Beverly Hills hotel shoot showcases Rhian’s pooch photo cards to famous owners
Pampered pooches made it a paw-fect trip for Rhian Ap Gruffydd when the photographer and card publisher flew over to Hollywood recently for a week’s work at an exclusive hotel.
The Gruff Pawtraits founder was invited to set up her studio at The Maybourne, sister hotel to London’s Claridges and The Berkeley, to capture perfect pics of pooches from around Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Malibu for prints and greeting cards – and there may have been a few famous names among her clients!
“It’s a super dog-friendly hotel,” Rhian told PG Buzz, “and people in Beverly Hills are super dog-friendly too. Most of the dogs are frequent visitors to the hotel as it has a lovely terrace for dinner and coffees.
“I was blessed that the hotel provided me with a fabulous suite complete with my own Gruff Pawtraits freshly-made dog biscuits daily for the pooches, and Champagne and refreshments for everyone else.”
Rhian has spent over 20 years working as a London-based portrait and reportage photographer working for magazine and newspapers and across Africa for charities, and got into snapping dogs by accident when she used a model’s pet as a stand-in to check the lights at a shoot, and loved the resulting picture.
After using some of the images for friends’ cards she now has a full range of greeting card designs featuring gorgeous dogs of many different breeds.
Her US trip was highlighted on the Uncover LA website with the tagline: “Head to The Maybourne Beverly Hills to get your dog’s pic professionally taken for a good cause – and for some seriously cute holiday greeting card content.”
A percentage of the £240 ($295) fee for each private appointment was donated to LA dog rescue Wags And Walks. As Rhian explained: “I was photographing around eight dogs a day for five days and at the start we had a lovely brunch launch party. It was a great experience to see how people warm to Gruff Pawtraits in America, there are some shops already stocking my cards over there but I’d like more.”
“The thing I loved most was the variety of different dogs – from hairless to husky! Some were dog models, some were dog actors, and some even came with dog nannies. There were a few NDAs in there too, so the dog walker would bring the pooch, but they’d signed a non-disclosure agreement so couldn’t reveal the dog’s owner!”
Top: The exclusive Maybourne hotel was Gruff Pawtraits’ base for a week
