Today I’m sharing another one of my favorite fall sessions from last year! Matt and Chris live in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston with their adorable corgi puppy Benny (and they have since added a baby sister corgi named Betsy to their family - ahhh!). They invited me up to meet them at their home, where we walked only minutes to an amazing park that circles Jamaica Pond. Since our original session got rained out and we had to reschedule for mid-November, we weren’t sure we would still have fall foliage. We ended up finding not only beautiful foliage, but also an awesome huge leaf pile for Benny (and his dads!) to play in, and we even got lucky enough to see a few snow flurries. I had the best time with this wonderful family.

Remember that I only book a limited number of sessions each month and autumn is my busiest time of the year, so if you’re interested in scheduling something while the leaves are beautiful, reach out today!

A corgi in a plaid coat. I mean…what on earth is cuter than this? Name something. I’ll wait.

We were so excited to find this giant pile of oak leaves when we first got to the park, so I just let Benny run and play with his dads and be his sweet self. I absolutely love how happy he looks in this images.

I always try to capture a mix of candid/silly and more posed images. Posed photos of dogs come from me being ready for the perfect moment and getting your pup’s attention, not formally posing them. In this image, Benny just simply stopped his playing for a moment and I made a crazy sound to get him to look in my direction. One second later he resumed playing in the leaves, of course.

Benny had so much fun playing tug and fetch with his dads and is such a playful and fun little pup.

Some serious Corgi faces…

And some goofy faces, because we must have both :)

I love this sweet series of candid family moments, Benny’s derp face and his dads laughing and loving on him.

Are they not just the cutest family?

This beautiful park is right near their home, so they walk Benny here all the time, making it the perfect spot for our session. I love choosing a location that’s meaningful to my clients because when they look back at their images, they’ll be able to think of all their wonderful memories in that favorite place.

Benny’s dads couldn’t wait to show me this ridiculously strange bench in the middle of this park. They were really hoping to get a photo of Benny on the bench but they were convinced he wouldn’t pose on it. Lucky for them I have lots of tricks up my sleeve and Benny did perfect! But also seriously, who designed this bench? (I actually researched it and found out, so if you’re interested in learning more about this odd piece of art, click here for its history.) Personally I think it’s perfect for dog photography.

These are inside a cute little building next to the Jamaica Pond Boathouse, where we escaped the snowflakes for a few minutes and got a bunch of adorable family portraits.

This image was a family favorite. Matt and Chris loved it so much they ordered a large print and debated turning it into a piece of wall art. It’s such a cute photo and shows how much fun they were all having together and how much they adore their little Benny.

I am in love with this series of photos all together and we made them into an album spread. I love having a variety of expressions with some silly and laughing and some more posed. And this park was just too beautiful.

Little snowflakes started to fall on Benny’s head so naturally he had to showcase his derpiest Corgi face for us, followed by his completely unimpressed-by-the-snow face. I love this doggo.

The snow continued and Matt and Chris were total troopers even though we were completely frozen at this point in our session. We headed back toward their home and I snapped some cute photos of the family walking arm in arm (and Benny pulling toward me because you know…I had the treats).

As we left the park I noticed this GORGEOUS spot with perfect fall foliage, and since our session was in mid-November we were all surprised to still have fall colors. This spot was so incredible that even though we were all freezing, Matt and Chris humored me and did a couple final family photos with Benny. I’m so grateful they did, and I know they are too, because the photo on the right is the one they choose as a stunning large metal wall print for their home.

Thank you Matt and Chris for inviting me up to your home and trusting me to capture these memories of your family and your very special boy. You were all a joy to work with and Benny is the absolute sweetest pup! I cannot wait to meet your latest addition to your family!

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Artwork

Benny’s dads chose a beautiful large family photo as a metal art piece for their home. Metal wall art is designed to appear as if its “floating” from the wall because of an inset frame. It’s such an unique piece of art.

They also ordered a stunning signature book with a beautiful blue leather cover to accompany their wall collection. An album is the perfect way to remember all the sweet memories of their family. Check out the video to see me flip through their album!

To learn more about heirloom artwork and how to turn your dog into art, click here.

