Last Chance for Heavily Discounted Doggy Photoshoots!

Very Last Gasp for Better than Half Price Photo Sessions

All through the Spring and early Summer, Hairy Dog Photography has been running better than half price, last minute photo sessions, mainly due to the house being up for sale and an uncertainty about where I would be in a month's time!  Well sadly, the house still hasn't sold so it looks like you're stuck with me for at least a few more months!  And this means that prices will be returning to normal on the 15th of August.

Current offers are; just £35 for a full, one hour session in Herrington Park or at Penshaw Monument / woods instead of the usual £70.  This includes an online gallery to view your photos and two 9x6” prints.

Alternatively, just £85 for the same session without the prints but with ALL your full sized photos available as a download to print, share and copy as often as you like.  This would normally cost £290, so it really is a massive saving.

You don't have to use your session straight away but it does need to be bought and booked before the 15th of August, even if your booking isn't until September.  There are only so many sessions I can squeeze in between now and the 15th, so please do get in touch now to secure your booking.

To buy your session, please email me at jamie.emerson73@gmail.com, message me through my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/hairydogphotography/ call me on 07866127732 or just use the 'Contact' button at the top of this page.

If you have a location in mind, I'm happy to travel within 10 miles of DH44LN at no extra cost if you're buying the £85 package.  Mileage is charged at 40 pence per mile after that.

FAQs

• Why choose Hairy Dog?  Established back in 2011, Hairy Dog is the North East's go-to place for all things dog photography.  With over a decade of working in photography, you can be sure of a reliably brilliant service every time.
  
  
• What if it's raining on the day of my session?  It does happen and I'm completely flexible when it comes to rescheduling.  I'd rather wait a few days and get the best possible photos of your dog than send you away with photos of a soggy dog!
  
  
• How do I pay for my session?  PayPal is usually the easiest and most secure way but you can also use bank transfer or I can take payment in person with my card reader.  I do ask that all sessions are prepaid at the time of booking.
  
  
• Can I bring my family along?  Yes, yes and a thousand times yes!  Please do!  I love getting the family involved in photo sessions.
  
  
• I have three dogs - is that extra?  No, you can bring as many dogs as you like, so long as they all live in the same household.
  
  
• Can I buy extra photos, framed photos or canvas prints etc?  Yes, I can take care of everything for you with an amazing range of ready to hang products but there's absolutely no obligation and no hard sell!
  
  
• My dog won't sit still - is that a problem?!  Not really - I specialise in action photography and you'd be amazed how often I'm able to get some beautifully lit photos of even the most restless dogs!

If that sounds like something you or a friend would like to take advantage of, please do just send me a message / email or give me a call to book your session whilst they're still on offer - these offers will end on August 15th, so please don't wait too long!

Half Price Dog Photoshoot Offer - Limited to just 10 spaces - July Only.

It's not very often I run any special offers here at Hairy Dog Photography but if we're going to have another hopelessly muddy, wet Winter ( and I'm sure we will! ) then I'd like to make the most of the beautiful sunny weather we're having now.  Not to mention the amazing palette of every shade of green in the visible spectrum in the north east countryside!

So, the deal is, a half price, hour long photo session pretty much anywhere in the north east ( including Durham, Northumberland, Darlington, Newcastle and Sunderland ), a half price montage design and a half price full size, hi-res download of the finished design.  That's just £65 instead of £130!  The finished montage can be printed up to one metre on the long side as often as you like.  I just send you the link and you download it to your computer or memory stick with one easy click.  If you're buying as a gift, just let me know and I'll send you one of our glossy gift voucher cards in a fitted envelope.

Here's the link to buy your deal,right at the top of the page: Half price north east dog portraits

Here's an example of what the finished montage design will look like.  You can choose up to 12 photos but often, less is more.

There are still the usual options to buy further prints / downloads but absolutely no obligation or pressure at all.  Please feel free to call me ( Jamie ) on 07866127732 for a chat, or visit the Hairy Dog Photography website here: Specialist dog portraiture in the north east

Misty day Dog Photography, Portable Studios and Wasted Energy

Jamie Emerson runs Hairy Dog Photography in the North East of England covering Durham, Newcastle, Darlington, Northumberland and beyond.  Bespoke pet photographer, specialising in outdoor, lifestyle portraiture.


Almost every time I step out for a dog walk...

