It is such a treat when all the elements align together for a shoot……wonderful clients, incredible subjects and epic locations and conditions.
Rochelle approached me during lockdown to book in a portrait session with their three Border Collies; their international travel plans had been put on hold so they were planning a Road Trip around the South Island with their dogs on board and were hoping to schedule a shoot with me in Wanaka when they were in the area.
We only had a small window of opportunity when their travel arrangements and my schedule aligned, and typically the weather wasn’t looking that great for the two days we had set aside to do the shoot. Thankfully Rochelle and James weren’t that desperate to have ‘snow’ images because winter didn’t really eventuate to much down here in Central Otago this season and snow definitely wasn’t on the cards for these few days! There were a few showers on the day we did the ‘studio’ style images, but the weather gods looked after us on the day we headed out on location and provided us with a stunning day to work with.
We headed up Cardrona Valley to capture some morning images; Zeke, Joss and Zuri had a great time running around the tussock covered hills with my little Flash in tow, it’s always entertaining watching Flash, a little Jack Russell, try to keep up with the big dogs. The three Borders were the perfect models, posing on top of whatever rock we chose for the image. Our only challenge was to get Joss to sit up straight and not hunch; so I set Rochelle to work running around in the background which kept Joss more alert and not focused on one spot which brings on the ‘hunched’ pose.
Later in the afternoon we headed out to the Bendigo Historic Reserve to capture some more images amongst a different setting. Glorious evening light teamed up with crumbling stone miners huts proved a wonderful combination to capture yet more stunning portraits of these gorgeous dogs.
Thank you so much Rochelle and James for a wonderful couple of days; Zeke, Joss and Zuri were such a pleasure to photograph. Zuri is a natural, so incredibly well behaved for a young pup; you are lucky you actually got to take her home with you, both my daughter Charlize and I fell in love with her and would have quite easily added her to our family unit.
From the Client…….
“Absolutely amazing about sums it up! I didn’t quite know what to expect after organising a photo session with Rachael, but she quickly had myself and our dogs so relaxed and feeling at home. She was so patient with the dogs, working with them to get more and more amazing shots even after she had nailed it so many times. My partner and I absolutely love the images we got from a wide variety of different locations and settings within the amazing Central Otago region right from a studio shoot to alpine wilderness to abandoned gold mining ruins. The images speak for themselves, but she beautifully captured the personality and nature of our dogs so well. I can’t wait to have our very own prints on the wall! “
Rochelle and James
Huge thanks to James for capturing these photos of me in action up in the Cardrona Hills.
All of the images, studio style and location, I shot using my Hasselblad H6, using either the 80mm or 50mm lenses, all using natural light and an aperture range of 2.8 – 5.6.
Such beautiful images!!! I had two dog session yesterday that were tough. I have another one today and I’m hoping everything aligns!! I’m heading into it with the thought that it will. Love your work!!