Imagine my surprise when my phone rang the other day with a call from central Florida – and it’s a fellow pet photographer on the line! This photo session certainly came about in a unique way, since it happened to be my client’s father arranging it all… but soon enough, I met the star of our session, Scooby. He’s the definition of a chocolate labrador: he has a happy-go-lucky attitude, huge smile, and an insatiable zest for life! He just wants everyone to be his friend and the beach is his favorite place on earth. But I was sad to hear the recent news that a cancerous tumor had developed on his shoulder, and it was growing fast… so although Scooby’s grandpa (the fellow pet photographer I mentioned) would be in California for Christmas in a couple of weeks, they simply weren’t sure that Scooby would be here to see him by then. So that’s where I came in, and honestly, I couldn’t have been more honored to photograph Scooby & his mom.

We visited one of Scooby’s favorite beaches, Fiesta Island, and had a wonderful time playing in the sand & surf together. Scooby’s mom hadn’t taken him to the beach in a while, so he was definitely saving up his energy for our photo session – and I have a feeling he was pretty sore the next day, haha! He romped around like a puppy… and it was a beautiful thing to see.

He’s a lab – so of course he loves being in the water!

We let Scooby run around off-leash for the entire session, since he always came back to his mom’s side, time after time.

I know Scooby’s mom is excited to see this image… what a beautiful relationship they have.

Jenn, thank you for an absolutely wonderful photo session to finish my 2014 calendar! I’ve been thinking about you & Scooby recently… I hope he’s still feeling good, and I’m excited to see you again soon!

I was privileged to spend an evening with Sammy, a handsome black labrador, for beach photos recently! We met at Tourmaline Beach, where the surfers were everywhere – and the sunset was absolutely perfect! I couldn’t have asked for a better night for a photo session, and I absolutely loved spending it with a woman & dog that share such a close relationship. Sammy & Janet truly mean the world to each other; you can see it in the way the interact and even in the way they look at each other. To me, witnessing their relationship is absolutely beautiful… I was downright honored to be there to document it.

Sammy, despite the fact that he’s slowed down a bit in the last year or so, had a spectacular time at the beach! He ran around, splashed in the surf, and protected us from all the other dogs walking around (haha). He’s a fun-loving, classic labrador – one of my favorite breeds – so of course I let him play around as much as he wanted.

Here’s Sammy! Isn’t that a handsome face?

I’m going to break one of my own rules, and post a couple of “people” photos here in a sneak peek… I can’t help it; I just love the energy between these two!

And this… how could I not share this?

Janet, I had a wonderful time with you & Sammy – and I’ll be in touch very soon! I can’t wait to show you the rest of our photos. :)