Christmas Dog Photography Gift Voucher Offer, Aberdeen Only.

It's that time of the year again so I suppose we can expect to see Easter eggs on the shelves soon enough...  In the meantime, Hairy Dog is running a special offer - a serious £20 discount on Christmas gift vouchers.  Usually £70, gift vouchers are now just £50 until the 31st of December 2019.  Stone cold bargain!

What's included?

• The actual voucher (which is rather lovely), so you have something to hand over!
• A full one hour session in any location within 10 miles of Aberdeen city
• A web gallery of around 30 beautifully finished images
• Two 9x6" unmounted, archival quality prints
• Leash removal and other Photoshop work where required

Sorry, sorry...  Couldn't resist at least one cheesy puppy photo.
No I absolutely cannot do this with your dog :-D

Click here to book - Hairy Dog Christmas Voucher Offer

The vouchers are valid for a full year and sent in plain packaging so as not to spoil any surprise presents!  You can add print credit if you'd like the recipient to have a stunning, lasting piece of art on their wall, or just stick with the two included prints.  The owner can also buy any of our other products (everything from framed prints to metal prints) but there's absolutely no hard sell.

Needless to say, you can also buy this offer just as a gift to yourself, your family and your dog - if you've been thinking about a dog or family photo session, now's the time to get it and you have a full year to see if it stops raining long enough for an outdoor photo session :-)

So if you'd like to give a thoughtful, memorable gift which will genuinely be appreciated, do please click through to the website here - Aberdeen dog portrait voucher offer

In other news, recent shoots have seen me stravaiging around Aberdeenshire, from Crathes to Drum, from Banchory to Aberlour and plenty of other places in between.  Having a very lively and lovely 13 year old dog and also a seven year old son does result in lots of days out, all of which include a good old romp up mountains, over beaches or through woods.  Kasper (the dog) isn't as speedy as he used to be but he's never happier than when he's out and about - the stiffness in the joints evaporates, he still manages the odd sprint, he sniffs everything, chases leaves and squirrels like a puppy and is always overjoyed to meet other dogs.

As with all dog owners, his happiness makes us happy, and I truly believe it's the same for him :-)

Aberdeenshire Dog Photography, Holidays at Home, Chickens, Ticks and Other Observations...

Another few weeks have passed in a hot, hazy daze.  Our little family were on holiday for a few of those weeks and as always, steps were taken to ensure the hairiest member of the household could join us.  Who needs the South of France anyway?  It's been so gorgeous here I wouldn't have had it any other way.  By "here" I mean Aberdeen - the holidays were enjoyed on Skye and Portsoy.

Not perhaps the best of times for dog photography sessions - the heat has caused a few postponements and quite rightly so.  Evenings are often best at this time of the year anyway, especially with active or elderly animals.

Just before the heat kicked in, I was out in the countryside meeting a couple of very lovely dogs for an evening session but before I even reached the front door, I was captivated by the friendly chickens running round the yard.  Would have been rude not to take a few photos but I can't imagine you'll be seeing a full time chicken photographer website any time soon...

Both these dogs were just lovely to work with - very distinct personalities.  Their owners had brought back some beautiful bandanas from their honeymoon ( see?  Even when we're not with them, we're always thinking about them! ) and I was keen to get them in shot.

At any session, the idea is to get a really good variety of photographs for the owners.  Everything from heartfelt portraiture to full on, nuclear powered, paws off the ground action!

As you can see, the light levels were pretty low and as the session progressed, it grew ever dimmer - no wonderful golden light on this evening.  So out came the strobes / flashguns.  In the photo below, it's hopefully not immediately apparent that extra light has been added - I try to keep it looking natural unless I'm going for off-the-scale drama.  If you have a close look though, you can see where Benson's legs and tail are slightly blurred through movement whilst a blink of diffused flash on a stand to the right has stopped the motion in his head and ears.  And believe me, Benson is a fast fellow so the flash was entirely warranted!

Ticks - what are they for?!!

Finally, at this time of year, dogs spend their whole lives doing their best to become infested with ticks.  Seriously though, it's almost unavoidable if you walk in the Scottish countryside.  And with this infestation come the many, many posts on Facebook, along the lines of, "OMIGOD my dog has a tick, what shall I do??!"

And out come all the auld wives' tales.  Cover them in vaseline, put out a ciggy on them, spray frontline on it, rub widdershins round the tick until it falls off, only twist them clockwise, etc, etc.

I'm not about to start handing out advice on which tick-repellent works best but I can say for sure that all the above methods are a load of old toot and covering a tick with anything to "suffocate" it, rubbing at it to annoy it or burning it are all good ways to ensure the insect vomits directly into the host's bloodstream with the attendant risk of disease.
Kasper gets loads - below are a few phone snaps...  Sorry...  My method is to carefully part the fur without disturbing the tick - if it gets a fright, it'll bury in deeper - you can see it happening.  Then just grab it as close to the dog's skin as possible with tick teezers, normal tweezers or any other removal tool and wheech it oot smartly before it knows what's going on.  Simple and effective.  I've also used my thumbnail and index finger when tweezers haven't been available.

