San Diego Family Dog Portraits: Staffordshire Terrier, Riesling

A few years before this session, I photographed Riesling’s mom and dad with their beautiful senior pup, Stella. It’s always bittersweet to photograph families with a new dog. I’m always sad to hear that one of my canine friends has crossed the rainbow bridge but I’m also excited to meet a new four-legged buddy who won the lottery with an amazingly loving family. 

With that, I’d like to introduce you to Riesling (aka Reesee Piece), who was adopted from It’s the Pits Dog Rescue in San Diego. All the puppies in Riesling’s litter were named after a wine. Since her family lives in wine country, they thought it was fitting and kept the name!

After losing Stella, Riesling’s family felt their house was too quiet and they missed the extra oomph of life a puppy brings to one’s heart and home. They knew they wanted a bully breed so they looked into various rescues and found one in the San Diego area with a litter.

Riesling’s mom said, “I had my eye on one of the boys but my husband had his eye on Riesling. We got to meet with several of the puppies in the litter and Riesling came up, gave me kisses, and tried to chew on her human sisters shoe. A little sugar and lots of spice thats what a Reesee Piece is made of!”

We had Riesling’s session at one of my favorite spots in San Diego. It’s so rustic and gorgeous with picturesque backdrops around every turn. We had our session in March so the spring grasses were growing tall, the pepper trees were dripping my favorite ooey gooey golden light, and the day could not have been more perfect! 

When I saw how the light was hitting this grassy field as the sun was just about to say goodnight, I knew we were about to create something magical — and I was right! The image directly above is now hanging as a 6′ wide metal print in Riesling’s home. It looks absolutely epic and amazing!!!

Riesling’s mom’s #1 request for this photo shoot was a silhouette shot. I think we knocked this one out of the park!!! Even after a two-hour photo shoot, Riesling was still bounding with energy and having a great time! I’ll admit, even I didn’t want this shoot to end. We had an absolute blast!!!

---

Are you thinking about booking a session for you and your dog?