🍂 Autumn adventures & our love for green spaces
By now, you’re probably fed up with reading about how much we love autumn here at RAW Photography Manchester! The crisp air, golden leaves, cosy jumpers and that gorgeous soft light that makes everything look just a little bit more magical. And when it comes to outdoor dog photography, we reckon autumn is pretty hard to beat.
The colours provide a beautiful natural backdrop, the cooler temperatures are much more comfortable for our four-legged friends, and there’s nothing quite like capturing a dog having the time of their life amongst the fallen leaves.
This month, we've been making the most of the season, meeting some lovely dogs, trying our hand at a little videography and taking a closer look at one of our favourite places in Heywood.
So, grab yourself a brew, get comfy and let's catch up!
🐶 Autumn Tails: Meet Baxter, Arnie & Ellie
Autumn has given us some lovely opportunities to get out with our cameras and meet more wonderful dogs and their humans.
Baxter & Arnie – Two Terrier Brothers
First up, we had the pleasure of photographing Baxter, a five-year-old Border Terrier with a particular fondness for gravy bones!
Baxter is an incredibly friendly little chap who absolutely loves people. Cats, on the other hand? Well, let's just say it’s best if he doesn’t spot them 😅
His brother Arnie joined him for his session, making it a proper family affair.
Baxter's owners wanted some beautiful photographs to celebrate the special bond they share. They are practically inseparable, spending pretty much every waking moment together, and we think that's a lovely reason to have professional photographs taken.
After all, photography isn't always about marking a big occasion. Sometimes, it's simply about celebrating the everyday relationships that mean the most to us.
And if those relationships happen to involve a Border Terrier with an appetite for gravy bones, even better!
Ellie – A Very Special Lurcher
We also had the pleasure of meeting Ellie, a beautiful ten-year-old black-and-white Lurcher.
Ellie's family arranged her photography session following some difficult news: Ellie had been diagnosed with cancer.
Understandably, they wanted to capture some lovely photographs of their girl and celebrate everything she means to them.
We're keeping everything crossed for Ellie and hope she can get better ❤️🩹
Sessions like Ellie's remind us how important photographs can be. Our dogs are such a huge part of our lives, and having beautiful images of them, showing their personalities and all those little things we love about them, is something we can treasure for years to come.
We're sending lots of positive thoughts to Ellie and her family and hoping for good news soon.
🎬 Lights, Camera, Queen's Park!
We've been trying something a little different recently!
As much as we love photography (and that’s a lot!), we've also started playing around with videography, exploring how moving images can tell stories in a different way.
And where better to experiment than one of our favourite local spots, Queen's Park in Heywood?
We're incredibly lucky to have this beautiful park right on our doorstep. It's somewhere we never seem to tire of visiting, whether we're out with the cameras, enjoying a walk or simply taking in our surroundings.
Of course, being in Greater Manchester, we can't always rely on glorious sunshine!
But that's part of the charm. Queen's Park has something to offer whatever the weather, from those bright, crisp autumn mornings to the slightly moodier days when the clouds roll in.
Armed with our cameras and a few ideas, we decided to see what we could capture on video.
Rather than telling you all about it, though, we thought we'd let the footage do the talking.
What do you think? We might just have caught the videography bug!
More Than Just a Park: Why Our Green Spaces Matter
All this time spent filming and photographing Queen's Park got us thinking about something bigger.
Just how important are our local green spaces for local communities?
Living in Heywood, with a busy city like Manchester not too far away, it's easy to appreciate having somewhere green to escape to. But the more time we spent in Queen's Park, the more we started noticing just how many different people use and enjoy it.
There's the dog walkers getting their daily steps in (and probably stopping for a few sniff breaks along the way), families enjoying some fresh air together, friends catching up over a cuppa at the café, volunteers helping out with local events, children making the most of the playground, and youngsters putting their skills to the test on the new BMX track. And then there are the people who simply come to enjoy a peaceful walk, clear their heads or spend a bit of time outdoors.
It's fascinating how one place can mean so many different things to different people.
For some, it's somewhere to exercise. For others, it's a chance to socialise, spend quality time with family or enjoy a moment of peace.
That's what makes local parks so valuable. They're not just patches of grass and a few trees. They're spaces where communities come together, and wildlife thrives.
It inspired us to put together a little piece about Queen's Park: what it has to offer, the people who use it and why it means so much to the locals.
Here's a little snippet of what we've been working on.
You can read the full article here.
We'd love to know what you think, too.
Are you a regular at Queen's Park? What's your favourite thing about it? Perhaps it's somewhere you walk your dog, take the children or meet up with friends.
Or maybe there's another green space in Heywood or Greater Manchester that holds a special place in your heart?
We'd love to hear about it!
Until Next Month...
And just like that, we're approaching the end of another year!
Seriously, where does the time go? It feels like we were only just welcoming the warmer weather, and now we're surrounded by autumn leaves, darker evenings and the first hints of Christmas on the horizon.
It's certainly been lovely taking a moment to appreciate the little things this month: the wonderful dogs we've met, the joy of trying something new and the amazing places we have right here on our doorstep.
Before we sign off, we'd also like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Whether you're American and celebrating the occasion or not, we think it's a beautiful tradition. Taking a little time to appreciate the people, places and things that make life good is something we can all get behind.
And with that, we're off to make the most of what's left of autumn!
Until next time,
Callum, Roxane, Vixie, & Miss BunnyPenny at RAW Photography Manchester
