Today on the blog I’ve got some portraits I’ve been so excited to share with you – featuring two adorable doggy brothers from San Diego, Harley & Mason! These boys are tough-looking dogs, but I’m going to spoil the surprise right now: they’re actually complete sweethearts. (Sorry, boys!) When I first spoke with their mom about planning their session, she came to me with a very specific vision for where she wanted to go, and the look she wanted for the session overall. I was pretty impressed, since that doesn’t happen very often – many of my clients have no idea what locations they’d like to visit! (Good thing I have a Location Guide for them to browse, ha!) But Harley & Mason’s mom knew exactly what she wanted and we were able to have fun planning all the details and expanding on her ideas. And I think we were able to create everything she envisioned!

That being said, the photo session turned out to be a fun & unique one – because no matter how much we planned ahead of time, the dogs wound up doing what they wanted to do, haha! This is totally okay, and one of the many reasons I love working with dogs: they are independent, honest, and sometimes (okay always) they have their own agenda. That’s just who they are and ya gotta love them for it! They still did a phenomenal job posing for the camera – especially Mason, that ham! :)

Our first location in Coronado – overlooking the San Diego skyline, an absolutely stunning spot – was a little tricky since the particular place I love requires a bit of obedience to get the best possible portraits. (It’s a smaller, more confined space than most of my session locations.) Luckily, their mom thought ahead – and rather than attempting to wrangle 150+ lbs of dogs all on her own, she brought along their walker to help! I’m so glad Robyn from Robyn’s Pet Care was able to join us because you can never have too much help. :) We were able to stretch their obedience skills and get some beautiful, very-San-Diego portraits of the boys!

The next location we visited was truly special because it was in La Jolla, at the beach where Harley & Mason’s parents got married. I loved incorporating a location that was special to them & their family! And while we were there, I got to see more of how devoted Harley & Mason are to their parents. They way they were running around with their dad on the sand, with the biggest grins on their faces, always looking back at mom to check in – it was the sweetest thing! It’s not a location where I’ve done many photo sessions, but I’ll definitely be back because it turned out to be a picture perfect setting! Harley and Mason actually haven’t been to the beach too many times, but they seized the opportunity got to loosen up and stretch their legs! We finished up just as they were hitting their limit, so to speak, because all the sights and smells can get a little overwhelming, and I’d never want to push a dog beyond their comfort zone. Thankfully we were able to capture some beautiful moments without overstaying our welcome!

This is Harley – having a BLAST at the beach in La Jolla!

And this is Mason, the younger brother, who was just as thrilled to be out in the ocean air.

Mollie & Kevin, thank you so much for introducing me to your handsome boys! I’m excited to share the rest of our portraits with you very soon!

Tags: beach, dogs, mixed breed, park, pets, San Diego, San Diego pet photography, skyline