Pet photoshoots and what I see vs what you see

Pet photoshoots vision gift or a curse?

I spend my life walking round looking at the world as if it were a pet photoshoot. (sad I know) To the point I’m sure my friends and family are bored of me saying “Oh my word that would be an awesome spot for a shoot”. They often look in disbelief at what I am looking at and say are you for real?! Pet photoshoots locations live in my brain rent free.

When speaking to clients I always ask where they would like us to do the shoot and often suggest their favourite place. Sometimes they respond with well I’m not sure there is anywhere that is pretty enough. Believe me there is always somewhere that will look great.

My latest doggy holiday in North Norfolk

I am recently back off my holiday with my dogs so I thought I would use some examples. We were staying on the coast which obviously involved a lot of beach action. I like to spot interesting backdrops or complimentary backdrops. Needless to say my friends were getting quite impatient when I kept making them stop every 5 seconds to pose the dogs. There were lots of interesting spots. I have tonnes of photographs of my dogs running on beaches etc, so I wanted something different.

These are the results

Pet Photoshoots black and white photography
Mr Red the happy guy

I spotted these lovely remains of sea defences and knew what I wanted to do instantly. Needless to say Red was all too willing to pose in position and spy through the gap. I genuinely think my friends thought I had finally lost it when I was snapping but I love the result. I love how Red seems to see my vision too when posing! haha

North Norfolk dog beach
Nuka will grow into her ears one day

Next was what I called my mermaid rock. I loved how it just sat on its own on the wide expanse of beach so obviously I had to put a dog on it. Unfortunately the wind wasn’t playing ball with Nuka’s naughty ears. However I kind of like her flappy ears as it sums her up, so I didn’t edit them with normal ears.

Dog photoshoot on beach
This dog is the David Gandy of the dog world I swear

After the ear debacle I brought the pro model back in. There were these lovely orangey cliffs along one stretch of the beach so I sent Red off to do some rock climbing. I love how the cliffs compliment his colours and think he looks fab with his super serious stare.

pet photoshoots
The gang

I couldn’t go on holiday without a group shot. Again, I didn’t want the generic look at us all sitting on the beach photo so found another piece of broken sea defence. Perfect, it put the dogs at the right height to see the sea and sky behind them which made them all stand out beautifully. Jelly (far right) truly hates photo sessions, can you tell?

What about when I really can’t find a background I want?

In one of my recent shoots there was a ship wreck just off shore on a piece of land. The owner jokingly said wouldn’t it be great if we could pose him in the wreck. I didn’t laugh, I just turned to her and said we can. She looked concerned as I turned my gaze to the isolated ship wreck and started snapping.

The wreck

I turned back and said all done. My poor client looked confused and I reassured her she’d understand.

Pet photoshoot in suffolk
Buddy the pirate dog

The client loves the shot and it will soon be adorning her wall in pride of place.

Then we have the gorgeous Lily the farm dog. I was at the farm photographing horses and I couldn’t not snap this. I obviously couldn’t choose the background as Lily chose it and in my haste to capture the moment I cut off her feet. A little bit of editing and the unslightly background is repaired and she has feet again.

Magic can happen but I only use it when necessary. Talk to me about your shoot and I can check out the location for potential, but there is beauty everywhere if you care to look.

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Around the circle

I am part of an amazing group of pet photographers from around the globe that participate in this weekly blog circle. Simply click on the link and go on a journey from blog post to blog post until you end up back here.

Next up is the lovely Tracy Allard

Animal photographer Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography shows how she makes the most of any location in and around the Dallas – Fort Worth metroplex to create beautiful pet portraits.

8 Replies to “Pet photoshoots and what I see vs what you see”

  1. I love the image with the dog in front of the shipwreck. You did a great job compositing that together. It’s so great to hear the the owner loves it too and it’s going to go up on her wall.

  2. hahaha I’m so glad to not be alone with the constant uncontrollable location scouting inside my brain. I even swap lenses in my head and will be so wrapped up scanning the area with my mental lenses, that I can totally miss half the conversation I’m in the middle of.

    The shipwreck image is awesome!

  3. So clever to edit the pup into the ship wreck and the image of Lily holding the feather is amazing, what a capture! I have to admit, in my haste to grab the perfect in the second the dog is doing some incredible, I often cut off the feet too – luckily I’ve gotten quite adept at “reattaching them” shall we say LOL.

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