Photographing dogs can be both challenging and rewarding. On the other hand, puppies, they can almost be impossible but the rewards can be great. Today I had a session set up with my Son but due to the weather conditions, we had to scrub the day. That’s okay, there will be other days with better light and not so wet conditions. But I was still had a need to make the day productive, I still had a need to photograph something. After finishing up the changes on my website I broke out the camera equipment and setup a background and got ready for a long session.
Stella is our new puppy the one we wanted after Star died. Star was our first real big dog. She was our frisbee dog, a half australian shepherd half beagle who came into our lives unexpectedly. She was a little puppy that fit in my wife’s coat pocket but then grew into a medium size energetic dog. As she got bigger she went through a destructive faze where she tore apart a recliner. Lucky the chair was free so we didn’t lose any money over it but still, what a mess to clean up. We came to the conclusion that if we gave her a job she wouldn’t be bord and the furniture would be safe. So we had her chase the geese where I worked and she was good at what she did. Once she even caught one. Did not know what to do with it but was happy as hell she caught it.
Star was a great dog and when she died it left a big hole in our lives. We knew in time we wanted to find another dog, an Aussie like Star but the price was way out of our budget. Resigned to that fact we quit looking until one of our friends got an Aussie mix. Cute as they come. So we contacted our friends who put us in contact with the breeder. They had the mixes but all male however they had a new batch of full blood Aussies and two were female. They were born on the 4th of July and would not be ready for a few weeks. So my wife and I got a deposit together and placed it on one of the females and for the next 4 or so weeks we worked on picking a name.
The day came when I got a call from the breeder that she was ready to pick up. I was excited and worried at the sametime. Excited to finally pick her up after so many weeks of anticipation but, at the time, my wife was in the hospital and I had to come up with a way to watch a dog and see my wife. Lucky I had some backup with my Son and my wife’s friends who really wanted to spend a lunch hour watching Stella. Eventually my wife came home which gave me another set of eyes on this ball of energy.
So today I took the time and set up a background and lights and with my camera I started to create images. I set up the black background to try to get that dramatic image but soon found that to be a bad idea. I traded the black for a white background but still did not have any luck. So I took up the background and opted for the wood floors and that is when Lily got involved and played with Stella. I just gave in and just took photos which yielded the group of images you see below. Like I said before, you may shoot a lot of images but in the end, if you get at least 5 good or great images, for a puppy, its a good day. Stella has now been in our lives for over a week now and she is fitting in, well just don’t ask the cats because they have a not so favorable opinion of her.