Yuck.  Anyway, happy Summer dog walking and do just get in touch if you'd like some beautiful, happy, sunny photos of your dogs :-)

Aberdeen dog photographer
07866127732
jamie@hdp.co.uk

Dog Walks and Photography around Aberdeen

Since moving back home to Aberdeen late in 2017, I've been hugely enjoying finding all the most interesting dog walks straight from the new house at the West of the city.  And of course, the camera comes too if there's even a hint of decent light, so the dog now has an impressive photographic portfolio incorporating the beautiful Aberdeen landscape!

It's also been fantastic to find so many dog-friendly cafes and pubs throughout the region.  A good cup of coffee and perhaps a bit of cake on a Winter dog walk is always welcome and Kasper the dog is usually delighted to get into the warm for 20 minutes - some establishments even offer biscuits and water too!  Some of our newly discovered walks require a drive to get to and although I could start listing all the great places we've visited (or revisited) it's probably best if you enjoy discovering them yourself - all part of the fun and there are plenty of apps and Facebook groups for that sort of thing :-)

The website is now back up and running, Hairy Dog Photography has started to appear on Google and I've finally got round to updating my portfolio which you can see on the Facebook page or on the dog photography aberdeen gallery site.  Whilst updating the portfolio, I was happy to come across some lovely but neglected photos on various old hard drives - I'll pop a few up here.

Given that dog photo gift vouchers fairly flew out the door at Christmas time, you can expect lots of interesting new locations to be featured on the blog and Hairy Dog Facebook page very soon.  I was in two minds about covering the whole of Aberdeenshire rather than just the city limits but am very glad I did so - wouldn't want to miss out on all the surrounding countryside and amazing photo opportunities!

Hairy Dog Photography Minisessions are GO!

Summer Minisessions with Hairy Dog.

It's almost Summer,  the weather still isn't guaranteed but nonetheless, I'm being brave and opening up limited bookings for doggy minisessions.  These are 25 minute photoshoots in a set location (Herrington Park for the first few) at less than half the price of a normal photoshoot.  Hairy Dog has been up and running since 2005 and I absolutely love working with dogs of all sizes.

For just £30, you get a 25 minute session, a web gallery to show off your photos and a quality 9x6" print of your favourite image.  Hairy bargains Batdog!  I've also advertised these sessions on the Hairy Dog Facebook page, so please be quick to book as I hope to be quite full, quite quickly :-)

Given the timescale, these shoots will concentrate more on beautifully lit portraiture of your dog, rather than the usual action photography (which involves me running around after your dog in a wood / on a beach for an hour or so!).  That said, if there's time, we'll certainly get a few photographs of your dog in action.  You can see the sort of photos to expect in this little video...  Or head over to the main website to see a slideshow of images

Herrington Country Park is the perfect location - lots of variety in a fairly compact space - woodland, open fields, lakes, Penshaw Monument in the background.  Please do take a second to check the FAQs on the booking page here - Durham Minishoot Booking Page and please do spread the word, thank you :-)

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 :-)

Photographing Greyhounds is not easy....

Jamie Emerson runs Hairy Dog Photography, capturing stunning dog-related photos throughout the North East, including Sunderland, Durham, Newcastle and beyond.  Beautiful studio-based dog portraiture available - action shots / lifestyle portraiture a speciality.  Do take a second to 'like' our Facebook Page or have a browse around the Hairy Dog Photography website.  Thanks for looking in!


We are looking after the rather lovely Mick for a few days whilst his owners are on holiday.  Mick is a retired greyhound and one of the sweetest, funniest dogs we've ever had the pleasure of looking after.

He only has three speeds; amble, fast trot and nuclear powered.  Our hairy lurcher Kasper is used to getting the best of all the local dogs in terms of speed and maneuverability, so he was shaken and stirred when this staggering, shambling old behemoth suddenly dropped the bomb the first time the lead came off!




 
With Kasper choking on Mick's dust, I began to realise that getting pin-sharp photos of Mick wasn't going to be easy.  Although he runs in a straight line (eventually turning to come full circle on himself - he still thinks he's on a racetrack), getting the auto-focus point to stay on or around his head is problematic, due to the up and down bobbing motion.



  Having got that out of his system, Mick returned to his default speed of 'fast trot', much to Kasper's relief.  Kasper's dignity had taken a bit of a beating but he made up for it by pretending to find and chase imaginary rabbits, all the while glancing over his shoulder at his lanky housemate.

Mick really is a statuesque animal - a true athlete, even in his golden years.  I think the photo below captures some of his debonair grace and easy elegance.  All he needs is a top hat and a bow tie.  Or maybe not.

Having Mick to stay has been an eye-opener, both for us humans and for Kasper too.  Grayhounds are the Bugatti Veyrons of the dog world and it's truly wonderful to see them in full flight.



If you would like some stunning photos of your dog, either in the studio or in action on his favourite walk, please do visit Hairy Dog Photography's website and hit the 'Contact' button on the home page.  We also offer Gift Vouchers - any dog lover will genuinely appreciate a thoughtful gift like this, so please do get in touch.