Tag Archives: head wrinkles

Client Session ~ Greta and Lily

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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.

Client Session ~ Jackson, Alexa, Tyson and Kiki the Great Danes

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Tracey is what you would call a Great Dane enthusiast. With four of these lovely dogs, you’d have to be! When she contacted me about photographing her babies in Melbourne, I was thrilled. Great Danes are ‘my breed’ and I was really looking forward to meeting some more and spending some quality time with them.

This Great Dane family lives in South Frankston in Melbourne so we took a trip to the local pier (complete with trailer-load of all four Danes) for the session. Melbourne turned on the blue skies, perfect temperatures and lovely evening light which made for a great atmosphere for the photos.

A quick note to future clients – in many of these photos you’ll see leads on the dogs – sometimes this is unavoidable in public areas like this! I’m more than happy to do a bit of tricky Photoshopping and remove them on the ones you wish to use as wall art or prints, however to do it to every shot would take me months, so I just leave them in until the final ordering stage when it’s decided if they’ll be used or not.

Alexa is two years old and affectionately referred to as the Elle McPherson of the bunch. You can see why, with those long supermodel legs and elegant neck.

She is very pretty, but also quite a devious and naughty little thing! The stories Tracey told me about her remind me so much of my Kaya, that same calcuating, clever way of looking at things. Brains as well as beauty!

I just love this shot of her.

And who can resist the famous Dane ‘helicopter ears’.

It’s easy to see how much Tracey loves all her Danes, bestowing them with frequent kisses and cuddles.

Another regal shot of ‘Princess’ Alexa. The funky architecture of the bridge makes for a fantastic background!

Next in line were the oldest and the youngest of the pack – Kiki who is 8 years old and such a gorgeous, gentle soul. And little (said with tongue firmly in cheek of course) 8 month old Jackson. We took a stroll up the pier with these two. The shot below is one of my favourites from the session – a standoff between the Danes and the boys further up!

Kiki is pretty amazing. Great Danes generally age more quickly than most other smaller breeds and unfortunately tend to live shorter lives. Kiki however is doing fantastic for a lady of her age! She impressed me no end with an agile leap up into the back of the 4wd, easy as pie!

At 8 months and already taller than Kiki and Alexa, Jackson is still such a baby and easily intrigued by the simple things in life, such as birdies flying overhead.

What a handsome boy though! His occupation is a show dog and he’s already proving to be a star, with many great results under his collar, and many more to come.

I love this tangle of legs, tails and ears as we walked further up the pier.

With Jackson pausing to watch some activity in the water further out.

Back on the beach, a rock wall provided a chance for Jackson to stand up tall and look like the big regal Great Dane he is (with plenty of cuddles of encouragement from his Mum of course).

On the beach, he found a little nut that took up his attention for a good 10 minutes.

Everyone must know by now how much I LOVE head wrinkles – well this boy was a goldmine of them! How smooshable is this face!

Jackson’s distraction gave us a bit more time for Kiki who posed it up, reminding us that she too used to be a successful show dog in her day and still has it.

Last but certainly not least, the adorable Tyson. The perfect gentle giant, he is much more concerned with being cruisy and relaxed, than looking nice and alert for us for photos. After lots of time and patience though we did manage to get some beauties, thanks to some other dogs who were being walked along the pier that managed to grab his attention.

Tyson wasn’t going to miss out on cuddles either. This probably gives you a good idea of his size, he’s a very big boy!

Right at the end of our session when the light was on the verge of running out, I snapped off a few shots like this. Just perfect – even including the rising moon!

As you’d expect, taking four gorgeous Great Danes to a public place like this does attract some attention. The number of people that wanted to stop and get cuddles from the dogs and ask the inevitable questions was staggering. We were originally counting the ‘horse’ comments but ended up losing track – just goes to show the impact these regal dogs have on people. To finish off, here’s a few shots of them being loved and admired by people and dogs alike.

Thanks Tracey for allowing me to hang out with you and your lovely family of Great Danes, it was a pleasure!