I first met Ashlee and her adorable baby girl Olivia a few months ago, while out walking my own dog. They live nearby so we would see them out on the path now and again. In February, I invited Ashlee to bring Olivia to a benefit photo shoot I was doing for the Paws For Life Rescue. She did and we had a great time. Olivia was great in front of the camera and posed like a pro. Fast forward to April, and Ashlee hired me to do a photo session for Olivia’s first birthday.

I was looking forward to trying out a different type of lighting to what I usually use. The result was a softer, brighter and warmer light than I’d previously done. I was thrilled for that.

What made me even happier was Ashlee being thrilled with the images and after a little bit of compositing (the balloon and Olivia were originally two separate shots), we got the perfect images.

I’m excited to work on more portraits like these and create beautiful images of people and their pets.

View the final images below.