They say home is where the heart is, and for many of us that translates to “home is where the dog is.” Shadow, the Aussie mix, took center stage in these anniversary photos from Empiria Studios. (There were also plenty of romantic photos of just the couple, and Shadow was nearby for all of them!)
From Athena: “Shadow is a sweet 8-year-old Australian Shepherd mix, who actually hates when her parents are touching. It was pretty hilarious to try and photograph Caitie and Calvin while working within Shadow’s expectations. But she’s so cute you can’t even get frustrated! (After looking at the photos, Caitie described Shadow as a land seal. #accurate.)
Caitie thought about going to the lounge in her apartment building, which is gorgeous and modern and awesome! She kept saying her apartment wasn’t clean, not ready for photos, and nothing special, but I secretly knew that would be the best! Here’s the deal with in-home sessions. Your home is 100% special because it is YOURS! It is where you wake up next to each other probably smelly but you enjoy each other’s company anyway, where you make pancakes and make either ugly or burned pancakes, but you keep eating them because pancakes are life, and where you lose your keys and run around frantically just to realize you are already holding them. Your home is where your memories are, even if it’s just a temporarily rented apartment.”
I love this workaround: romantic photo of Caitie and Calvin, and Shadow was perfectly happy too.
From Caitie: “Shadow is an extremely talkative princess. After becoming part of our family at three years old, she has become our dog child in every way imaginable. She is loveable, goofy, and extremely uncoordinated. But it makes us love her even more! We adopted her from Aussie Rescue of Minnesota.“
Follow Empiria Studios on Instagram. If you’re wondering if you should have a portrait session in your home, I hope you’ll carefully consider what Athena said.
About Empiria Studios: Based near Minneapolis, Minnesota, Athena is a portrait, wedding and event photographer.
These are great photos! What a beautiful dog, and family. I love the idea of doing an in home photoshoot. I would need to get my house a little more in order though, there is stuff all over the floor!
Oh my heavens–I am obsessed with everything about this!! Such a gorgeous pup and this photoshoot is too perfect. I’d love to do something like this one day!
What a cute pup! I love when people include their pets in special family portraits!
I think those photos become more precious with time too.
I love these photos and that they were done in their home with their pup! Makes it that much more special!
These photos came out great! I love that the dog got included!