“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.” ― Marc Riboud

To celebrate a social media milestone Kelly Wolfe held a competition. She asked her followers to send in their stories, with one of them winning an afternoon photo shoot. You can see why Kelly decided to use the photographs, of Chase, Deo and Brody, the perfect three, for her Queensberry sample album.

The dogs' owner (also called Kelly!) says her first and oldest fur baby was Brody, a "Sibord" — half Siberian Husky, half Border Collie. "He was sent up from Christchurch with a note attached, saying 'training required'. This is where it all started, where I went dog crazy. I fell in love with training and Brody has gained many qualifications in agility, obedience, and won national prizes in New Zealand. Chase the Border Collie came next; he is my agility and flygility star, and my newest addition is Deo the Foxie cross."

Kelly Wolfe loves dogs too. She says she's always been into photography. When she lost her Mum it became her outlet, something she could focus on. Every evening she would take her dogs for a walk and bring along her Mum's little point-and-shoot camera, photographing everything she could— landscapes, sunsets and most of all, dogs. She would post them online, and get feedback from photographers. 

In her final year of high school she bought her first DSLR, and played around with many different styles of photography, but pet photography was what she was truly passionate about, and kept coming back to. In 2013 she opened her pet photography business and has been doing what she loves ever since. 

"I think my success is down to a few things, but the main is that you need to continue to learn and grow. I don't take criticism too seriously, but I do take it, and I put myself out there to get it. If another photographer will take the time to give me feedback I will read it, taking away what I can from it and moving on from the rest. We can learn so much from other photographers if we can get our pride out of the way.

"My point of difference is that I understand dogs. Working on the farm, I have had the opportunity to own and work with dozens of dogs; all different ages, breeds and backgrounds. Understanding them means that I feel confident going into a shoot. I know how to deal with the ones that may have behavioural issues, I am not put off by those challenges. Having the background of training and working with animals in both of my careers it means that I can not only photograph them, but I can work with them to make sure that the shot turns out perfectly."

This session has become very special. A month later Brody sadly past away. He had a myriad of health problems and a year after open heart surgery he still wasn't well. Capturing memories is why photography and print are so important, being able to savour all those beautiful moments. Brody's attitude and outlook on life lives on through these photos, a beautiful gift. 

For more information on Siberian Huskies click here.

Alexandria x