Having photographed Jessie the beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback when she was a pup I jumped at the chance recently to do another session with her and her servants- sorry, doting parents, Paula and Neil- this time on the beach :0)

This was to be a 'relaxed', walk on the beach style shoot, to see what I could come up with on the move, rather than a more structured shoot where things are a bit more organised. The latter is generally more predictable in terms of getting good results, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to push myself a little and work on the fly.

Another challenging aspect was the fact that I'd decided to do it at midday on a sunny July day, shock horror, most photographers, me included, have more fear of the midday sun than a certain Transylvanian Count! Once I realised I wasn't going to turn into a pile of ash and fangs, I mopped my widdows peak brow, busted out my flash and got on with it.

A touch of fill flash was definitely called for here to help balance the light and though I usually prefer to use flash off camera for a more flattering look, I was pleased with how they turned out. Luckily there was also a touch of thin cloud dancing about, helping to soften the natural light shots, which otherwise would have looked very harsh.

One positive side effect of such a beach walk style shoot though, was losing half a stone whilst running ahead then running behind then running back ahead again...rinse (in the waves) and repeat...many times!