All you need is love... and a dog

I met Rebecca at the barre studio I frequent (sounds familiar, right?) She is one of my favorite instructors and genuinely a great human! A few months ago, she got a new puppy, around the same time my first niece was born. Every time I came to class we would exchange pictures - look at my niece and look at my puppy! Naturally, Stassi - the Chocolate Lab - became a quite popular discussion. When Rebecca asked me to take photos of her, her husband, and Stassi, I couldn't pass up the opportunity (to hang out with a dog, obviously).

My dog hates the camera and so I was a bit nervous how Stassi would take to it. Will she behave? Will I get any good pictures? What if she hates me? How do you even pose a dog, anyway? I probably stressed myself out too much (what's new) and spent an entire week googling "couples with dog" and the like until I had the slightest idea what I was planning on doing. And even then - I'll be honest - I didn't really have a clue what I was planning on doing.

So fast forward to our session and Rebecca, her husband Gianmarco, and 8 month old Stassi were dressed in their Sunday best. We met at Benson Park in Hudson, NH since we knew it was dog-friendly. I brought along an entire tub of treats to keep Stassi occupied (sorry Lucy) and we just kind of made it happen. Luckily, both Rebecca and G are basically professional models so I really only had to make sure Stassi was properly "posed" and they naturally fit themselves right in. Special shout out goes to Krista (fellow barre student and a good friend of Rebecca's) who came along to help keep Stassi company while we were planning!

We came across this path with these whispy strands of fall grass (how else would you describe them?) and they were so beautiful! These ended up being some of favorite photos!

This face...

Hi, excuse me, what are you guys doing and why am I not doing it with you?

There we go... much better

And just a quick hair flip for my Instagram...

Next we headed away from the trails and headed into the park. This was actually my first time at Benson Park and I had no idea how big and full of amazing spots it was! Theres a gorgeous pond surrounded by beautiful trails, rock walls, and plenty of greenery and foliage. We relied a bit on Stassi to lead the way for us and continued to explore what the park had to offer!

All that photographing was such hard work, so we took a few minutes to rest and stare at the geese in the pond. Stassi had other motive, but, unfortunately for her, eating them was not an option.

Kisses for Mom

And kisses for Dad

Mom must have gotten jealous and just had to get the last smooch... so dramatic

After we had our fill at the park we headed back to trails to get a few last minute pose requests in. Along the way we stopped at the little pine tree area - which quickly became one of my favorite places to shoot - to do some holiday-card worthy photos!

Lastly, we ended back in a beautiful trail to let Stassi's personality shine.

Can we talk about how adorable her gold sparkly bow is?

Everyone thinks diamonds are a girls best friend, but those people clearly don't have a dog...

I hope you guys enjoy your photos and I hope Stassi enjoys her fame! She was such a pleasure to "work" with and now I kind of wish I could photograph all the dogs! But... I know I should be careful what I wish for ;)

#naturallight #nature #family #outdoor #dog #couples #familyportraits #newhampshire #nhphotographer #foliage #fall