Rua & Harper

Red Setters in the Woods, the Dunes & the Sea

Location: Llanmadoc

Time: 7am

I had the immense pleasure of photographing two absolutely stunning red setters towards the end of the Summer. Their human was very kindly given a Pet Photography Gift Voucher for one of my sessions by her colleagues (they have amazing taste in gifts!).

After a bit of planning we decided that Llanmadoc would be a perfect location for them, so that we could make the most of the woodland and also enjoy the beach as well. With the weather forecast looking sunny, we made a plan to meet at 7am so it wasn’t too warm, and also to make the most of the beautiful morning light.

There’s a bit of a stroll down to the woods from Llanmadoc, so the girls had a chance to sniff around and get any pent up energy out after their car journey. Then it was on to business. The woods has a perfect wide path running along the south eastern edge which means the morning light illuminates it beautifully. We knew one of our aims was to capture a classic portrait of the girls together and this was the perfect time and place. I absolutely love this portrait of them, they look so regal, but also slightly comical at the same time. For me, it oozes their personalities: Harper trying her best to get that perfect pose, and Rua there serious as can be, but with her derpy little lip curl. Luckily, their human feels the same way and this image is currently being printed nice and big and will be custom framed before heading to its new home. It’s going to look absolutely stunning.

After nailing the portrait, it was time to have some fun, so we let the girls rip with some action. This pair tackled action shots with so much enthusiasm (as you can probably see). We then wandered from the woods over the dunes and towards the beach, the girls were both in their element bounding through the long grass, and their fur looked beautiful shining in the sunlight. At this point it was getting surprisingly warm, so we stopped for a water break and then headed for the sea. The tide moves incredibly quickly on the North Gower Coast, so we actually had a fair walk to the sea itself. Rua isn’t quite so enthusiastic about the sea as Harper is, so she was happier on the wet sand at the shoreline, whereas Harper was straight in the water. Needless to say, both me and the girls’ human got a bit soaked by the sea. But it was definitely worth it.

After our dip in the sea it was time to head back, while taking a slight detour to hunt for my GoPro that I’d managed to drop somewhere on the beach. It’s credit to the girls as hunting dogs that we actually managed to find it! Then there was one last stop off for another posing session before we called it quits for the day. I’ve been experimenting with more epic landscape shots recently and I knew I wanted to try one of Harper & Rua in front of the woods and with the cliff in the distance, so we gave it a go. This is the result of 44 images stitched together, and I’ve got to say that I’m pretty pleased with how it’s turned out.

If you think you’d like a session for your own dog, or are thinking of gifting a session to one of your favourite people, then give me a shout and we can have a chat about all things dig.

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