“I wish I had less photos with my dog” - said no one ever.
A few days ago I headed up to a local woods with Hanno (and the shutter pressing pro that is my Nan!) with one goal. I needed a photo of Hanno and I together. Not just one of our typical goofy selfies but an actual ‘big camera’ image, because I realised that we haven’t actually taken any proper photos together since he was a puppy, and he’s now seven. Now partly this was driven by a need for a nice photo for the website, but also I’ve realised recently that whilst it’s nice to look at all the professional photos I’ve taken of my own dogs there’s something missing. Me. Well not just me, but also capturing that bond I have with my dogs, because I spend pretty much my entire life around these dogs and very few photographs to show for it!
If you’ve ever competed with your dog you’ll know the feeling of going through photographer albums from shows only to feel a bit deflated that they didn’t capture anything of your dog. For me, the only photos I have with my dogs as adults are the ones others have captured at shows, and this is something I’m now on a mission to change.
It’s honestly quite rare on a portrait session for owners to want to be in the photos too. I ask ‘would you like some photos of you and insert dog name here as well?’ on the consultation call and typically the response of ‘oh gosh no insert reason here’ comes within nano seconds! I get it, your main focus when booking a portrait experience with me is to get beautiful portraits of your dog, that’s why you come to a dog photographer right? But honestly I wish more people would take up the opportunity to be a part of the session. There doesn’t have to be crazy levels of posing, you don’t even have to face the camera if you don’t want to, but to turn down the opportunity to capture natural interactions between yourself and your dog is something that can so easily become a regret. After all, if you decide you don’t want these images at the image reveal because there’s maybe something you’re self conscious about, no one is ever going to see them! But trust me when I say, you’ll probably fall in love with at least one of these natural moments between you and your dog.
When I head out to take photos of Raz I have my Nan with me to handle him as he finds the obedience of shooting alone too much in his old age. Yes I take lots of beautiful photos because he’s simply fabulous with his glamorous white ruff, but my favourite photos when I get home are always of those special moments between him and his Nani, the unposed moments that occur while she’s settling him into position or handing out the snacks.
Is there a barrier to entry when it comes to dog and handler outdoor portraits? Maybe. If you’re a chronic over thinker like me, you’re probably racing with questions. What should I wear? What poses are going to work for me and my dog? How can I best highlight our bond? What if my dog just doesn’t want to interact with me because the environment is more exciting? Can I demonstrate some of our skills? My dog is a show dog can I get some show stack images of us?
Firstly, all these questions can be answered within a consultation call, and also within our session guide that you’ll be sent at the enquiry stage. But as a simple summary:
Neutral clothes that compliment your dog and the environment work best, but not at the detriment of your own personal style!
Typically shots where your dog is standing or sitting while interacting with you look beautiful, as does walking away from the camera (great for those who are a little camera shy!), there’s honestly so many poses I’m not going to list them all here!
Taking a quiet moment with your dog typically makes a bond shine, how you naturally interact on a walk is perfect. There’s no complicated poses here, I promise that your bond will be clear in all the images.
Always the worry, your dog thinks the leaves, squirrels, me, my camera, my camera bag, literally anything, is way more interesting than you. It’s okay, main thing here is don’t panic or beg for attention because it’ll show in your face and then you’ll see it at the image review. There will be a natural moment during the session where your dog will check in with you and that is our opportunity to grab a few shots of quieter moments.
Maybe your dog is a trick star and we can absolutely capture this during the session!
I LOVE a reason to study a breed standard and highlight the physical qualities of a pedigree dog in a photograph, so yes we can absolutely get stacked images, we can even do a clothes change if you want to get dressed up for this!
Hopefully this blog has highlighted some of the reasons to be thinking about capturing your dog AND you within an outdoor portrait experience, I’m certainly super excited to get out in front of the camera with my own dogs this summer! Remember our dog's sadly can’t be with us forever, and life’s too short to be looking back and wishing we’d had more beautiful images with our dog. It doesn’t need to be stressful, take up much of the session time, or be complicated posing, it’s simply you and your dog sharing a moment in front of the camera.