A Fall Dog Photography Session at Farragut State Park
Some sessions feel like work. This one felt like tagging along with two people who already knew how to have a good time.
Cheyenne and Penny met me at Farragut State Park in North Idaho on a beautiful fall afternoon, and from the first few minutes, it was clear this wasn't going to be a traditional portrait session.
Penny is a rescue, and Cheyenne told me it took a long time for her to open up to the world. You'd never know it now.
She leaps into Cheyenne's arms. She parkours off trees. She tears through open space like she owns it, but she always checks back in with Cheyenne first. That little glance over the shoulder. That pull toward her person. That's what I kept watching for all day.
Penny isn't a lap dog by nature, which is exactly why the times she settled in close to Cheyenne meant so much.
You earn that kind of softness with a rescue. It doesn't just happen.
After two decades of photographing dogs, I've learned to notice the little things that tell the biggest stories. Sometimes it's a dog flying through the air. Sometimes it's a glance back toward their person. And sometimes it's simply the way they choose to stand a little closer than usual.
We started beneath the trees, where the fall color was still hanging on. Cheyenne and Penny simply moved through it together. No agenda. No routine. Just exploring.
Penny wandered. Cheyenne followed. And I followed them both.
That's one of my favorite things about fall photography in North Idaho. You don't have to manufacture the setting. The trees, the golden leaves, the changing light are already doing most of the work. All we had to do was let these two be themselves.
We finished their fall pet photography session along the rocky shoreline of Lake Pend Oreille as the sun dropped behind the water.
Golden hour has a way of making everything feel a little softer, but the light wasn't the only thing I loved about these photographs. Cheyenne and Penny were playing, laughing, moving, and completely comfortable together.
Those are the photographs I want to make. Not perfect poses, but the kind of images that make you recognize your dog immediately.
Cheyenne now has a wall collection and an album from their session living in her home, rather than sitting on a hard drive or buried in a phone folder.
Penny mid-leap off a tree.
Penny pressed against Cheyenne's side along the lakeshore.
The two of them moving through golden leaves like they had nowhere better to be.
That's what this fall afternoon was about. And now, those photographs get to be part of their everyday life.
If you're looking for fall dog photography in North Idaho, Coeur d'Alene, or the surrounding area, I'd love to hear about your dog and what makes your relationship yours.
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