...I'll have a camera of some kind with me.  Sometimes I'll also have high hopes of a decent photograph but usually it's purely force of habit.  Today looked 'interesting' outside - huge rolling fog banks drifting through hollows, causing trees to suddenly loom up before being immediately wreathed in mist again.

So rather than the usual point and shoot, or small DSLR with one small, prime lens, I hefted one of the big cameras into my rucksack along with the monstrous 70-200mm lens.  A weighty combo.  I'm sure that most of us have gone for a walk with a camera, only to return home without the blooming thing leaving its bag.  Well, I do that a lot, so if I have the 'Big Guns' with me, I pretty much force myself to take at least one photo.And yes, it was pretty much a waste of effort - what should have been a set of beautiful, ghostly, ethereal photos was in reality, some photos of greyness with hints of tree...

In light of the lack of visible subject matter, I reverted to my default setting of dog photographer and got one passable shot of Kasper in the woods, where the fog was less thick.  So at least carrying the big camera for a few miles wasn't a complete waste of effort!

In other news, I recently visited Charlie the Spaniel in Byker, Newcastle for an indoor pet portrait photography session.  My portable studio squeezes into surprisingly small spaces and although I do specialise in outdoor, lifestyle portrait work, I'm equally at home in a studio and always relish the chance to get creative with the lighting.  Charlie and his people behaved admirably throughout - you can see his full gallery here on the hairy dog website.

If you'd like to book your dog in for a session, please feel free to pop over to the main Hairy Dog website to learn more or get in touch using the hairy dog contact page.

Coffee table photo books

Beautiful hardcover little black books!

Lots of people are not so good about making up their minds - it's the human condition.  Faced with 40 beautiful photos of a favourite dog, it's not surprising - most of my clients want all of them!

For all these people, may I introduce my Little Black Books.  These are 14 page albums containing 26 photographs from your session.  They're a lovely, dinky size at 7x5".  The pages are top quality photographic paper bonded to a really super-thick substrate.  The quality really is amazing.  So much better than any of the online photobooks available.  Just the perfect solution for those who can't decide which are their favourites.

Here's what they look like...

You may choose to have printing on the front cover

Super-thick pages are UV laminated for a very long life

Photographic paper ensures brilliant, vibrant colours

As always, please do take a minute to look through my dog photography from all over the north east and just call Jamie Emerson on 07866127732 to book your session or to ask any questions.  See you on the dog walk :-)

Hairy Dog in the Woods!

Kasper the Hairy Dog Goes Wild in the North East

And there are photographs to prove it...

Jamie Emerson

Hairy Dog Photography - specialist dog and pet photographer in the north east

Langley Street, 

New Herrington

DH4 4LN

07866127732

01915845442

Kasper and I had a fantastic, muddy, slippy woodland walk today.  It's been at least a week since I took any photographs of the poor dog, or even sat him down for a portrait session.  This neglect had to end, so we sallied forth into the north east countryside for a pet portrait session (formerly known as a 'walk').

This is what Hairy Dog Photography does best - I love nothing better than to be out with a dog or two capturing your pets' characters in an environment where they are free to just be themselves.  Some dogs thrive on bounding back and forth, others are happy to lope along and sniff everything.  It doesn't matter - a pet session with Hairy Dog will always give you a beautiful set of photographs to look back on, hang on the wall or just to stick on Facebook!

The countryside round Durham really is rather lovely, and despite the weeks of rain, the paths alongside the River Wear were mostly not too sodden.  I had packed my 50mm lens for use with the Nikon D300s camera, partly for ease of carrying and partly as I am just in love with my 50mm, f1.4 lens.  It's one of the cheapest 'pro' lenses available, weighs very little and gives absolutely stunning results.  Most of the photoshoots I carry out for dog portrait clients involve my 70-200mm VR, f2.8 lens.  It's just the ticket for fast, erratically moving doggies but even at its widest aperture, it doesn't give bokeh like the 50mm f1.4!

Close up portrait of white dog near Durham

That blurry background is what I'm talking about when I say 'bokeh'

The next five photos all use a spot of flash.  The flashgun is set away from the camera and set off using a wireless trigger, controlled by the camera.  It makes it very easy to create a little dramatic light, and is obviously very helpful to a pet photographer in a dark, rainy wood!

