The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants. – Johnny Depp
When I started Pawparazzi, I did a free maternity photoshoot for one of my friends. She was pregnant with her first hooman child & already had a beautiful Golden Retriever as a fur-baby. I had always seen the relationship that a dog and baby share in movies or read stories of beautiful moments shared between the two in books, & I always thought to myself - well, it must just be a romanticized version of what really happens.
Then, a year later, I did a follow up shoot with her then 9 month old baby girl. It was beyond anything I could have imagined. It was real love & in it's most purest form. 2 beings that had no way to communicate with each other apart from noises & actions.
They say - God didn't give dogs a voice, to teach us that unconditional love & loyalty come from actions and not words.
This has been true in every shoot I have captured, more so in the maternity & newborn shoots that I've been called for.
Peggy - beautiful playful Peggy - was no exception to this.
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Sifat, (Peggy's Hooman Mom) had been in touch with me since 2020 to do a shoot. We were supposed to do Peggy's 1st birthday shoot in 2020, but due to the COVID lockdown in India, we missed that opportunity. Then, one day, I got a text from her saying that they were expecting a baby & would love a shoot once he was born! I jumped in my seat & we started planning right away. We thought that a newborn shoot would be perfect, but once again, COVID hit India hard & we entered the 2021 lockdown.
Finally, December 2021 we got the opportunity & grabbed it with both hands. If a Christmas shoot is what it was going to be then a Christmas shoot it was!
With the tree decked up, everyone dressed with Christmas attire, we finally managed to do a shoot of Peggy & her baby brother - Ayden.
Ayden was so cooperative even with his cold & Peggy even more so! She would give baby Ayden kisses when he was crying / uncomfortable & would let us lay Ayden on her for as long as we needed to for the shot.
Peggy was terrified of the tree in the beginning, but stepped up into her big sister role, got over her fear & by the end of our session, was sitting under & walking around the tree like it was just another piece of furniture. Go Peggy!
I have been following Prathima since forever and have been a great fan of her work & I knew if I ever did get a dog I would approach her for my dogs photoshoot. We got Peggy in 2020 and wanted to do her photoshoot around that time but because of the lockdown and my pregnancy we decided to delay it a little. Thank god I did because I don't think I would ever be able to find anyone who would have been so amazing with my baby and Peggy. I was told that children get really cranky during these photoshoots but Prathima was quick to get tons of photos of my son and Peggy both. She was done way before he got cranky. I was worried that we would have to use tons of treats with Peggy but Prathima was efficient in using treats too. Also, Peggy was super scared of the Christmas tree and I did try to get her comfortable but failed. Prathima literally managed to do that in an hour! 😂 Absolutely loved all her photos & we wish we could keep them all. - Sifat Shah
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