Beach Portraits

Over the course of our beach trips, I decided that I wanted to get some nice portraits of Iris. Iris was really not interested in portrait time. Beach time is for running, not for sitting.

I was amazed by the number of photos I ended up with that she has her eyes closed in.


Then when I finally did get her to look at me, all she wanted to do was make funny faces. I really think she's actually a gremlin.


Iris, how'd you end up with sand all over your nose?

What? I wasn't doing anything.

I had a very specific shot in mind, and this is as close as I could get -


You can really see just how much she tends to walk on a tightrope. It's not a bad shot, but I had a much nicer shot in my head. The problem I had was as soon as I knelt down to be at Iris' eye level, she would turn and come toward me. Most of the moving shots are her moving straight toward me. I snuck in a couple shots when she wasn't looking at me but try as I might, I just couldn't get the one I had in my head. It reminded me just how nice it is to have a second person acting as handler. One of these days I'll have to bring another human to the beach with us.

Ok, I did actually manage to get a couple of shots that I'm happy with.

This next one is actually my favorite shot. She's busy supervising the dogs at the other end of the beach. Crazy dog.


Her profile looks so much "sharper" than she does from the front. Her profile photos have such a different feeling to them than her straight on shots.

I did eventually let her go back to doing what she really loves.