Kasper the dog enjoys a pet portrait shoot in the north east countryside

Action shots of dogs are Hairy Dog Photography's speciality

Lurcher sitting by a stile near Durham, north east England.

Action photograph of a dog leaping a style by Hairy Dog Photography

And to finish, just a lovely natural light shot of Kasper walking through the daisies in a patch of sunlight.

Do feel free to get in touch to book a doggy lifestyle portraiture session.  They start at just £40 and I can also provide gift vouchers - what dog owner wouldn't like a gift like that?!

Want to see a whole lot more photos of dogs being doggy?  Have a look here; specialist dog portraits, durham

Husky dog photoshoot in Middlesbrough by Hairy Dog Photography

Today found me in Middlesbrough taking photographs of Bruce the Husky.  Dog portrait sessions quite often end up with other family members involved and today was no exception.  They all said it; "Kids and animals son, just say no!".  But I didn't heed the advice and shooting dogs and children is just huge amounts of chaotic fun!  You can see Bruce's full gallery, along with other dog photo sessions HERE, in the Hairy Dog Photo gallery.

Photo of a husky with Christmas novelty toy.

First up is a Christmassy type of portrait - I have to admit that I pulled Santa's foot off whilst playing with Bruce.  Sorry Santa.  And sorry Joanne for ruining Bruce's new toy (not that he seemed to care very much).

Husky profile, Middlesbrough

What a very handsome chap he is!  I'm so used to seeing the larger Alaskan Malamutes when out walking my dog Kasper, that I was surprised to see how slender and svelte Bruce the Husky is.

Husky dog about to howl, North East

I was really, really hoping I'd hear a full on Husky howling session but the photo above is about as close as he came.  I even encouraged him by doing a spot of howling myself when I thought his owner was distracted by the kids, but to no avail...

Photo of a Husky dog standing, by Hairy Dog Photography

Bruce's owner had requested an all white background.  The portable studio takes about 15 minutes to set up, even in a room full of dogs and kids!  2012 might see me buying a new white backdrop though - the current one has had every type of half-chewed dog biscuit imaginable dropped onto it this year!

Lolcat Husky dog photoshoot by Jamie Emerson

The lolcat shot ^^^ :-)  "Do not want!".

Dog photo, unusual angle, NE dog portraits

Dude.  Buy some Colgate!

Husky looking like a wolf against a white backdrop

Not so far from Canis Lupus, but Bruce was a perfect gent throughout - he's incredibly good natured and endured the photoshoot with nary a complaint.  The Good Boy Chocco drops probably helped there.

If you, your dog, your family or all of three would like a Hairy Dog Photography photoshoot, why not get in touch to arrange a shoot?  There's still plenty of time to get prints made for Christmas if you're quick!  Or if you're stuck for a dog-owning friend's present, then how about a dog photography gift voucher?

Two days, two dogs!

Hairy Dog Photography, based in the North East if England.  Specialising in contemporary lifestyle portraiture of your dogs and families.


Toby's photoshoot took place at his house in Sunderland on Saturday.  Believe it or not, he's 12 years old - you wouldn't know it to look at him!  Dogs are often at their best in the familiar environs of their own home.  They are relaxed and at ease, surrounded by their families and familiar sights and smells.  This was certainly true of Toby, who behaved like a true gent throughout!  You can see the whole shoot HERE on the website.

He didn't seem at all phasedf by the big black backdrop in his living room - in fact he trotted straight onto it and sat, looking expectantly at the studio light above him.

Seriously, what a cutie!  And as you can see, he doesn't look a day over six!

And earlier tonight, I got the studio lights out again to check over some issues I've been having with the remote radio triggers.  Once I'd sorted that out, I thought it might be fun to try and shoot a white dog against a white backdrop.  So the living room became a 'studio' within five minutes, and Kasper the hairy, white dog was pressed intop service as a model...

Kapser's not too keen on the whole studio experience, so I kept it short, and treat-filled!

This was really just a technical exercise - I wanted to challenge myself a bit (and the poor dog).  Just for reference, here's a photo of the lighting setup for Kasper's shoot;

In the diagram above, the key light was brought as close a possible to Kasper, without terrifying him, to give as soft and even a light as possible.  The fill light (just visible on the right of the door) is a silver reflector brollie, just to fill in the shadows and give catchlights in the eyes.  The brollie light behind the backdrop is set to nearly three quarters of its full capacity, to blow out the background.