Featured Pet – Pippa & Jackson

Posted on May 13, 2013

The Hooper Family Pet Photography Session

‘I can’t remember, is it ok if we get some family photos with the dogs?’ This was the question that greeted me when I got to the Hooper house on the weekend. ‘Absolutely’ I said and that lead to a quick negotiation with 3-year-old Zoe about putting on a dress – ‘Can you pop on a dress for me?’ ‘No!’, ‘What about your birthday dress’ ‘Yeah!’. With that decision done, the rest of the family donned their finest and finally our two stars – Cavoodles, Jesse and Bella, had their hair fixed and their beautiful ribbons adjusted and the photo session started.

The Hooper family are what photographers (especially those used to dealing with animals) call a dream. The camera loved them all and they did whatever was asked of them, including Jesse and Bella. Zoe and her big brother Zac could be supermodels and I have never met a 3-year-old work the camera so well.

Jesse and Bella, as important members of the family, took centre stage and were gorgeous and a great additions to The Hooper family. Check out a couple of the photos below from the session.

Posted on March 6, 2013

Pet Photography in Melbourne

Pet’s are part of the family too. These days that is more true than it ever has been, anything you can get for yourself you can be sure you can get for your pet too. From plush hotel accommodation to the latest pet fashions.

In the world of photography there is now a greater number of studios offering pet photography outright or as part of a family shoot with humans. This is a great thing, because it means there is more choice and you can find the type of photographer to suit your style and taste.

In Melbourne there are plenty of great pet photographers to choose from. Most offer location photography and some offer studio as well, it all comes down to what you like and what will suit your home or office.

Whenever looking for a good pet photographer there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• Is this their passion, do they do it full time or most of the time.
• Are they qualified photographers and/or members of a photographic association.
• Do they have plenty of images to show of different animals (so not the same dog in every image).
• What do others say about them, do they seem to have a good reputation. Have a look at their Facebook page to see what people have said or check for testimonials.
• What are they charging. In this respect I don’t mean overcharging, I mean undercharging which is a common problem in photography – like all things you get what you paid for and when you go for the lowest you are likely to find that they are images your cousin Bob could have taken with his camera.
• Will the session be fun for you and your pet.

Think about why you want to have your pet professionally photographed, is it to have stunning images adorning your walls or is it to have a CD of images you put on your desk and forget about. For me photography has always been about the beautiful print that you can look at every day.

Posted on February 5, 2013

The Cute Couple

Is there anything cuter than a baby with a dog? Pretty hard to beat I would think. Meet the cute couple Mason, a sweet three-month-old baby boy and Charli the six-year-old Beagalier.

Mason and Charli’s Mum, Kelly, says that poor old Charli has problems with his hips and does not move around very much anymore (except when the Schmakos come out I found). And little Mason is just learning about rolling over, so they were both the perfect models for a baby/puppy session.

As you can see Charli was excellent and very gentle with Mason, and both were excellent solo models as well.

My prediction? Mason and Charli will be great friends.

Posted on January 30, 2013

Ollie & Oscar

Let me introduce you to two of the cheekiest (but also cutest) pups I’ve had the pleasure of photographing. This is Ollie the Pug and Oscar the Chihuahua x Pomeranian.

Oscar loves anything that is or looks like a ball so when I pulled out Monkey, my trusty squeaky toy, there was no stopping him, he had to have it. If I tried to hide it, he was too clever and would be able to find it. In the end it became his reward for sitting and posing like a superstar. And little Ollie, he just wanted whatever Oscar had and spent the whole time just following Oscar around in the hope of playing with him.

I did manage to get some lovely serene images of them in between all the chaos. A big thank you to Leanne and her kids for letting me come out and photograph these two rascals.

Ollie

Oscar

Sibling rivalry

Posted on January 23, 2013

Call of the Wild

Happy New Year Creature Focus peeps! 2013 is set to be a big year for Creature Focus, so stay tuned. We are starting the year off with a bang with a new exhibition showcasing some of photographer Anna Clemann’s Arctic work.

