well, okay, admittedly, i love all dogs … but ever since adopting my crazy, high-drive, wirehaired pointer girl from the Barrie shelter eight years ago, the hunting breeds hold a special place in my heart.  i love their energy, and particularly their drive.  and little else gets me more excited than the opportunity to shoot working dogs who have been trained and are used for what they were bred to do.

meet Lacey …

and younger, whackier sister Cricket.

these two, brilliant brittanys belong to Shelley and John in Cambridge, and routinely hunt up birds.  although i certainly would have been game for some real hunting shots, for our session we used just a training dummy with pheasant wings out at the gun range.

it was an awesome area to shoot, with the forest trails …

and the open fields.

and you wanna bet they know every nook and cranny of this place.  but, man, are these girls b-u-s-y !  rarely taking a breather, i don’t think they ever stopped unless asked.

and even then they were on the alert.

i had some fun — although with only limited success — recreating an image from one of my old business cards which John and Shelley had picked up and held onto … for obvious reasons.  on the left is the image from the old business card, and on the right is Cricket failing as miserably as i at the recreation.

but maybe the most fun we had was riding in the car … with the wind in our … er … in the girls’ ears …

then back to hunting … and scenting the air.  these girls were always working.

back home they settled a bit …or at least old girl Lacey did.

but not for long … after all there are always birds …

… and rabbits.

these two girls were a pleasure to work with, and brought back fond memories of the brittany i shared my life with living in Baltimore some years ago.  i loved their drive and their devotion to Shelley and John, even if they never could stay still.  🙂

thank you, girls, and thank you, Shelley and John for a brilliant afternoon.  it was wonderful to meet you and talk ‘hunting dogs” and training.  i look forward to seeing you again at your studio consult to discuss your package.  John, i think you’re gonna love Matea … at least, i know she’s gonna love you; she’s always been a bit of a slut for men … especially hunters.

i’d like to give a special shout-out to Julie Reid of Cambridge who purchased this fabulous, all-inclusive scruffy dog package for the Cambridge Humane Society “Elephant Waltz” fundraiser benefit back in April.  unfortunately, my plan to shoot her lovely collie Lexi never materialized as Lexi passed away before Julie was able to make the arrangements.  i so would have loved to have known and captured Lexi’s spirit for Julie.