Dog tired! Baby Matilda snuggles with four sleeping Chihuahuas (but photographer admits dreamy shot was a bit of a nightmare)

By Mail Foreign Service


Baby's best friend: Eight-day-old Matilda rests her head on a sleeping Chihuahua puppy in this heartwarming shot by portrait photographer Richard Barry

This heartwarming photograph, of an eight-day-old baby nestling in for a sleep with four five-week-old puppies, was five hours in the making.

Photographer Richard Barry captured the endearing image after a stressful photoshoot in a room at the home of newborn Matilda's family.

Mr Barry, 44, who specialises in baby portrait photography, said: 'The objective was to get the baby and the chihuahua puppies all asleep on a beanbag at the same time.

It is undoubtedly the most difficult photo I have ever taken.

'The baby's grandmother had won a prize on my website for a free photo shoot and she gave it to her daughter. I jumped at the opportunity because I used to work at the RSPCA, and animals and babies are two of my favourite photographic subjects.'

Mr Barry, 44, from Perth, Australia, said the most difficult thing was getting them all to sleep at the same time.

He added: 'At five weeks, the puppies were far more lively than I expected at that age. Baby Matilda was also in quite a lively mood!

'We turned up the heating in the room we were using as a studio, and Matilda's mum Jessica managed to get her asleep. We had seven puppies to choose from, all in a box.

'And as they fell asleep as well, I carefully lifted four of them out.'

It took Mr Barry about 30 attempts to get all four pups onto the bean bag beside Matilda, without waking them or the baby.

He added: 'The final image was captured in just two frames, and catches the moment Matilda leant in to one of the puppies. One second later the puppy woke up, and the shoot was over.'


source:dailymail