The big black eye of doom

Being a dog photographer can be a tricky endeavor; even the best of dogs can become unglued having a huge eye staring at them. My body posture is frozen and I have direct eye contact which both portray the wrong message. There have been several instances when I have had to act very quickly to diffuse a situation. Sometimes it is a dog that I have set up a shoot with; other times have been at a dog park or beach.

When I'm at a park I typically single out a dog to follow with my lense. One time my subject was a weimaraner; he had no idea I was shooting him which is what makes for great shots. Kneeling down in the park and watching him intently through my big lense everything changed in an instant. All of a sudden he caught me in his peripheral vision; his attention veered from other dogs to me. This is where I have to watch a dogs body language closely.

Often a dog will notice me and head my way to investigate; then there are dogs who get their ears up, have intense eye contact and are coming at me straight on. I look for signs of apprehension; this is can be the slightest change in posture that tells me the dogs is a bit afraid of me. I quickly lower my camera, turn to the side and slowly walk away or pretend I'm interested in something off in the distance.

It has always worked; I have never (knock on wood)been in a situation that went too far. Probably a quarter of my shoots are interupted by a sit on the ground session. This is when the dog is becoming anxious; I've been staring at them for alongtime and they need to see a human behind the lense. Typically I sit on the ground, turn away from them and let them do the once over sniff of me.

They have already done the sniff test in the beginning but many need the reassurance of doing it again; midway. Sometimes I will see the trying to smell me; trying to read something from the air around me. I will do the ground sit then as well; let them give the camera a once over and whatever they feel the need to smell.

I will usually at this point put on my big lense; this lets me get nice and close without having to get close. I probably use my big lense 80% of the time unless I am wanting some scenery in the photo; then I must use my wide angle lense.

Dog photography is a sort of like a body language dance; action, reaction so to speak. To get good shots the dogs must be relaxed which means often my big black eye of doom must veer away to save the day.