Call of the Wild is a group exhibition featuring the nature and landscape work of 22 Victorian photographers. Wildlife photography is devoted to capturing interesting animals in action – eating,
fighting or in flight and that of superb natural vistas. Call of the Wild is an amazing selection of work from around the world, brought together in one amazing exhibition.

To give you a taste of what to expect, check out this video http://youtu.be/1boHjEPzWwE

The exhibition will be held at Domain House Gallery, Royal Botanical Gardens Melbourne, Dallas Brooks Drive from February 7th to 24th. Opening hours are Thursdays 12-8pm and Friday, Saturday,and Sunday 11am – 5pm.

Hope to see you there!

Posted on January 16, 2013

Santa Paws Is Coming To Town

Can you believe that it is coming up to that time of year again? Christmas decorations are going up all over the place and we are starting our Santa Paws photos.

This year we have expanded and now have five dates in four locations around the eastern suburbs. If you have never done Santa Paws before then this is a great time to give it a go, it is loads of fun and you get the choice of a number of packages or single items that you can get joy out of all year round, like key rings or magnets.

If you would like to get your fur-kid photographed with Santa you will need to make a booking with one of the stores below (pick the one that best suits your location or the date that is best for you).

Saturday 24th November and Saturday 8th December from 9am
(Dogs only please at this location)
Dogs HQ
86-88 Hoodle Street, Abbotsford
(03) 9415-8885

Saturday 1st December from 10am
My Pet Warehouse – South Yarra
121 Commercial Rd, South Yarra
(03) 9866-7059

Sunday 9th December from 10am
My Pet Warehouse – Malvern
1357 Malvern Rd, Malvern
(03) 9822-3799

Saturday 15th December from 10am
My Pet Warehouse – Richmond
136 Burnley St, Richmond
(03) 9428-3300

Looking forward to seeing you!

Posted on November 8, 2012

Collingwood & Sandie

Collingwood

Sandie

Let me introduce you to Collingwood and Sandie, the two cuties who reside with Michelle and Robert.

Sandie the stunning princess is a Seal Point ragdoll and has the papers to prove it. Sandie is a modelling natural and with those sparkling blue eyes she stands out.

Collingwood is the tough boy whose life nearly started on the streets. Collingwood’s mother come into Michelle and Robert’s house one day and gave birth to a litter of kittens. Michelle and Robert took care of them and then gave all the kitties and mum to the local cat adoption shelter, but they just had to keep Collingwood. And who can blame them, this cheeky dare devil is a Collingwood supporter of course, like his dad and he loves to sit with Sandie for kisses and cuddles.

And what is their favourite past time? To sit at the window and door to greet mum and dad when they get home from work, oh and of course sleeping and getting pats are pretty high on the list too.

Posted on August 28, 2012

Creature Focus on Display

Just a quick warning – the following is blatant self-promotion.

Ok now that I have that out of the way let me tell you about some exciting news. A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to be part of an exhibition at Obscura Gallery in St Kilda. This is a group exhibition and each artists will showcase their art under their own theme, mine is (obviously, I guess) Creature Focus. There will be a selection of images including dogs, cats and birds from work I have done as a pet photographer. I am very excited because it shows that these images are fine art and should be regarded as such.

Obscura specialises in fine art photography exhibitions and is a great supporter of photographers. Since opening in 2007, Obscura has showcased many great fine art photographers, including animal photographers such as Sarah Louise Jackson.

Creature Focus will open on Thursday 10th May and all are welcome, it will run for six weeks, so there is plenty of time to check it out. For more information, go to the event on Facebook or feel free to contact me.

Posted on April 17, 2012

Artists helping out

A couple of blogs ago, I told you about Paws for Charity, a book that is produced annually to help animal charities. The book is full of artistic images of pets including drawings, paintings and photographs.

This years edition is supporting Sheltering Helpless Animals In Distress, an animal shelter in Canada. The book is a collection of works from 66 artists from nine different countries, including at least three from Australia. Paws for Charity 2012 has already become a bestseller on the Blurb list and below is a sample of the book. If you like what you see go to http://www.blurb.com/books/3036042 to purchase your copy. Until April 2nd you can also get 25% off if you type in the code FREESTYLE.

Posted on March 21, 2012