At least once a year we try to take a holiday with the dogs. Mostly because I hate going away without them but another very real reason is because I want to take photos of them somewhere new. Typically we go several hours south but this year we decided to cut out the long return drive and just go to the Central Coast. We were lucky to score a last minute cancellation for a house in Copacabana. I knew nothing about the area but the house looked nice and having waited until November to book meant we were in no position to be choosey. We headed off on the Saturday before Christmas and stayed until Boxing Day. Both of us had been working very long hours for some time so it was really good to go offline and completely relax. It wasn’t until Christmas Day that I felt like picking up my camera again. We’d enjoyed time with friends the day before so we had no plans to eat turducken, wear silly hats and read each other Dad jokes to celebrate the day, instead we drove to Long Jetty to take photos of Bruno. Not very traditional, I know, but I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather have done. I really wanted to photograph all four dogs together with the light but we decided that we’d need at least two extra sets of hands to make that happen. Apparently I wasn’t the only photographer who decided to take a photo excursion to that location for Christmas. There were several, already set up with tripods, at each of the jettys. I made do with some long grass and an old bench.
Checkout was at 11am the next morning but with sunrise at 5.45am I figured that left me oodles of time to cram in two more photography sessions! (Cramming, the story of my life!) I set my alarm for 5am but when I got up the forecast was for fog until 9am. I waited until sunrise and it wasn’t looking good so Angel’s shoot with the light at Avoca Beach was postponed until next time. I went back to bed for a couple of hours and then did some photos in the garden. Bruno was up first, because he has a Facebook page that needs content, not because he was the most willing subject at that hour of the day! I got some new lenses recently that I haven’t had time to test so all of these ones of Bruno are with the Canon 85mm f1.8 (I really want the f1.2 but I’m not going to invest until Canon bring out an updated version) and the Canon 35mm f1.4 II.
“I hate being the favourite”
When I was done with the posed stuff I let Chopper and Angel outside. They may be seniors, at 10 and 11, but there’s no sign of them slowing down. Angel had surgery to remove a couple of lumps only a week beforehand but keeping her out of trouble isn’t an option.
Nothing makes this dog happier than being chased.
I threw Bruno’s birthday Kong Wubba into the mix. It’s taken a real beating since October but it’s still functioning. Just.
It’s important to stop and bust out a pose for the camera every once in a while.
Angel is notoriously hard to get to look at the camera. She’ll sit and stay and drop but getting eye contact with any kind of camera, even a phone, is SUCH a struggle. She’s immune to food and all of my noises. I tried an “are you hungry” to get this one shot!
We adopted these two only three months apart and they’ve been partners in crime for over nine years now. Much as Chopper and Bruno have become best buddies he’ll still snuggle up with Angel on a regular basis and it makes my heart just about explode.
The terrier instinct in strong in this one.
More Bruno, just because the camera loves him.
Once the toy was put away the fun police was allowed to join the pack. Trixie is younger than Chopper and Angel (if she was in fact 2 when we rescued her) but she’s had more than her fair share of health issues so she looks every bit of her nine and a half years.
This morning I came across a video of these two playing together four years ago. I’m glad I took it because Trixie doesn’t play and it hasn’t happened again since.
Trixie was doing such a good job of hamming it up I took her out the front of the house to the fancy chairs.
Copacabana is a really lovely spot and the beach there has a section that’s dog friendly. It was a bit too busy for us to take any of our lot to but if you have dogs that come when they’re called and don’t carry on like idiots around unknown dogs then you’d probably love it there. We stayed at Kirinbell Cottage and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for somewhere pet friendly in the area.
