Carla (a fellow photographer) and I had been mutual admirers of each others work for a while, so when she heard I was coming to Adelaide we began discussing the idea of me photographing her two pups. Lexie and Chloe are almost-two year old Cavaliers who are greatly loved by their mum and dad. Carla tragically lost her first Cav, Lucy, when she was hit by a car at only 9 months old. She been due to have a new baby sister (Chloe) arrive in just a month, so when they lost Lucy they started looking into getting another baby to join the family as well so Chloe wouldn’t be all alone. Lexie was found and turned out to be the perfect match, named ‘Heaven Sent’ by her breeder. Chloe was born on Valentines Day which also happens to be Carla’s birthday so another little sign there too!
So, although the family had lost one precious pup in very sad circumstances, the heavens had aligned and sent them two gorgeous girls instead. Meet Lexie (left) and Chloe (right).
We started off our session at a local dog park around mid afternoon. There were a few other dogs around at the time who were very interested in what was going on, espcially when they realised there were treats involved, but we managed to find a lovely little spot down the back on an old log. Getting the girls to stand and balance on the log proved to be somewhat of a mission, but with lots of practice, encouragement, treats and some pretty crazy noises from me, we got there in the end!
The afternoon light coming in from behind really shows off their gorgeous soft hair, framing Lexie with a halo of light. Heaven sent indeed!
I thought this shot deserved some extra special processing to accentuate the late afternoon light and show off the mood of the place. My favourite bit of this image is Lexie’s little back foot in the air, in the middle of taking a step along the log.
When the other dogs at the park became just a bit too distracting, we headed off on a walk around Mawson Lakes to see what we could find.
The perfect little family! How cute are these guys.
Lexie was very interested in the edge of the water and if she wasn’t on a lead, I have no doubt she would have been in there in an instant, splashing about in the reeds.
Not content with just looking, she decided that eating them would be the next best thing!
Chloe was a bit calmer and quite content to stand and have a look around at all the goings on by the edge of the lake.
I love this shot of Lexie with her big tongue!
The boardwalk we found a bit further along provided a great background for some ‘walking on the lead shots’ – love the girls’ expressions – stoked to be out and about!
Soon enough it was time to head back home for some photos in the girls’ backyard. From Carla’s descriptions of the two, I thought Chloe would be the harder one to photograph as she’s a bit of a nature girl, always off chasing bugs and poking around the garden. This wasn’t the case though when there were treats and attention involved, I love her expressions in these shots!
Gorgeous Lexie in the rock garden.
Out of the many, many attempts we made at getting the two girls in a photo together, we managed to get them sitting beautifully next to each other for this shot. It certainly helps to tire them out first!
And I couldn’t resist a shot of their gorgeous feathery legs, I just loved Chloe’s little curly chest hair.
What a pair of hams!
Carla thanks for letting me spend the afternoon with you, it was so lovely to meet you guys and your gorgeous pups. I can’t wait to see what you do with the photos!