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Interested in booking your own outdoor session? We can go on a hiking adventure, to a park, to your home, to the beach…the possibilities are endless! Contact me today and let’s chat about your dogs and how I can help you capture them in photographs that you can cherish forever. Don’t wait if you’re considering a fall session! I only book a limited number of sessions per month and autumn is the most popular season of the year. I can’t wait to work with you!

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Since the autumn season is almost upon us, I wanted to share some of my awesome sessions from last fall to give you some ideas and inspiration for your own fall sessions! This was one of my favorites from last year, with the sweetest model and gorgeous fall colors. I only book a limited number of sessions each month and autumn is my busiest time of the year, so if you’re interested in scheduling something while the leaves are beautiful, reach out today!

This yellow lab is sweet Max, and he was an absolute joy to spend the afternoon with! We played fetch, he went swimming (but we both got wet, of course!) and he posed like a total pro. His dad is a professional dog trainer so naturally he was an awesome model.

We did some fun action photos of Max playing fetch, and I love to do these running action series because they make amazing album spreads. The middle one also ended up becoming a part of the wall collection chosen by Max’s parents.

A perfect dichotomy of goofy and sweet :)

We had our session at YMCA Camp Sloper in Southington, CT, because that’s where Max and his dad hike often. There’s a trail that circles the whole lake and lots of cute places to stop and take interesting photos. I especially love a doggo on a slide.

We ended our session around sunset by letting Max just play and have fun in the lake.

Max swam and played around with a stick for a while, but like any lab he made sure to break for some treats (of course)! So I used that chance to capture these absolutely adorable wide angle images of his sweet and goofy face.

Another favorite action series is the shake series, which is always funniest when dogs are still in the water and we can capture some awesome water spray images.

It was such a beautiful location with the fall colors and the lake. Max had a blast playing around and I was in photographer’s heaven!

All the hiking, running and swimming tired Max out and he was done looking at the camera at this point, even though we were trying to capture one final adorable image. Here he’s looking lovingly at his dad, which is also so sweet!

Thank you Jon and Dawn for trusting me to capture these memories of your very special boy. You were all a joy to work with and Max is the absolute sweetest pup!

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Artwork

Max’s parents chose this beautiful wall collection of gallery wrapped canvases. Each gallery wrap is custom designed and hand constructed in America with a wooden frame and UV coating.

They also ordered a stunning signature book to accompany their wall collection and remember all the sweet memories and details about their special pup. Check out the video to see me flip through their album!

To learn more about heirloom artwork and how to turn your dog into art, click here.

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Interested in booking your own outdoor session? We can go on a hiking adventure, to a park, to your home, to the beach…the possibilities are endless! Contact me today and let’s chat about your dogs and how I can help you capture them in photographs that you can cherish forever. Don’t wait if you’re considering a fall session! I only book a limited number of sessions per month and autumn is the most popular season of the year. I can’t wait to work with you!

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I’m so excited to introduce you to the sweetest little pupper that recently came for a playdate in the studio. This session was purchased as a Christmas gift for my amazing client’s dad because he and Bo have a very special bond. We focused a lot on them together but the whole family got in on the session as well, which is my favorite thing! Bo was so sweet and fun and I had such an incredible time with this family!

Bo’s special connection to his dad was clear throughout their time with me in the studio. They are just the best of buds.

Bo was a spectacular model for the camera. We were able to get so many sweet poses to show off his personality and his many expressions, and even some action images while he ran towards me, for treats of course!

We did some rolls and tricks and I’m so excited with how cute his images came out.

I love doing cute little action series of pups doing their best tricks, playing or running. Bo does spins for treats and is so cute doing it.

We got his whole family in the session as well, which is so important. I always encourage my human families to get in images with their pets, because you’ll end up cherishing these images so much someday (and now)!

I love how happy Bo looks in all these images, especially with his people :)

Bo is definitely his dad’s dog. They have such a sweet, special bond, so we did a lot of photos of the two of them together…some sweet and some silly!

We spent a few minutes together at the end of our session, doing some close ups and cute smiles.

A very special thank you to Kathleen, Fran & AnnMarie for trusting me to capture images of your family and for sharing your sweet Bo with me. You were all an absolute JOY to work with and I hope we’ll get to reunite again soon!

