When an animal charity calls asking for help then I do whatever I can to help out.  When working with charities I always try to do the work without getting in the way or being a disruption to the work going on around me and so asking when the best time for them for me to be around is an important question I always ask.

Of course the answer is always a practical one as in the case of this shoot as they had more helpers around that day and could afford to free one up to help.  They tend never to look at the weather and consider all the technical aspects we as photographers tend to get obsessed with - needs to be bright, within the golden hour, dogs need to look their best, have they been fed etc

But I love working under challenging conditions.  So with this shoot there was hardly any light, it was raining, cold, the options were limited for locations, generally pretty unpleasant and you still have to work with the different challenges that the dogs presented. I was glad for the hot coffee afterwards.

So the images I took are below and while I can’t wait for the spring, it is still a good selection of images that I hope will help to get the dogs rehomed.

‘Derry’ who was the main focus of the shoot had just arrived the night before and was not looking the best but we are hoping to put together a story regarding his journey so it was important to show him like this, scared, matted, malnourished, almost blind and needing a good groom and a pamper.  As I wrote in my previous blog, not all shoots are easy but you just get on with it and he is such a kind, soft and loving dog he’ll make a really good companion in the right home and I can’t wait to see him again.