Renee reached out to me after receiving my special gift for entering my launch giveaway. She had initially known of me through watching my shenanigans with Lexie in an Australian based Staffy group on Facebook – Must Love Staffies.
Renee has a gorgeous Staffy x Fox Terrier (just wait til you see her ears! <3), Zylah; who was initially going to be the main subject for her photo session though after talking to Renee on the phone, it was discovered that she would ideally love an opportunity to capture some photos with her fiancé Andrew and his little girl Annabelle too.
Over the next few weeks, we exchanged emails and phone calls, working on different ideas for potential outfits. The goal was to keep the outfits comfortable and be ‘themselves’.
About the Family Outdoor Photography Session
I travelled to the south side of Brisbane to a park near where Renee and her family live. I hadn’t been to the park previously, so I had a quick scout around before our agreed meeting time. It turned out that the sun was super high in the sky with NO CLOUDS to diffuse at all. Nightmare situation! Not only is it not the best light, but it can also become too hot for doggies.
We ended up hanging out at Renee’s house for a little while to allow some time to pass and it turned out perfect as I had a chance to bond with Annabelle and learn all about her Harry Potter collection. Plus, I also discovered that she loves treasure hunts which I was extremely happy about as I just so happened to have set up a fun little treasure hunt before the photo session at the park!
To help ease in with older children, I have found creating some treasure hunt clues leading to a box of chocolates and doggy treats can really help to break the ice and get them excited to participate in the photo session. I always ask the parents if their children are allowed to have chocolates first of course! So far, this little ice breaker has really helped to encourage the children to trust me and helps the parents relax into the session too.
Zylah gets quite excited out on walks, and she does go a little over threshold when she sees other dogs. We got some nice shots of her in the bushland area behind the park but after a little while, I was getting slightly worried about the heat and her anxiety and suggested that we separate the family for a little bit.
Sometimes multiple family members can distract the family dog...
I took Renee and Zylah off for a few photos on their own together and Andrew walked home with Annabelle. Sometimes dogs can get stressed out when there are multiple owners at a session. They want to be with everyone, and I can find it harder to grab their attention too!
After capturing some photos of Renee and Zylah together, we dropped Zylah home in the aircon and then Andrew and Annabelle joined us again on the local sporting oval.
We had a lot of fun with Annabelle running around with the blanket as if it was a cape and then Andrew surprised us all with all his posing ideas. He was all over it!
After the Session
I was a little nervous looking through this collection, but I surprised myself and truly captured some absolutely gorgeous photos of the Turner Family & Zylah.
Some beautiful portraits of Zylah on her own and some sweet connection photos of her with her mum Renee.
As we couldn’t quite relax Zylah into a pose with the family, I used my photoshop skills to composite her into a beautiful shot I captured of everyone at the oval. Of course, it was a winner at the reveal session. 😉
The Reveal
What a wonderful afternoon I had with Andrew and Renee. The decision process was a tough one as they were nearly all keepers in their eyes. Be sure to watch their reveal video below and see the beautiful moments we captured on the day.
Andrew...
Andrew needed his own heading right here. Buddy and Lexie were besotted with him and I reckon I could have easily lost Lexie to Andrew this day! lol
I only captured a very small minute of their interaction together but let me just say, I came outside to find Andrew sitting down on the lounge with Buddy to one side and Lexie having ripped open his shirt, perched on him like a jungle gym licking him to death!
Next Andrew is playing Frisbee with her in the back yard and then I captured this video.
When it was time to leave, she didn’t want to let him leave in the car. Definitely an instant connection right there.
I can’t wait to see how she reacts when they come to collect their beautiful prints.
Would you like to capture some extra special photos of your family?
Reach out and we can design the perfect session just for you.
