I always enjoy doing photo sessions with multiple pets, but something special happens when I get to work with multiple species of pets at one session! (It keeps me on my toes, that’s for sure!) From a photographer’s perspective, it’s fun to go back and forth between a cat’s mentality and a dog’s mentality. They are very different from each other, but I like a challenge! :) Elvis, Henrietta, and Oats were simply lovely to work with at our recent photo session in Del Mar.

We started out by photographing the cats at home. Their mom informed me ahead of time that Henrietta is a total ham for the camera, and I enjoyed seeing that side of her personality – but like all cats, she made me “work for it” a bit too! She is 3 years old and certainly has a mind of her own: there were times during our session when she was willing to be photographed, and times when she declined. She was a great reminder that sometimes it’s necessary to take it slow and go with the flow… and all my cat parents can understand that. ;)

Her brother, Oats, was somewhat of a literal “scaredy cat” – and I was warned about that too! At the beginning of our session he was nowhere to be found. I was nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to photograph him at all – but after working with Henrietta for about 20 minutes he cautiously decided to join us. To my delight, he actually picked a very photogenic location to sit and pose for the camera for about 3 minutes… and then he was gone again. Ha! I would have loved to spend more time with Oats because he’s gorgeous, but he was not in the mood (nor is he ever really in the mood) to have his photo taken or be near strangers. And that’s okay – it certainly didn’t make sense to force it or stress him out to ask for anything more.

After photographing the cats I finally got to work with Elvis! He is the dog of the family, a handsome shepherd-boxer mutt adopted from Helen Woodward Animal Center. And while he’s a little slow to warm up to new people, he is absolutely crazy about his parents! He’s his mother’s bodyguard (especially from scary intruders like the hot tub maintenance man) and simply adores her. And it was clear to see that Elvis really respects his dad, who has done a great job training him. I loved seeing how they’ve bonded through training – and I was impressed at how his dad even takes him to fun locations (like the dog beach) to train, so he can get accustomed to overcoming distractions while listening to commands. That’s SUCH a great way to train a dog! Kudos to his dad! (And Elvis knows that whenever he needs some snuggles he can come right back to his mom!)

After photographing Elvis at his house for a bit, we headed about 5 minutes away to San Dieguito Park. It’s one of my favorite parks in town, and the light couldn’t have been any more perfect, filtering through the trees that afternoon. Elvis had plenty of room to run for action photos, and of course we mixed in some family portraits as well. It was a lot of fun to watch Elvis simply be happy, hanging out with his two favorite people in the world! So… how about a “sneak peek” of our images?

Henrietta has a few favorite places to relax in her house, and she gave me a tour of most of them. (I hear the best ones are by the window, to watch for birds.)

Oats, I only wish we could have spent more time together. What a handsome boy!

Elvis enjoyed playing fetch with his dad during our session – and he can really move!

A happy dog in a beautiful park, in perfect light… these are the photo sessions I LOVE!

Rebecca & Tom, thank you so much for introducing me to your sweet animals! I can’t wait to share the rest of our images with you soon. (And thank you for introducing us, Kathy!)