As part of my brother’s 25th birthday earlier this week, we decided to surprise him with a portrait of his five-week-old Doberman puppies.
While Michael was out for the day, we let his five pooches—two male and three female—run riot in the quest for one image to put on a canvas so that he would have something to remember them by when they go to their new homes.
It was my first foray into the world of puppy portraits and while it was a huge amount of fun, the words ‘never work with children or animals’ were rolling around my mind as I tried to get them all in one spot for more than two seconds!
We had them in buckets and baskets, playing with mini footballs and gift wrapping. They chewed on my thongs, pulled on my shorts and constantly tried to lick both my face and the camera lens. Put simply, they were adorable.
After almost two hours of running and romping, and with a little help from my trick of covering their eyes so they thought it was dark, they finally fell asleep and we lined them up for their big moment.
Here are some of my favorite shots from the day.
Leroy the chocolate doberman.
Not quite the puppy whisperer.
An hour later it was finally nap time.
The puppy portrait (although ti looked a bit better on canvas!).
