When a Dog Photoshoot turns into a Proposal!
14th February 2025
A few weeks ago, I had an email from a lovely person who wanted to buy a photography gift voucher for her friend. Her friend's dog didn't have long to live and the idea was to get some photos of the two of them together, along with her partner. A lovely thing for the friend to do!
All very sad but also not unusual. The voucher was issued through my sister business, Hairy Dog Photography which specialises in, well, dog photography. A day before the session was booked, the partner phoned me to say he was going to propose to his girlfriend during the dog session. I've never photographed a proposal but I've read about other people doing them. I suggested a code phrase he could utter just before popping the question, just so I wasn't half way down the beach (we'd agreed on Balmedie for the session location), in the middle of changing lenses or giving belly rubs to the dog. I did not want to miss the moment!
The day dawned, the rain started, the greyness came in waves but I now knew the poor dog was in dire straits and we might not have another opportunity, so we had to soldier on. On the drive out to Balmedie, I switched on my wipers, girded my loins and tried not to think about the last time I'd had a very wet photo session (very expensive camera repair...).
But on arrival, miraculously, the clouds opened a little, the rain stopped and although the sun still wasn't playing ball, the light was halfway decent. And right up until he got down on one knee, it was a fantastic time playing with an amazingly fast, seemingly perfectly healthy and very gorgeous wee Spaniel. Eleven years old and only three legs - she still nipped on and then the sun finally made an appearance!
So after the proposal, the champagne and the excitement, I came home, poured the photos into my computer and heaved a sigh of relief. All well and they love their photos - hopefully some of you do too!
WTAF DAD!! This is supposed to be MY WALKIES!!
She said YES btw, just in case anyone was wondering :-)
All very sad but also not unusual. The voucher was issued through my sister business, Hairy Dog Photography which specialises in, well, dog photography. A day before the session was booked, the partner phoned me to say he was going to propose to his girlfriend during the dog session. I've never photographed a proposal but I've read about other people doing them. I suggested a code phrase he could utter just before popping the question, just so I wasn't half way down the beach (we'd agreed on Balmedie for the session location), in the middle of changing lenses or giving belly rubs to the dog. I did not want to miss the moment!
The day dawned, the rain started, the greyness came in waves but I now knew the poor dog was in dire straits and we might not have another opportunity, so we had to soldier on. On the drive out to Balmedie, I switched on my wipers, girded my loins and tried not to think about the last time I'd had a very wet photo session (very expensive camera repair...).
But on arrival, miraculously, the clouds opened a little, the rain stopped and although the sun still wasn't playing ball, the light was halfway decent. And right up until he got down on one knee, it was a fantastic time playing with an amazingly fast, seemingly perfectly healthy and very gorgeous wee Spaniel. Eleven years old and only three legs - she still nipped on and then the sun finally made an appearance!
So after the proposal, the champagne and the excitement, I came home, poured the photos into my computer and heaved a sigh of relief. All well and they love their photos - hopefully some of you do too!
WTAF DAD!! This is supposed to be MY WALKIES!!
She said YES btw, just in case anyone was wondering :-)