Sincere Seniors

...winter edition

We are all guilty of it: we take hundreds of photos of our puppy or kitten, lots of images during the active time of our pets, but almost none of our senior friends.
And then, one day, they are inevitably gone and we wish we had a current picture or two.
As a professional photographer I often hear these words of regret: "Oh, I wish we would have you come and take photos of Maxi while he was still alive".
And I would have loved to do that, I even offer a 15% discount on all my pet sessions for senior animals (dogs and cats over 8 years old, horses over 15 years old).

Last month though  I had the opportunity to photograph two wonderful mature dogs:

An almost 14 years old lady by the name of Lily:

For Lily we had planned an outside 'on location' session.

Originally we hoped for photos in the snow, but it was to hard and hazardous for Lily with the amount of snow we had.

Lily gave everything and it was heartwarming to see how much 

positive energy this girl still has in her.

And then there is Cesar:

A true gentle man!

 Again, on location, this time indoors. In my opinion a pet is much more relaxed at home versus in a studio. Although it is much easier to light sufficiently and work with props etc in a studio, the animal is most likely to cooperate much better if he is not nervous about the strange environment.

And this location had wonderful high windows with lots of natural light.

Isn't he handsome?

And of course, if we are talking about senior dogs, 

the senior closest to my heart can not be forgotten!

Skipper through the snow! 

He did this just for me, normally he hates dressing up as much as he hates the snow. 

Not surprising considering the lack of ground clearance...

He sure got white around his muzzle...showing his tremendous wisdom!

-The eyes are the window to the soul-