Tag Archives: gold coast

Client Session ~ Sahara the Bengal and Julius the Ragdoll

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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

You can read more praise from my lovely clients on my website.

Client Session ~ Milly and Mack the Rottweilers

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We actually arrived before sunrise for this very early morning beach session and in a short time were greeted by this beautiful sight. Getting up early for these sessions is so worth it, especially with a perfect clear sky like this!

This is one year old Mack – he loved soaking up the early morning sunshine and exploring the beach, so he pretty much stole the show early on in our session.

I love this flying tongue and head-tilt shot all in one!

Mack and his big sister Milly (older by only 6 months) are the best of friends.

Mack loves to chase flying sand and water, and puts on quite a show!

I don’t think Milly really understands the concept, but she’s happy to join in and give the jumping Mack a hard time!

Nothing better than a happy wet sandy dog at the beach!

Later at the dog park, Milly proved to be the more attentive model.

Mack preferred to be intruiged by a tractor at the other end of the park and I managed to capture some very attentive looks from him.

A family portraits was on the cards, luckily the dogs were pretty worn out by the stage and happy to pose with their mum and dad.

You can tell these guys really love their dogs!

Client Session ~ Ellie and Finn [Part 1]

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Ellie and Finn are two gorgeous girls who live in Brisbane with their family. They were dedicated enough to get up at a ridiculously early hour for the drive down to the Gold Coast for their morning photo session at the beach. We started at just on sunrise, which at this time of year is just before 5am. You can just imagine how early they got up, given it takes an hour to make the drive!

Unfortunately the gorgeous bright early morning light I was counting on never made an appearance as it was very cloudy, however we still got some lovely soft light shots of the two girls enjoying their experience at the beach.

Four year old Finn was loving the sand, quickly discovering it was awesome to dig holes in!

Burying her head in the sand quickly turned her into a bona-fide sand monster.

Once the squeaky toy made an appearance though, she was momentarily distracted!

This early in the morning, other dogs on the beach were rare, but Finn was always very interested in them, tracking their progress along the beach intently.

The dunes are a favourite place of mine to shoot in, with the soft grey-green grasses and salt-tolerant, wind-twisted trees in the background.

Ellie was also loving the beach. She’s ten years old, but don’t tell her that!

Ellie has that trademark Staffy smile down pat.

If you’re wondering about Ellie’s ears, she had some surgery on the folded one a while ago and it never stood up straight after that, but I think it gives her so much character!

We had intended to stick around at the park behind the beach for some green grass shots, but the sandflies had other ideas and relentlessly drove us off. We all survived (some itchier than others!) to fight another day and decided to organise the rest of the shoot a week later at the girls’ house in Brisbane. So, more photos of these gorgeous girls to follow!

Client Session ~ Herbie & Bamm Bamm the Havanese

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Continued on from Harry’s post, Herbie and Bamm Bamm are Harry’s two little brothers. Both Havanese, they are gorgeous little dogs. You could say that this breed quite popular with Bec’s family, as I’ve also photographed Mali who belongs to Bec’s mum!

Bamm Bamm is three years old and the most independent of the pack.

He has the most silky, softest fur and I was especially taken with his little white fluffy feet, how cute are they!

While he loves attention from people and is a lovely friendly little boy, he’s also quite happy being off on his own, doing his own thing.

We took a trip to the park for a change of scenery and poor little Bamm Bamm got bitten by a nasty ant on his paw. He was valiantly limping around but with some persuasion in the form of delicious treats still managed to pose beautifully for these shots.

His little brother, the youngest of the three at almost three years of age, is Herbie.

Herbie is Bec’s special boy, in her own words “Herbie is my soul mate dog, he has 100% stolen my heart”. He was a wedding present from her husband, arriving on a plane from Melbourne and straight into Bec’s arms. He went through a lot of pain and health problems when growing and as a result, has bowed front legs that don’t quite function as they should and are still quite painful. Perhaps because of his ordeal or perhaps just because thats’s just the way he is, Herbie doesn’t really feel comfortable with pats and cuddles from anyone other than Bec or her mum.

Luckily for me though, Herbie is quite interested in food and it was no problem to get his attention!

With a bit of patience, we even had him sitting and staying at a distance for some gorgeous photos with his big brother Harry in the background.

I just love his brown eyes against his lily white (super soft and fluffy!) fur.

We ended our session at the park with Herbie looking adoringly up at his mum with the sun sinking down behind the trees in the background. Awwww!

Client Session ~ Harry the Golden Retriever

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Bec has been a long term client of mine, she first contacted me to photograph her horses which was actually my first horse session. When she got married I photographed her wedding (yep, my first wedding), then when baby Josh came along, it was time for a photo session with him as well. And yes, that was my first baby photo session!

Finally, 3 years later, we’ve managed to get around to photographing her three gorgeous pooches – Herbie, Harry and Bamm Bamm! I’ve split this post up into two as there were just too many lovely shots to include in one and I wanted to share them all.

So first up we have Harry the Golden Retriever. Harry is the leader, peace keeper and general nice guy of the pack, blessed with a typical Golden Retriever personality.

His Mum sums it up best:

“I tell everyone that Harry is the Dalai Lama reincarnated or will be the next official Dalai Lama. He is the kindest, most gentlest soul I’ve ever met. There isn’t another dog like Harry, he’s extremely sensitive and in tune with people and animals emotions, and loves all creatures great and small. Harry’s even helped foster kittens from the AWL and let them hang with their claws from his jowls and just looked at me like ‘ummm I don’t know how to get this creature off me!’. He’d never think to harm anything even if it was hurting him! Just a beautiful soul and the calming alpha force keeping my three dogs in check!”

Rebecca is lucky enough to live on beautiful property, so we decided to take Harry off on a little walk by himself down to his favourite place, the creek.

He was a little confused that we wouldn’t let him have a swim, but oh-so obedient in obeying his Mum’s requests to stay away from the water, although that didn’t stop him looking longingly in that direction!

Harry has his stays (plus many other awesome tricks) down pat and was so easy to work with against the various backdrops the setting provided. I especially loved these tall trees – the Australian bush is so pretty!

I’m in love the almost watercolour-like background of this shot, and Harry’s keen expression.

We were also blessed with some gorgeous late afternoon light.

Harry was just an absolute delight to work with. A gorgeous, gentle, wise and happy soul, Rebecca is truly blessed to have him in her life!

Stay tuned for part two of this session, featuring Harry’s little brothers, Herbie and Bamm Bamm the Havanese.