the awesome coffee, the amazing breakfasts (how lucky am I), the fantastic stories (even if I had trouble remembering them all) and local knowledge and most importantly, thanks for inviting me up to photograph your doggy family, it was a pleasure!

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!

Zoey is the perfect example of the family dog. She’s been with them for nearly 10 years now and is just starting to slow down a bit, so her loving human sister Sarah decided now might be a good time to get some shots.

Zoey’s favourite family member is her human brother, Paul.

Paul lives a long way away from the family home now, but we managed to squeeze in the shoot on one of his visits back home.

Zoey just loves Paul.

We headed to the Botanic Gardens for some different scenery and were greeted with some lovely late afternoon light.

Zoey had a great time pottering around, checking out the ducks in the pond.

She must have thought we were a bit mad when we led her into the garden bed to pose among the flowers, but sat beautifully and posed for us anyway!

Allowing some quiet time for a few detail shots as well.

We found a nice little mini pine forest with a path through the middle that was just begging for more photos of Zoey and Paul together.

Further exploration led us up the garden path to some long reeds and garden beds, making yet another beautiful backdrop!

I just love this one of Zoey on the path, looking at me wondering what on earth I was doing lying on the ground!

One last favourite to finish off.

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!