Client Session ~ Hugo the Great Dane & Henry the Jack Russell X in Brisbane City

Hugo’s owner Sarah had previously submitted a commercial model application for Hugo when he was 7 months old, which I was so excited to receive! Especially when she’d told me he was very well trained and being a blue Great Dane like my Luna, I was pretty eager to meet him. Fast forward a year or so and Sarah eventually decided to go ahead with both an on-location session and a studio session (I’ll be sharing some images from the studio session in a dedicated blog post soon).

Sarah’s mum often looks after Hugo when Sarah is away, and she also has her own little hairy bundle of joy – Henry. I just LOVE Henry! He is an interesting mix of Jack Russell Terrier, Kelpie and Border Collie with adorable outward turning front feet that give him such an endearing look. When Sarah brought him in for the studio session I was so impressed with his level of obedience and compliance with all the crazy things we asked him to do. He has an awesome beg that he can hold for minutes at a time, among other tricks!

Since both dogs take most things in their stride and have a very good level of training, we had lots of options when selecting a location for the session. We eventually narrowed it down to either a natural Aussie bush setting or a urban shoot, with the city location winning out in the end as it’s somewhere quite different from where I usually shoot. We ended up meeting up at St John’s Cathedral in Spring Hill in Brisbane city, and used this beautiful building as a backdrop to many of the shots taken.

Hugo and Henry were so good off-lead, staying exactly where we asked them to with just a little cajoling. I love that this shot also shows the beautiful stained glass windows in the cathedral behind the dogs.

Hugo went through a bit of drama being born, unfortunately becoming stuck halfway out! He was actually born not breathing but thankfully was revived and went on to live another day and grow into the big beautiful boy you see today. Unfortunately though, his tail became stuck in the birthing process was broken at 90 degrees. It had a habit of being caught in things and injured, so the decision was made to dock it quite short to prevent any further issues.

I love that when Danes wear blingy collars it almost looks as though they are wearing jewellery!

A short walk down the road and we found a little chapel with some beautiful textured stone block walls. Sarah and Hugo showed us some love!

And then it was time for Henry and his mum Val to get cozy.

After we left the initial meeting place, there was a LOT of walking involved to get to the next location. I’d done some location scouting a few weeks beforehand but failed to find this great little alleyway that we ended up using for some stylish ‘dog in the city’ walking shots with Sarah and Hugo. I certainly wouldn’t be scared of any dark alleys with Hugo by my side, would you?

The next place we visited, after quite a hike, was the Cathedral of St Stephen on Elizabeth Street in Brisbane City. There was some lovely grassy grounds surrounding the buildings and we took advantage of the late afternoon sun for some glamour shots of the boys. Henry was happy to show us his ‘beg’ in exchange for some yummy treats!

Hugo just looked his usual handsome self.

I’d been eager to include some flowering Jacaranda trees in some shots and was thrilled to find this one in behind the church that I could place in the background of this shot. Hugo, Sarah, Val and Henry make quite the stunning group don’t they?

The little chapel (possibly the original older church?) next to the Cathedral of St Stephen had this gorgeous door that I just had to utilise. I think the shot of Sarah and Hugo would make a great canvas, nice and big!

Afterwards, we headed back up to Spring Hill and St John’s Cathedral for some final shots, now that the sun was a little lower and not too bright on the side of the building. Both dogs were happy to jump up on any benches, walls and garden beds we wanted them to, which made things pretty easy! I just love this shot of Hugo in front of the Cathedral, his grand stature reflected in the majesty of the building behind him.

Val and Henry were just gorgeous together and obviously have a loving bond.

I’m not sure Val was too appreciative of his sloppy kisses though!

Over the road from the cathedral is Cathedral Place, which has a lovely old tree we convinced Hugo to stand under. There was something very interesting going on in the park that he just couldn’t take his eyes off!

I actually ended up meeting up with Sarah for a play date with Hugo and my Great Dane girl Luna a couple of weeks later. Unfortunately it fell on a rather overcast day, so the light wasn’t as nice as it could have been in this Aussie bushland location, but the dogs had fun playing and exploring and getting to know each other regardless! I’ll be posting some images of Luna and Hugo on their playdate soon.