I felt the warmth and excitement oozing from this family as soon as I entered the double gates of the fenced in doggy exercise area. The Westie pups ran over to me in a mixture of barking and madness, all pawing at me to be first. Dutiful hoomans followed closely behind, smiling adoringly at their furbabies. I knew then they parented in a similar way to me; buckets of love and kisses, teamed with a ready apology for whenever their pets misbehaved. So shoot me, because what I lack in dog training, I make up with my awesomeness. I figure that these guys had the same awesomeness going on too.
This shoot had been a long time coming. Although she had a voucher, Helen, the matriarch of the family (featured below) was so unwell that we decided to extend her expiry indefinitely to be able to accommodate the difficult time. Luckily when the sparkles returned to her eyes, we captured her with her daughters, son in law and most importantly, her Westie grand pups.
We took full advantage of the opportunity to make a feature of Helen and her relationship with her daughters, knowing how much these images will mean in years to come. Facing the mortality of someone close, whether it be a hooman or a furbaby can’t help but shift our perspective on things like photography. It is one of the few precious items that will last our entire life time, and increase in value every day.
Firstly, what is your favourite thing about your Hamish, Maysie & Dougal?
They are full of spunk and character. Although Westie’s are little dogs, they think are big dogs. They can be stubborn, moody and incredible funny. Hamish is King, Maysie is Queen, and Dougal is the court jester.
We know every fur baby is unique, & in your totally unbiased opinion you have the best pets ever!
What makes yours so special?
Hamish loves everyone. He’s good with all people and most dogs. He lets puppies jump all over him and doesn’t do anything about it. Doggy day care used to use him to see how other dogs would be in day care. Hamish isn’t frightened of anything. He gets offended when other dogs don’t want to be friends. He is quick to give kisses and cuddles. Laying in your arms like a baby at night on his back snoring his head off. He loves his walks and food and has a special relationship with his human granny.
Dougal isn’t so sure of himself at times. He’s so eager to please. We love how he talks to us when we say to him ‘Who did this?’ He owns up to his mischief behaviour. Dougal can be so very funny, doing mad dogs around the place. He likes to come up and give us cuddles but prefers to sleep in his own bed. He will wake his human mum up with kisses in the middle of the night and then go back to bed. Love how he rolls on his back enjoying the sun when he thinks no one is watching. He loves his ladybug.
Maysie is part cat and everything is on her terms. Queen Bee, we are here to serve her. She is obsessed with running up and down the back fence to chase the neighbours. Maysie adores her uncle and covers him with kisses. She is very independent and loves to catch crickets. She is full of spunk and loves spending time with the boys and the rest of the family but she soon tells us all when she wants to be left alone. When she is in the mood however she is very loving and is her human mums number one fan.
Tell us something about Hamish, Maysie & Dougal that will make us laugh?
Hamish snores like a freight train and takes up the bed pushing his humans out of bed in order to be comfortable.
Dougal is always making us laugh. From doing baddies around the backyard, and always having something to say and even groans when he’s tired.
Maysie loves to dance on her back legs and paw the air like skippy. She even does it when she visits Bunnings in the trolley.
Why is having beautiful imagery of your pets important to you?
We wanted a family photo taken. The dogs are important members of the family and it wouldn’t be a family picture without them.
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Would you love some photography of your pups but worry they are too crazy? Rest assured we are up for any challenge. Check out some of our behind the scenes videos.