Charlotte Reeves Photography

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.

We’d booked Scout and Nelle’s session for daybreak but when I arrived, it was still quite dark! Not being used to the sunrise/sunset times in Melbourne, I’d taken a guess and been just a bit too much on the safe side. Scout and Nelle’s Mum and Dad were good sports though about the early start, so we all packed into the car and headed to their local park. When we arrived, the whole place, which was actually a series of sports fields, was covered in a thick blanket of fog. It was also quite chilly, not at all what I was used to back on the Gold Coast!

It didn’t slow the dogs down in the slightest though. As soon as we were out of the car and on the ovals, they were racing around madly after their beloved tennis balls. The light was a bit dim to get sharp action shots, but this gives you a pretty good picture of the ‘fog dogs’.

With active dogs such as these, it’s always a good idea to let them run off a bit of energy before the serious modelling business begins, so we spent a good half hour playing ball! The sun finally made an appearance and started clearing away the fog, though it hung around for quite some time in pockets. The light was worth waiting for, just beautiful.

Scout is the older of the pair at two years of age. He seems to take the lead in most situations with younger Nelle (10 months) happy to follow.

The morning light didn’t let us down with beautiful golden rays coming through the trees. I’m totally in love with this shot!

And I love this candid of Nelle at the park. Black dogs can sometimes be tricky to get shots of that look good in black and white, but her eyes in this one just make it.

Eventually lots of other dogs started arriving at the park and with Scout being such a social boy and needing to say meet and greet most of them, we decided to pack up and head home for some more relaxed photos. Doesn’t Scout look handsome in this shot in a patch of sunlight?

I thought we might have done too good of a job wearing them out, but with some tasty treats on hand, they soon perked up.

Scout’s happy face was tending to feature in most of the shots.

So we gave him a rest from the camera for  a while and concentrated on the beautiful Nelle for a while. I just loved her on their red bed!

Such a sweet and gentle girl.

Photo sessions can be pretty tiring for the pups – it’s a combination of physical and mental stimulation that tends to make them crash out for the rest of the day, so my clients tell me! Here’s my final shot of Scout, well on his way to having a well-earned rest.

A few weeks ago I ran a competition on the Charlotte Reeves Photography Facebook page, giving away a free photoshoot to the most deserving entrant to celebrate 100 fans. I had renowned Seattle dog photographer Erin Vey judging, and the dog she chose was Lupe the Great Dane, with the following entry:

“This is Lupe our 22 month blue boy. He is the center of our world and knows it. He love the dog park and the beach (but not the waves – still cant swim). Poor baby has had a rough time this last year. We nearly lost him earlier this year when he got pneumonia and spent a week in ICU. A few weeks ago he got bit on the hind leg by another dog at the spit (beach) and had to go back to the same hospital for surgery to open the wound up. Thankfully despite being spoilt rotten he’s a trooper.”

I’d actually already been in contact with Lupe’s owner as we were going to organise a play date with our two blue babies, so it was an added bonus to be able to tell her that she’d also won the competition!

I visited Lupe and his devoted Mum and Dad in Brisbane on a fine summer afternoon. They had a fabulous back deck that we spent a while hanging out on.

Being a blue Great Dane, he felt quite similar to photograph to my own Luna, except maybe a tad more photogenic and not so prone to pulling silly faces!

In fact he is a rather serious looking boy most of the time.

Who still manages to be super cute when it’s called for.

And very good at the head tilt! Most dogs have a particular sound they do this to, for Lupe it was a quiet high pitched whistle, very effective!

Lupe has an unusual ridge running down the back of his neck – as someone cleverly pointed out – a mohawk!

Along with at matching little strip of white on his chest, very classy.

After the serious modelling business was over, we took Lupe for a walk to his fabulous local park.

Where he said hello to the equine resident…

Puzzled over his Dad up a tree…

Said goodbye to the horsie…

Then topped it off with a guzzle from the drinking station, in true Great Dane style.

If you want to see more photos from Lupe’s session, visit his gallery on Facebook.

Note to future clients – early starts are most definitely worth doing! This was another very early session – we kicked off at 4.45am to catch that gorgeous first light.

Molly the Staffy is a gorgeous, well behaved little girl who is lucky enough to have a totally devoted owner who obviously loves her to bits.

She gets regular early morning walks to her favourite park where she can run and sniff and cruise around spreading that famous Staffy smile and cheer everywhere she goes. And what an amazing tongue!

And very cute ears.

After we’d finished our walk through the park, we headed back to Molly’s house and chilled out in her backyard. The patio was nice and cool, a good place to stretch out on a hot morning.

It wasn’t long though, and her energy was back again, ready for a game of tug!

I somehow convinced her that modelling was a career path she should seriously consider.

This is probably my favourite shot of the session.

With this one running a close second. I’m so stoked that Molly’s dad is getting this one as a nice big gallery wrap canvas,  I can’t wait to see how it turns out!