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artwork

Bo’s family ordered a mounted print of Bo’s project image (these always seem to be client favorites - which I LOVE!) and a stunning album with all their favorite images (almost all of them!) from his studio session. Sadly I was’t able to hand deliver their album and artwork (and doggy cookies) for this session because of the quarantines, but I got everything shipped out to them right away. If you’d like to see me flip through Bo’s album, click the video link below to check it out.

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With Love & Dogs Project

And finally…here is Bo’s image for the With Love & Dogs Project! I am so excited about how this came out and his smiling face is perfect to accompany this quote. If you’re interested in being a part of the Project, I am still collecting model applications and will be for quite a while, as there’s MANY images I’m going to create for this project. While I will not be booking any sessions in the studio during the current self-isolation/quarantine period, I will continue to accept and review model applications, so this is a great time to spend a few minutes applying. Click here to apply: With Love & Dogs Model Call.

In case you missed my last blog post, there’s some updates about what I’m doing in response to the coronavirus outbreak. I am not currently seeing clients for sessions, but I’m still here and want to support you. If you’ve been thinking about booking a session for sometime this year, I have plenty of availability to chat with you right now about the different options and answer questions. If you do book, I’ll be donating 10% of all session fees toward Feeding America through 5/31/2020. I am also offering 20% off session fees for all healthcare workers for the entirety of 2020. I will continue to blog, post on Facebook and Instagram, and I’ll be available for questions, content requests and just to chat. We’re all in this together and Oats and I are here for you. Thank you for continuing to support our small business ❤️

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Updated on 3/3/21 for Spring 2021

With spring fast approaching, it’s a great time to start thinking about your spring dog photography session. If you’re considering something unique, you’ll want to book very soon to take advantage of a couple limited-time-only photography opportunities! Book a fun beach session in March or a gorgeous cherry blossom session in April. Both only available for specific dates so don’t wait to book!

March Beach Sessions

You may not want to think about a beach session when it’s still a bit chilly in March, but did you know that in Connecticut, dogs are only allowed on most beaches during the winter months of each year? Hammonasset, Bluff Point and many others will stop allowing dogs on the beaches on April 1st, and they won’t be allowed back again until October. Book your beach session for THIS MONTH if you’d like to have gorgeous memories of your pup playing on the beach and in the water! I am available to travel all over the CT shoreline.

HURRY! Book your March Beach Session by Monday, March 15th for anytime from now through March 31st.

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April Cherry Blossom Sessions

I am thrilled to announce that for the first time, I’ll be offering Limited Edition Cherry Blossom Sessions at Wooster Square in New Haven. The gorgeous pink cherry blossom trees are only in bloom for a very brief period each year, and they are also tricky to find. Wooster Square Park is completely surrounded by them, and is simply stunning when they’re in bloom. The images below were taken last spring at the tail end of the blooming period, so if we hit the peak dates right this year, you’ll like get even more pink than you see below. These limited edition sessions will only be available for one week in April and I will only be able to book a small amount of sessions, so don’t wait!

DATES: Week of April 19th (Monday-Friday)
TIMES: Evenings - Starting at 6:00pm
LOCATION: Historic Wooster Square, New Haven

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March Beach Sessions and April Cherry Blossom Sessions will only be available for a limited time and to a limited number of clients, so they will be booked on a first come, first served basis. Please don’t wait if you’re considering one of these unique sessions this spring! I am also currently booking my normal spring outdoor sessions at locations of your choice, so if you’d love your session at your home or favorite spot, contact me and let’s get started.

Sessions are $250 and artwork pricing begins at $350. Clients typically invest between $700-1500 on heirloom artwork and albums after their session. Click here to learn more about pricing and what’s included with your session fee.

Not sure which type of session is right for you and your dog? Contact me today and let’s chat! I would love to learn more about your dog and help you figure out what’s best for you. I can’t wait to work with you!

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I had so many incredible sessions this past fall season, and I was so busy that I’m just finally sitting down to share them with you! This session took place in early October, when we still had so much beautiful green in the trees with just a hint of yellow starting to pop in. Madison wanted some images of her sweet Sydney, who is such a beautiful and sweet 11 year old pup. She’s a mix between a Golden Retriever and a Saint Bernard, making her gorgeous with some very unique features.

