One of the most common things we hear as family portrait photographers is ‘never work with children and animals, eh?!’ , usually said in a joking tone part way through a shoot featuring, you guessed it, children and animals!
The thing is, we love photographing children and animals. It’s fun, rewarding, and the resulting images are often parents’ favourites of all.
Pets are part of the family. They are often how our children first learn about unconditional love. Pets are friends for life. We miss them when they’re gone, sometimes more than we miss other humans.
They’re also funny, quirky, beautiful, adorable, unpredictable, and full of personality.
Just like children.
We love it when families include their family pets in their portrait sessions and have photographed many over the years, but since we mostly shoot outdoors, most of those pets have been dogs. And we love dogs! But we also know that kids have heaps of other pets, and we’d like to give families the opportunity to have beautiful photos of their children interacting with their beloved pets, no matter what species!
So we are looking for families who have dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, snakes, lizards, rats… anything that has a name, is part of your family, can be held, interacted with and is loved. We have a beautiful and spacious studio in Belconnen where these sessions will safely take place. We will not say no to a miniature pony, a lamb or other transportable farm animals either!
We plan on photographing 60 portrait sessions and when we’re finished, we will be publishing a beautiful hard cover book called For the Love of Children & Animals, featuring the best photo from each session we photograph, together with a little story about your children and their pets.
If you’d like your family to be a part of this, here are all the important details:
When: Session times will be available on weekdays and selected weekends from April to September 2018, with the book to be published in October.
Where: Heartstory’s natural light studio, Suite 104, Loop Earth Building, 17 Market Street, Belconnen, ACT 2617.
Cost to participate: $100, which will be donated directly to the RSPCA Canberra. Our goal is to raise a total of $6000.
What’s included:Ā Ā The full Heartstory Experience, which includes a studio portrait session (approx 1 hour), where we will capture a variety of images of your children & animals together (both posed and interactive/candid) and reserves you a place in the book. The Heartstory Portrait Experience includes a personal appointment following your portrait session where you may purchase images from your session. We will have a special selection of packages available for our participants, which will all include a copy of the book. Otherwise the book can be purchased separately.
How to apply:Ā Fill out the application form at the bottom of this page, and we will contact you to book your session and organise your donation. Only 60 spots will be available!
Please note:Ā Because this book will be published, you must be willing to give us permission to display your photographs as part of your involvement in this project. This will include the use of first names in the book. Please discuss this with us if you have any concerns.
