The anticipation and excitement of an upcoming pet portrait photography session always whirls through my body as I’m driving to a client’s home. This time, I was driving to Amy and her Husband James’ home to photograph FOUR of their pets. Daisy, their stunningly gorgeous black coated poodle. Little miss Dolly, a Cavapoo with lashes that go for days. Squirt, an affectionate gray cat with gleaming yellow eyes. And Coconut, a stunningly gorgeous Calico Siamese mix.
When I arrived, Daisy and Dolly were in rare form, jumping and begging for pets and attention. Amy and James had already positioned their couch back, which we had determined needed to be done during our consultation. I was ready to begin setting up! Bringing in and setting up my equipment takes roughly 20-30 minutes, depending on the setup. In this case, I used my 6 foot white backdrop and two light setup.
Once everything is ready to go, I always begin by introducing my camera and flash to the pets, away from the backdrop, with treats. I use positive reinforcement by clicking the flash, and rewarding them with a treat. Once they show complete comfort with this, I move on to placing treats on my trigger, and seeing if I can get them to eat it off the camera. Once they do this, I know me and my camera are in! Here is a video clip of this process!
The flow of every session is different. I very much like to feel the energy of the pet and person, and go from there. Every pet is so unique and different. The positions and poses that work for one pet, may not work for another. That’s why I go with whatever the pet is bringing to the table, and work WITH them rather than working from a predetermined shot list.
Dolly was such a little ball of energy, that I found the approach that worked best with her was capturing her excitement with little direction. Miss Dolly had her own plans and ideas of how her shoot was going to go! Daisy displayed athleticism and beauty that was such a gift to capture. Her dad James assisted with the treat throwing so we could capture fun shots full of movement. Finally, Squirt and Coconut made their entrance, and were actually quite interested in what was going on. One of my favorite moments was when Squirt grabbed the Churu tube from my hands with his little paws to bring it to his face! All four of them brought something delightful and unique to the table, which is why I love shoots where I get to work with multiple and diverse pets! The images captured during this session have been some of my favorites to date, and it was an honor and joy to photograph this beautiful furry family!
