After being in business for nearly 6 years, I just couldn't believe I'd never had a session with a Dalmatian, so when it came time to choose a model for my mentoring session with Mel from Furry Feet Photography, who was coming all the way from Tasmania, I started the hunt for the perfect Dally model! After a shout-out on Facebook and a couple of phone calls, I was put in touch with Jenny and her gorgeous agility gal, Pepper.

Predominantly a studio photographer, Mel wanted to branch out into on-location, natural light work. We organised two shoots with two very different dogs in two very different locations, and this was the first of them.

Pepper rocked it as our superstar model - her long-distance stays were awesome! It made my job easy as we covered shooting action, using different focal lengths to control the background and perspective and incorporating textures of built environments to create interest in our photos.

Without further ado, please enjoy the photos I took during the session.

Here's what Mel had to say about her dog photography mentoring experience:

"With all her years in the pet photography industry, Charlotte is a wealth of knowledge and more than happy to share this knowledge and personal experiences with you. She is a wiz with the camera and knows all the modes, custom settings and technical capabilities of the camera like the back of her hand and explained them all in great detail with respect to portrait vs action shots."

"Not only did we reassign specific buttons on my camera to better suit my shooting style, but I also learnt alternative focusing techniques that is already evident in my image taking since my mentoring sessions. Along with some tweaking to my workflow and editing approach, I now have a thorough understanding of the aesthetics of outdoor photography and feel confident in adding this service to my current in-studio work."

"Thank you Charlotte, you are a very kind, patient and giving soul. Thank you for imparting so much knowledge and just spending time with another dog lover and talking the language of photography and dogs."

If you're interested in booking your own pet photography mentoring experience, you can find out more here.