A few months ago a lovely man called Michael got in touch, his daughter had purchased a voucher the year before as a Fathers Day gift. Michael messaged me to book in for his photoshoot with his Welsh Collie Meg.
As we all know, the weather this year has been all over the place! Burning heat one month, building rafts to deal with the downpours the next, but after a few false starts, we managed to arrange a date and time. I won't do dog photoshoots if the temperature is above 21c. I don't like that kind of heat, and I know for definite that dogs are certainly not comfortable when the mercury starts to rise. The forecast showed me that on a Monday morning, at 10am, it would be a mix of sunny cloud and the temperature would be 17c, that was good enough for me!
We arranged the shoot to take place at Grace Dieu Woods and Priory. If you've never been there, you don't know what you're missing! The ancient woods are just out of this world, tall tree's and beautiful wild flowers, but don't forget this is a natural place and also has its share of stinging nettles and brambles that will tug at your trouser legs while you push through the undergrowth if you stray from the main paths. Follow the trail along, and you will arrive at the old priory ruins, you can just feel the nostalgia in the old stonework.
We met in the car park, and took a steady walk through the woods, capturing some shots of Meg playing with her ball, and posing in the greenery. Then headed off to the ruins for a look around. Meg is a very well-behaved dog, she didn't need a lead, and followed Michael's commands straight the way. (Don't think you can't have a shoot if your dog needs to be a lead though, this can be easily removed when I edit the images. If your dog gets distracted easily, bring along a friend or family member and between us all, we will make sure we get some fantastic images.)
After the ruins, we headed back into the woods to a stream that runs along the main path. This is a firm favourite with any dogs that like a play in the water. The stream is nice and shallow in places, with a low ledge where I can get right down to the dog's level to take some photos. With lovely dappled sunlight falling through the leaves on the tree's, we headed into the woods to find an old fallen tree, so I could get some shots of Michael and his wife sitting side by side, along with Meg nestled between their knees, the classic family photo. This was our last stop before heading back to the car park.
If you like the look of Meg's photos, why not book your shoot with me at Grace Dieu Woods & Priory. Contact me to book a gold package for any location before the end of July, and get 20% off when you mention Grace Dieu.
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