Sweet, happy, adorable, smiley, patient, friendly, curious, playful, cute – oh, and…yellow! All words I would use to describe one sweetie of a lab named Stella.
I normally don’t write blogs about individual pups, but maybe I should change that. After all, we dog photographers at Tailwagger Dog Photography have the best job – we get to meet, play and photograph your pups. This past weekend was a prime example of why we love our job. Stella is an 8-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever that is just flat out incapable of not wagging her tail. We met Stella and her people – yes, Stella has people – Stephanie and Bobby – at Danford Island Park in Dimondale, MI.
Stella, Stephanie and Bobby were already in the park when we arrived this past Sunday morning a little before 8:30am. Stella immediately came up to us to say hello – wagging her tail and holding a toy in her mouth. I think that might be THE Labrador greeting – a tail that is wagging so fast that it is just a blur, a toy in the mouth and twinkly eyes that show just what a happy pup she is.
After greeting Stella and giving her a good many pets we started getting our gear out and looking around for spots to shoot. One of our goals is to get as much of variety of images for the online gallery as possible – action, portraits and casual/play shots – and of course, anything else that is of interest to Stella and her individual personality. Stephanie and Bobby chose the location for the session, as we are not all that familiar with the area, and we have to say they did an awesome job.
The park sits on the east side of the Grand River right within the village of Dimondale and really has a nice variety of backgrounds for a dog photography session. The park is loaded with different flowering and nonflowering perennials, shrubs and hardwood trees. There were open spaces for Stella to chase a ball or toy, places of open shade for dog and people portraits and of course – the most important part (for Stella anyway) WATER for play shots!
What Lab doesn’t like water?!
When we were done doing action and portrait shots we headed to a spot that had easy access to the river for Stella to get into the water. Stella didn’t hesitate a second before jumping in, cooling off and going for a leisurely swim before it was time to get back to work. Well, not really work – unless you want to count retrieving sticks thrown into the water, playing and splashing about as work.
Stella did an awesome job during her shoot. She was so patient with the photographers – during lens changes, setting changes and moving her slightly here or there in and out of the sun – didn’t faze her at all. Throughout the session she never stopped wagging her tail or smiling – even when she was swimming Stella was spraying water here and there as she wagged her tail. She most definitely reminded me why I love Labs and Goldens so much – it is all about playing, being with their human(s) and having a good time – the order depends on the time of day and whether it is time for breakfast or dinner. What more could you want in a pup?
