A happy place

I remember an amazing shoot I had several years ago, dog and horses. Deep in the canyon surrounded by nature and animals; what could be better. Well for this photographer with a passion for animals, nothing. Standing still, quietly taking in the surroundings and watching; it was beautiful. The animals were happy and I certainly was happy.

When I get the priviledge to shoot horses, I am thrilled. With my busy schedule shooting dogs it can be hard to fit all the animals in. But horses is something I'm hoping to change in the near future. In my opinion horses are one of the most beautiful animals you can photograph. They stand alone in an image and they are true natural beauty. They are very different from dogs to photograph; but a flawless subject to shoot.

So far all the dogs I have shot for my book have been very happy and content. You can see the bond they have with their guardian; being able to view this from the sidelines has been pretty impactful. When an animal; be it a dog, cat, pig or horse is in a good and happy place, the result is great photos.

This is the reason I love shooting where dogs are happiest; environmentally speaking that is. Right now my three dogs are very happy curled up together on my bed. Actually I have shot several dogs on their guardians beds and those were amazing photos. So having animals in their happy place produces wonderful images. The type of image that when you look at there is no denying that this is a happy dog.

The moments do arise rarely when a dog is just not comfortable having a giant black eye staring at them and that is when my behavior experience kicks in. At the first sign of uncomfortable I switch gears, take a break, put down my camera and sit on the ground with the dog.

A true passion.