Meet Louis. Louis is a Cocker Spaniel with a gorgeous black coat, long black ears, dark eyes and a black nose too! He has paws the size of a bear and has a very vocal greeting accompanied by a madly wagging tail.

A completely black dog can be a challenge to photograph as it is important that the features are visible and don't get lost. It might seem a little counter intuitive then to photograph him on a black leather sofa with the light mostly behind him! However, the back light gave a gorgeous 'halo' effect which separated him from the back ground and as it was at a side angle to him it also picked out the fabulous curly fur on his ear and provided a catch light in his eye too. A little tweaking in PS5 allowed me to slightly exaggerate the highlights to pick out more detail and to add a little dodge and burning to the ear to give it more texture. I'm very happy with the result as was Louis' owner.

Dizzy

Meet Dizzy. Diz is an albino Leopard Gecko who seemed to enjoy posing for her portrait. I am happy to do portrait session of any pets, not just the conventional cute and fluffie's (though I love taking their photos). Leopard geckos are very docile and Diz is hand tame so taking her photograph was a breeze. The colours you see in the photo are true as albino Leopard geckos are yellow and pink. I think she is an extremely pretty little lady, with just a little bit of the Queen Victoria attitude about her as you can see from the way she is looking at the camera as if to say 'I am not amused'.

This photo was awarded Bronze last year in an International photo competition run by The Societies, a body of professional photographers that I am a member of. I was pretty pleased with that.

Purple Door

When I am taking a photograph I am always on the look out for interesting shapes and lines and of course, colour and tone. This purple door was screaming to be used as a photographic backdrop and the light in the small courtyard was perfect with a large building opposite the door cutting out the glaring top light of the sun. I really like how the red of the bricks and dog fur compliment each other and then the purple door acts as a darker contrast and frames the dog well. I've had some great feedback about this photo on Facebook too which is great, besides who can resist such a sweet face as Henry's?

Mist again.

I always have a camera of some sort on me. As a photographer I never switch off and I never know when I will see a great picture that I want to capture. So, when I took my dog for a walk this last weekend I took my Fujifilm X10 with me. It's lighter and more portable than my Canon 5D and lenses and so I often grab it when I go out.

The beach was thick with mist rolling in from the sea in a different sort of lazy wave. Though there seemed to be quite a few people around from the number of cars in the car park, the beach seemed empty as you could not see far into the distance. Every now and again some people and their dog would emerge from the mist like ghostly figures and disappear again as they passed by.  The mist did not deter my little retriever from his favourite game of fetch and I couldn't help but capture a few shots of him running around in the mist, an indistinct little shadow enjoying himself.

I'm very pleased with this particular photograph and gave it a vintage feel to exaggerate the mistiness. I'm currently working on a fine art collection and I am thinking of adding this one to it. What do you think?

Alfie

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Alfie, or Alfred the Great as his owner proudly called him. Alfie is a tri-colour border collie and being an older chap is not as bouncy as he once was but still enjoys a good game of fetching the ball (which turned out to be a handy prop of getting and keeping his attention too!).

Alfie's owner, adores their faithful dog and commissioned me to take some photographs for a large framed wall picture. We had great fun among the trees taking photos and Alfie was the perfect gent, sitting nicely when asked and putting up with the camera with good humour as he knew there would be a game with his ball as a treat, so he had a fun time too.  Such a handsome fellow deserves to have their portrait taken don't you think?

I am always happy when I am approached to do pet portraits as they are such an important part of many people's families and I enjoy working with the animals and meeting the owners,. Invariably they have some lovely stories about their pets and seeing the bond and trust between owner and pet always puts a smile on my face. I left with an especially large grin after working with Alfie and Wendy.

Life's a Beach

This photo was taken on a recent visit to a nearby sandy beach which is popular with dog walkers. Henry, my puppy (featured in an earlier post) loves, loves, LOVES going there and running along the wet sand - even on a cold winter's day. It was the first place he was allowed to run 'off lead' and he loves sniffing at the seaweed washed up on the tide.

The beach was cold and on this day and there was a freezing wind coming in off the sea, so fellow dog walkers were wrapped up warm. Even so, the wind blew straight through to the bones. I took a few photographs until my fingers became numb. I loved this one of man and dog enjoying some quality time together. I used my favourite technique of shooting into the sun to capture some lens flare and throw the subjects into slight silhouette with just a tad of detail.

Sammy

 Meet Sam. Sammy is a Ragdoll cat and brother to Max who was featured in an earlier post. Where Max is totally laid back Sam is more highly strung. He knows what he wants and is not afraid to badger me for it. He is also not backward about letting me know if I have upset him in someway. Saying all that he is an absolutely adorable little fellow who answers me and comes when he is called, meets me at the door when I come home and enthusiastically gives me 'high fives', 'low fives' and 'ten' for treats.

His fur is as soft as it looks and his eyes, like his brothers, are like deep blue pools of water. He loves being groomed and will often honour me with mutual grooming (like having my hand gently stroked with damp, warm sandpaper). He loves toys with feathers and having rolled up sweet papers thrown for him to play with, where they quickly get batted under the sofa.

I love photographing animals and so it is natural that I would capture some fabulous photos of my own pets too. I must admit, that I am always pleased to be commissioned for pet portraits as I love meeting other people's pets and swapping stories.

I spy...

Meet Max. Max is a Ragdoll cat and totally lives up to the breed name. He is soft and fluffy, sweet natured and prefect for cuddling, which he adores. He has one of the loudest purrs I have ever heard! Another trait of the breed is the colour of their eyes. They are blue, like deep pools of cool water you could just dive into. Gorgeous.

Henry

Meet Henry. He is a bouncy little Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever puppy and he is mine. How could I resist taking some photos of such a little cutie?

I bought him home when he was just nine weeks old. He was a little bundle of fluff who just wanted to chew my foot and missed his brothers greatly. He is about 23 weeks old now and has settled into his 'new pack'. He is clever, quick, playful, naughty, funny, stubborn and eager. He loves peanut butter and sausages (even both together!) and walks. He gets way over excited when he meets new people and dogs and my cats think of him as that great annoying lump in the house, though he is actually very good with them even if he does always want to play when they don't.

Having pets myself I understand that they are part of the family. Pet portraits are one of my passions and photos of a beloved family pet make great gifts. I'll leave you with just one more photo of Henry, for now, but I am sure you will see more of him here as he grows up to be a handsome boy.

Dori

I come from a background in theatre where I worked in stage management and lighting so I have heard the saying "Never work with children or animals' often enough. So I should know better right? Fact is that I am an animal lover though. I grew up surrounded by various animals and have my own small menagerie, so it is only natural that I love to photograph animals.

Our pets are part of our family and so I offer pet portraits at Imaginography. Recently I had the pleasure of photographing Dori, an extremely affectionate and bouncy spaniel. The shoot was outdoors at a spot where Dori often enjoys her walks with her owners. It took a few attempts as Dori was more keen on exploring everything going on than posing for the camera, but I got some nice portrait shots of her, relaxing beneath a tree. Every few seconds though it was too much for her and she would have to come and see the camera, or her owners. The most important piece of kit to have in your bag when shooting animals (apart from the camera!) is patience. We were certainly rewarded with some adorable photos!