Naomi and Elsa reached out to me after learning their beautiful girl Bella had been diagnosed with severe Liver Disease.
They have been friends for many years and welcomed Bella into their lives 14 years ago. With so much love to give, they added Charlie to the mix a year later and the two dogs have been inseparable ever since.
After talking on the phone, we decided to capture some special memories on the Sunshine Coast enjoying the freedom of the beach.
Prior to the session, there was a lot of back and forth as I helped them to choose outfits for the ‘beach look’ that would capture their personalities, help them feel relaxed and create the feeling they were after.
A Morning at Sunshine Coast Beach
We met at a beautiful Sunshine Coast beach in the early hours. The weather was perfect, a little windy but worked out nicely with dresses and hair blowing in the wind for a natural look. We began on the grasses to capture some posed connection photos and then moved to the sand and water for fun candid photos.
The funniest part was that I brought along my big cart to carry everything and had hoped I would be able to pull it along the hard sand, but it was so full of all our stuff that it was heavy and kept wanting to tip over, so Naomi ended up helping me push it along the sand with lots of laughs along the way.
Bella and Charlie had so much fun running up and down the beach, and I captured some beautiful shots of them all walking together, connecting, and playing.
We slowly walked up to the rocks where we captured some more posed photos and the special ‘Angel Wing’ photos.
Share your ideas and I'll do my best to make them happen
One of Elsa’s wishes was to capture some photos of the dogs wearing some cute angel wings that she has, and we set up some different poses for each dog.
I used the photos to create a composite of the dogs together looking up and they both look so adorable.
The best part is that we included the ‘making of’ photos in the photo album as well, helping to tell the story of the moment. One photo of Bella poking her head in from the side of the photo is super cute and reflects her personality perfectly.
An Afternoon at Lake Currimundi
One of Naomi’s and Elsa’s big wishes was to include my ‘Magic Butterfly’ photos which require a green background.
We decided to arrange a second session at Lake Currimundi in the late afternoon, which offers a variety of options from open beach to bush areas along the lake.
We started by capturing a few more photos of the dogs running along the beach and the water, and even had an opportunity to capture Bella doing her favourite thing, running through the grasses behind the sand dunes.
Capturing the butterfly photos required a good location and the help of the Elsa to capture the attention of each dog. We tried a few different spots, which worked well and offered some variety.
This also gave us an opportunity to capture some more posed photos of them all together with a beautiful, lush background.
We captured some fun photos of them all together and a favourite of Naomi and Charlie acting up! Haha
Building a Connection
It’s important to me to build a connection and get to know who I am photographing. Throughout the whole process I try to be a sponge and learn all about the little quirks, personalities and the strong bonds that have been formed.
I always bring treats for the dogs and often end up becoming the ‘Treat Lady’ which really helps when trying to capture attention.
At the end of our second session, I ended up at Naomi’s house where we captured some more photos of the dogs relaxing and spent ages chatting about dogs, work and life in general. It was just a really lovely way to finish our session together.
The Workflow and Reveal
Selecting the photos for the reveal was super difficult as there were so many amazing photos. I ended up sharing about 70+ photos at the reveal with another 100 as back up.
It was quite an emotional evening and a little overwhelming for all of us but in the end Naomi and Elsa chose a beautiful package including a gorgeous ‘Keepsake Album’, stunning Framed Canvas pieces and a special print gallery for their hallway.
Seeing the joy on their faces as they viewed their photos is one of the most rewarding experiences for me as a photographer. Knowing that I can create something so meaningful for them is what makes my job so special.
A Special Keepsake Album
The design of the album took place after the reveal. I arranged to selection of photos to be viewed in an online gallery that made it easier for Elsa and Naomi to go through and choose the images they wished to include in the album.
I also suggested that they could write some little stories and share some of the quirks and personality of each dog. These stories were then incorporated into the album design, making it a truly unique and personalized keepsake.
I carefully designed the layout of each page of the album and with a few tweaks and adjustments the album was ready to be professionally printed and hand-bound right here in Australia.
Would you like to capture some extra special photos of your family and dog?
Reach out and we can design the perfect session just for you.
