Meet The Pack
Philip (Me)
With a passion for photography going back as long as I can remember I’m very privileged to be doing something I love for a living. After years of working in various photographic studios across Dublin, I decided to set up Philip Murray Photography in 2013. My other passion is doggies. Lovely furry waggly tailed doggies! Growing up with dogs my whole life and the proud owner of two woofers, Charlie and Zero (check them out below), I just can't get enough. I can't walk past a dog and not pet them. Using any
excuse to hang out with some more cuddly woofers, I work with many dog charities such as The Blue Cross, A Dog's Life, Sara Husky and Animal Rescue, The DSPCA and Angie's Ark Rescue and Rehoming. If you're reading this and work for any animal charities, please give me a shout. I'd happily donate some of my time help you out anyway I can.
Over the years, I’ve recognised that lots of families intend to book a family photoshoot but for various reasons, never actually get around to it. When asked why, the most common answer was that between the children’s after school activities and the parents’ different work schedules, organising a day to go to a studio proved too difficult.
It was then I realised the simple solution: I can bring the studio to you!
Using my portable studio now gives families and clients much more freedom when it comes to the time and location of their photoshoot.
Charlie
(My Favourite Dog)
Charlie is a 14 year old Jack Russell/Whippet Cross (well that’s what the vet reckons anyway, it’s hard to tell). She basically looks like a shrunken down whippet with a head of a Jack. Or like a normal sized whippet but really far away. She’s an absolute diva and will jump up on the couch to curl up with you any chance she gets. We found Charlie, or rather, Charlie found my Dad one day while he was playing golf about 13 years ago. Dad brought her home and the next day we brought her to our vet to see if she was chipped. She wasn’t. Charlie
didn’t have a collar but the vet noticed that the fur around Charlie’s neck was folded up where she clearly used to have one, so the vet figured that she was probably dumped at the golf course the previous day. It was around May/June and this is supposedly the prime ‘throw your dog away’ time for people who got a dog at Christmas and don’t want it anymore. Hoping this wasn’t the case, we put up some notices in the local shops around Greystones but no joy. So we decided to keep her! Obviously we had no idea what this little dog’s name was when we first found her but she was found at Charlesland Golf Course, so Charlie it was! Unlike Turk she is very smart. I don’t normally like to say one dog is dumb and one is smart but a classic example of her ‘smarts’ vs his ‘not-so-smarts’ is when they eat. When they finish, they lick their bowls clean. Every time Turk licks his bowl it moves forward a bit, and he continues to push the bowl over the garden. Charlie on the other hand, puts one paw in her bowl while she licks around it. Her bowl doesn’t go anywhere! Meanwhile, Turk’s bowl usually ends up under a bush.
Zero
(My Other Favourite Dog)
We got Zero in January 2017 from the lovely people at Cara Rescue. He's a pointer cross but we have no idea what the 'cross' is. He's slightly smaller than a regular pointer and his ears are slightly smaller too. Turk had just passed away and after having 2 dogs for so long, we couldn't have any less. Plus we could see how good it was for Charlie to have another dog around. We already had Turk when we got Charlie so it was now Charlie's turn to welcome a new dog to the family. However, somebody must have forgotten to tell Charlie
this as she was anything but welcoming to poor Zero. He was 4 months old when we got him and all he wanted to do was play. Charlie used to play all the time with Turk but he started to slow down near the end so they didn't play as much as they used to. But now that a new puppy was around we thought that Charlie would love the new playmate. But oh no, she was having none of it! Zero would constantly go up to her and start playing and she'd just sit there and growl and show her teeth. She'd never actually bite him and that was probably why Zero never gave up. He'd keep going up to her looking to play and she'd just sit there giving out like a grumpy old lady. We did worry for a while that they may never get on but then one day after about 2 weeks, it was like a switch was flicked and Charlie was up and jumping around with Zero and they've have been best friends ever since.
Turk
(My Other Favourite Dog)
At the time of writing this Turk is 14, which is pretty good going for a Springer Spaniel. I don’t want to say he’s stupid but…he has his own way of doing things and…he mightn’t be the smartest but I wouldn’t change him for the world. Bonkers doesn’t even begin to describe the type of dog he is. It’s a well-known fact that Springers are nuts and he is the poster dog for that title. He’s starting to slow down now but if 1 human year is 7 dog years, I don’t know how spritely I’d be at 98 either.
In his more youthful days, the only way to stop him running was to physically restrain him. But it’s not in the fields and the paths he runs, oh no, it’s through the bushes, whether they are thorn bushes or not, he’s jumping into them and carving his own path! I often have to put him back on his lead just until we get past the thorns just so he doesn’t do any (more) damage to himself. Turk has an unusually long tongue (as you can see in his photo) but this is never more obvious than when he’s running. One time while walking around Killiney Hill, Turk went missing. I decided to walk back the way I came to try find him and on my way back to the obelisk, I passed a woman and asked her if she had seen a Springer Spaniel running around on the top of the hill. She paused for a moment and replied: ‘Oh yes, there's springer up there with a massive tongue. He’s running around like a lunatic. That could be him!’. There was no doubt in my mind that was Turk.
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Every year I have a stand at Ireland’s Family Pet Expo in the RDS and I always bring Turk along with me for the weekend. In 2015 he won ‘Best Veteran' and 2016 he won ‘Best Rescue’. Look at him there with his Rosette.
What a handsome lad!
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Turk Passed away in January 2017 at the fine age of 15. The previous couple of years he had put on some weight. The kind of weight that creeps up on you and you don't notice until somebody who hasn't seen you in ages says 'Jaysus, I see you've put on a bit of weight.' So with a bit of a diet change and a few extra walks we got his weight back down. I took the photo above of him at the pet expo in October 2016 and when people who knew him would see it they'd say that he looked better than ever! That photo ended up being the last 'Studio' photo I took of him. Little did I know that less than 3 months later, we wouldn't be going for any more walks together. He was a great doggie and we miss him very much.
To see some more cute woofers check out the Pet Gallery
To see some fine good looking people check out the People Gallery