Harper the Golden Retriever | March Breed of the Month | Thomas Farm Preserve, Watkinsville, GA
Before Harper's session, her mom Lisa sent me a photo.
Not a photo of Harper. One of mine, actually — a Golden Retriever I'd photographed from another session, on his back, feet in the air, big grin, tennis ball beside him. Pure joy made visible.
I’d love to have a photo like this of Harper she said. She wasn’t necessarily looking for a duplicate, but she was telling me how she wanted Harper to feel in her portraits.
There's a difference, and it matters. It's not always "I want THAT photo of my dog." Sometimes it's "I want a photo where my dog feels like that."
The Dog Who Already Made Her Decision
When Lisa went to pick out a puppy, the breeder brought them out two at a time. She'd spend time with each pair, choose one, and the other would go before the next came out.
Harper was in the very first set. She crawled into Lisa's arms, fell asleep, and that was it. She never left.
That calm, sleepy puppy who won everyone over by doing absolutely nothing?
She has not shown up since.
Harper is always about the party. She swims. She paddle boards on the lake. She does dock diving, nose work, and barn hunt. She once dragged Lisa face-first into the ground chasing a squirrel at full speed — Lisa held the leash, hit her knees, never let go, and still laughs about it. Her favorite toys giggle like a little kid when they roll. She carries them around the house. She falls asleep with one in her mouth.
She is a lot of dog. In the very best way.
The Session | Thomas Farm Preserve, Watkinsville, GA
After rain pushed our original date, we rescheduled to an April evening when Thomas Farm Preserve was fully in bloom.
Azaleas first. Then little yellow wildflowers. Then white ones. Then the tiny purple ones tucked into the grass at the very back of the park.
I planned our route intentionally — starting with portraits while Harper's attention was at its freshest, working through the location as the light shifted, and saving the long-line running and playing for the very end. That's the part Harper had been waiting for all along. We finished with a slow walk back to the car to bring her back down before Lisa had to drive home.
My client might not always notice because they are just seeing one session, but just because we might be photographing in the same location as another session, I am working the location specifically for your dog. Some dogs need the long walk at the beginning to get settled in new place and then we work our way back forward. Others like Harper are confident in new places and need that structure right at the beginning.
When the Session Doesn't Look Like You Thought It Would
Here's what I knew going into Harper's session: she is young, she has a lot of energy, and she is not going to hold a stay for thirty seconds while I get the perfect composed portrait.
And here's what I could see during the session: Lisa was nervous about exactly that.
She was gracious about it — she's a wonderful client — but you could feel the quiet worry that the images she'd been imagining weren't coming together the way she'd hoped. Harper was moving. Harper was looking at everything except the camera. Harper was doing what young, enthusiastic dogs do.
I showed Lisa a couple of images on the back of my camera to reassure her. We kept going.
We tried a version of the rolling shot — the reference image Lisa had sent. Harper in the grass, on her back, the same set up as that other Golden. But the grass at Thomas Farm that evening was longer. Harper's coloring is so much lighter — creamy golden instead of deep red gold — and the grass was lighter too, so you didn't get the contrast and color theory that made the original image so striking. A dark red Golden against dark green reads completely differently than a pale cream dog in light green grass.
The images were still sweet. But I knew we hadn't found it yet.
So we kept going.
The Shot
At the very end of the session, we let Harper run.
Long line. Her ball. The open path through the back of the preserve.
And there is an image — Harper mid-leap, ears flying, the biggest grin on her face, front feet off the ground — and that is Harper's version of the dog in the reference photo.
Not the same image. Her image. Her version of that feeling.
That's what Lisa had asked for. That's what we found — just not where either of us expected it.
After the Session
Lisa loved her images. She was relieved, and excited, and exactly the kind of client I love getting to deliver a gallery to after a session like that. But my favorite part of this story doesn't come from Lisa.
After she got her images, Lisa shared them with Harper's veterinarian. The vet looked at them and said: you absolutely have to get these. These images are Harper.
That's the thing about great pet portraits. The people who know your dog best — the ones who have watched her grow up, who know every quirk and expression — they recognize something in the images that even you might not be able to articulate yet.
I can’t wait for Lisa’s album to arrive.
About Thomas Farm Preserve | Watkinsville, GA
Thomas Farm Preserve in Watkinsville is one of my five Breed of the Month session locations — and it's particularly magical in spring when the wildflowers are doing their thing. The open fields, the fallen trees, the natural paths — it gives us incredible variety within a single session.
→ Learn more about Thomas Farm Preserve as a session location
About the Breed of the Month Program
Each month I open one session to the public — a complimentary Signature Session plus artwork credit for one dog whose story moves me most. March was Harper's month.
→ Learn about the Breed of the Month program
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