Tag Archives: victoria

Client Session ~ Buddy the Staffordshire Bull Terrier

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For my second last Melbourne session I was due to meet with Kim and her best friend, Buddy the three and a half year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, first thing in the morning. The day was to offer me a taste of what Melbourne can dish up weather-wise when it feels like it. I awoke to oppressive heat, drove through a thunderstorm – thunder, lightning and bucketing rain – and arrived to clearing cloud and then finally sunshine, before a cool change rolled in accompanied by heavy cloud! Wow, what a morning! Despite this, we managed to work around the weather to get some stunning shots of both Kim and Buddy.

When I arrived we packed into the car and headed to a lovely and huge grassy park on the foreshore. There was also a great little boardwalk winding it’s way through the adjoining swamp, so we took a stroll along that to begin with.

Buddy was great, never going too far, just strolling along checking out the sights and sounds. Kim’s done some training with him so he was quite easy to plonk somewhere and give the ‘stay’ command to. This bench provided a good pedestal to display his handsome self!

Kim and Buddy are obviously quite devoted to each other. It actually proved a bit of a challenge to separate them at times, with Buddy always wanting to be within a few metres of his Mum.

There were lots of opportunities for quiet time, cuddles and kisses though, so cute.

How gorgeous is this boy in his studly new collar?

There was time for a bit of posing with his Mum before we headed back to the house.

Buddy is your typical Staffy – though perhaps a bit more calm and well behaved than most I’ve met! Such a good boy.

He’s certainly got the hang of that intense Staffy stare!

The deck provided some nice soft light and cool eye reflections.

Buddy gets to spend his days while his Mum is at work, hanging out at his ‘grandparents’ place – it’s like his second home! Here is is staking his claim on the deck.

And posing it up among the flowers along the garden path.

Kim and her baby boy are just the perfect match for each other, don’t you agree?

Kim owns and runs the website www.mystaffy.com.au – which sells plush staffy toys of her own design. Kim has also donated her time and expertise to establish a website for Stafford Rescue – a rescue and rehoming service run by The Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of Victoria Inc. If you are an enthusiast of this wonderful breed, make sure you check out these great sites!

Client Session ~ Scout and Nelle the Labrador Retrievers

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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.