If you live in Canberra then you would know Commonwealth Park. It is a beautiful landscaped park right next to Lake Burley Griffin. The park is quite big and has lots of open grassy areas, ponds and artworks and it's great place to for a walk around. Commonwealth Park is also known as the home of many events in Canberra including the famous Floriade which is an annual flower festival during Spring time. It's so beautiful during Spring time with lots of flowers everywhere with different theme each year. During the time Floriade is on which is usually from mid September to mid October, dogs are not allowed to attend with the exception of the last Saturday where they hold Dogs Day Out at Floriade. And unfortunately again this year due to the pandemic, Floriade was cancelled.
Since we have been in lockdown for the last 6 weeks we haven't been able to go anywhere. However, I managed to do several photography sessions at Commonwealth Park this year just before Winter earlier this year.
Millie's Tails of Canberra session at Commonwealth Park
Millie the Alaskan Malamute signed up for my Tails of Canberra book project. It's a project I'm currently working on and I am hoping to publish the book end of this year by Christmas time.
We did our session at Commonwealth Park because it's one of Canberra's iconic location. The park requires all dogs to be on leash at all times but thanks to my photoshop skills, you won't see any leash visible as I can easily remove them. Actually, most of the dogs I photograph are always on leash, but you won't see them in the final images because I will remove them.
We started the session by going around the pond within the park. There's a colourful sculpture in Commonwealth Park called the Dance of the Secateurs and I got Millie to sit in between it because it was just so colourful. The photo captured turned out great and it got shortlisted in the Top 100 of the Portrait Category for the International Photographer of the Year awards 2021.
We then ventured to an area where there were lots of rocks and Millie climbed up on the rocks and became the Queen of the Park.
We were lucky to have some flowers still blooming even though it was nearly winter time, and the weather was quite good even though it was overcast. Actually overcast weather usually gives quite good lighting for photography so it was a perfect afternoon for our session.
I am now taking bookings for sessions as restrictions for photographer have been lifted. Although Floriade was cancelled the flowers were still planted and Commonwealth Park should still have lots of flowers there that have bloomed and it will be a perfect location to get professional photos of your pups.
If you'd like to have a session like Millie, you can book a no-obligation call with me and we can chat more about how we can tailor your pet photography session.
Thanks for reading my blog! This post is a part of the Pet Photographers blog circle I am in. Make sure to follow along and click the link at the end of each post in the blog circle until you eventually find your way back here. The next one in the circle is Darlene Woodward, owner of Pant the Town Photography, photographs dogs and a cat at animal friendly Endicott Park in Danvers for calendar pet photos.
5 Comments
Oct 1, 2021, 8:23:05 PM
Jessica - Millie is gorgeous, although I have a particular love for northern breeds. Commonwealth Park was definitely an equally beautiful choice for her calendar session.
Oct 1, 2021, 5:34:43 PM
Ina Jalil - Aww thanks Angela!! Yeah I am so happy I can go out and photograph again!! YAYYYYYYYY!!!!
Oct 1, 2021, 2:02:55 PM
Elaine - I love the colors of the sculpture and the wonderful photo you produced there. Commonwealth Park looks like an ideal spot for pet photography sessions!
Oct 1, 2021, 9:24:31 AM
Angela Schneider - I was going to go on and on about the detail you got in Millie's fur (which is amazing) but then I got to the part where you say the covid restrictions in Canberra have been lifted and all I have now is YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.
Oct 1, 2021, 6:07:56 AM
Jemma Martin - I can see why your shot of Millie was shortlisted! Its stunning and the colours work soo well! great job!