We did Sydney’s session at Bluff Point State Park in Groton, because it’s a place that Madison loves bringing her to play in the water. Sydney is definitely a water dog, and really was happiest once we let her play in the ocean!

Isn’t she just so beautiful? I’m obsessed with the beautiful white and spotted fur on her chest and her hints of white on her face and paws.

We captured lots of fun, playful images of Madison and Sydney playing together on our hike through the park and at the beach. These two are so cute together and Sydney is such a playful girl. Even though she’s starting to slow down a little at age 11, she definitely played like a puppy throughout our whole session.

Definitely my favorite image of the day. It ended up being Madison’s favorite too and it became the center image of her 5-image wall collection! (If you want to see the full collection I’m sharing it at the bottom of this post!)

Images like these make awesome album spreads because they show a cute series of playful images together. In fact, these images in this format are exactly one of the album spreads Madison chose and I love them so much! (Her album video is shared below as well so you can check it out)

This is definitely another of my favorites. Just a beautiful, classic portrait of a happy dog in her happy place :)

And sometimes when you try to take some more posed shots, you get a goofball dog who just wants to bark at her mom, which make for adorable images too!

Another favorite! There were so many beautiful ones from this session. This was actually the first time Sydney sat down since we arrived at the beach part of the park to finally give us a seated image! She just wanted to play too much. Even in this spot she only stayed like this for about 20 seconds. Being a dog photographer is basically all patience, patience, patience and then being very quick at the perfect moment.

Once we had a bunch of adorable portraits of Sydney alone and with Madison, we finally let her swim. When I do beach or lake sessions I typically try to get some portraits before letting the pup swim, so that if clients want photos with their dog (which I highly encourage) they don’t get soaked, plus then we have a few dry images of the dog alone! We all know how long it takes dogs to dry off, so I try to save swimming for later in the sessions.

I think she was trying to tell me to stop taking photos of her and throw the damn stick already.

I had Madison play casually with her and throw the stick so we could get some cute candids of them playing together.

It’s important for me to capture your dog’s personality, so I spend a lot of time at sessions just letting them play and be themselves. This usually means I’ll have my clients play with them and I’ll capture lots of candid images in the process. It also allows me to get some action shots as they’re running (or swimming!) back towards us.

Wait or maybe this is my favorite image? Since I make the rules here I’m saying it’s totally fine to have 10 favorites. There’s never a need to pick just one!

I love a good shake-shot image series! Whenever I do swimming sessions, these are a MUST. They are so funny and make perfect album spreads. Plus, most of my clients have never seen a still shot of their dog’s face mid-shake and they are hilarious.

A few more action photos before we ended our session. Sydney would’ve kept swimming all day if we’d let her.

One final shot and then she was done. We definitely exhausted this girl between the hike and all the swimming. I think it’s safe to say she was living her best life that day :)

Thank you so much Madison, for trusting me to capture these precious memories of you and your sweet girl. I had SOOOO much fun with the two of you!

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Heirloom Artwork

This set of 5 canvases is quickly becoming my most popular client wall collection. It’s so hard to pick just one favorite (obviously I have this problem too), so choosing this collection, plus an album, means you don’t have to! Madison chose her 5 favorite images to turn into canvases for her home. At her Viewing Session I helped her narrow down her favorites and then used a special pro software to show her various options with different images to see what she liked best. I typically spend a couple hours with each client at this Viewing Session to make sure their wall collections and album designs are perfect. I want you to LOVE your heirlooms because they are made to last forever! This album cover is the “Sand” linen and perfectly compliments our beach session.

Here’s a little video to show you what’s inside her album if you’d like to see how I typically design them. Every one is customized to best tell the story of you and your dog, and I work with each client to make sure they love every single spread and the overall story the album tells. This one is filled with so much cuteness!

Do you have questions about albums, artwork, my photography experience or how to get started with booking your own session? Contact me today and let’s chat about your dogs and how I can help you capture them in photographs and heirloom artwork that you can cherish forever.

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