Not my typical genre, but I had so much fun with the Newtown CT pet photography session. Miss Gracie is 9 years old and unfortunately battling cancer. Her family contacted me about doing a family session with her. While I was asking if they wanted indoor or outdoor, I realized exactly what I wanted to do. Since Gracie is such an important part of their family I proposed doing lifestyle session in their home. Photos of them playing and interacting with Gracie. Having fun in her own element.
Newtown CT Pet Photography: Gracie
“No matter how many years we get with our dogs, it’s never long enough.”
I’ve written and re-written this post several times. I first started a couple days ago. Unfortunately, I heard from Gracie’s family that she passed on January 8. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to meet Gracie and capture these images for her family. Gracie was such a sweetheart and full of love. She would just stare at me with those beautiful eyes of hers. I have a soft spot for labs and Gracie was no exception.
From Gracie’s Mom:
“Gracie was pure love and happiness. She loved life and she loved passionately and unconditionally. Our love for her was equally passionate and unconditional. Gracie woke me up every single morning with hugs and kisses and a hilarious happy dance. A similar happy dance accompanied her requests for dinner every night.
She loved nothing more than being with her people and was up for doing anything with her family. Her other great love was food. She would pretty much do anything for food, especially bananas, and she would come running when she heard someone open one. We made her banana bread for her birthday cake every year, and she loved licking the spoon.
She would camp out by the oven, waiting for the timer to ring.
Gracie was also a world class table surfer. She loved to steal fresh vegetables from our garden, which of course we didn’t mind. She loved walks, rides on the boat, trips to the beach and getting ice cream from the Creamery. At the Creamery, she would wait impatiently for the pick up window to open, jumping with excitement when her name was called, because of course we used her name when we ordered.”
“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” -Josh Billings
Knowing that Gracie’s time was limited, the goal of the session was to capture the love. It was to be a happy day with lots of cuddling and extra treats for Gracie. If you have a lab, you know they are food motivated!
Dogs leave paw prints on your heart
Besides capturing Gracie with her family, I wanted to get all the little details. Her nose, paws, ears, etc. Because it’s the little things that we love so much about them.
Playing with Gracie
Gracie loved to do paw and high five (which was my favorite!)
Gracie’s Cancer Journey
“Gracie was diagnosed with an aggressive and terminal cancer in July of 2017. We were heartbroken to learn that we would lose her. She had surgery, radiation and chemo in an effort to extend her quality of life for as long as possible. We didn’t want to rob her or one minute of life. As we faced losing her, we decided to get some family photos taken with her. I’d seen Heather’s extraordinary work and knew she was the perfect person to capture Gracie’s huge personality, and we are forever grateful for the amazing photos she took. The album that Heather so loving put together for us was delivered about 2 weeks before we lost our sweet Gracie. It’s a treasure for us.”
