Who am I, and why on earth would you want to listen to me? As a professional, I am a budding Wedding Photographer, who has a varied photography background, primarily in animals and botanicals. I also do professional pet photography. I share my life with a variety of animals, most notably three adopted greyhounds: Bebe, Flippy Doo, and Sam.

I am actively involved in greyhound adoption through a nearby group. I got my start in photography early on, and my first and favorite subject was my Siberian Husky, who came into my life as a puppy when I was in the second grade. I have won a variety of awards for my photography, but my first and most meaningful, was a portrait of my Husky that won me a Grand Championship Ribbon at the Wisconsin State Fair, when I was in high school.

I began shooting manual thirty-five millimeter cameras at that early age. I was entirely self-taught, though recently I have added some specific photographic courses using digital SLR cameras, and am grateful to several mentors. In addition to my photography I’ve learned to enjoy digital artwork based on my photography.

My Muses

I’d like to introduce you to my current favorite subjects of inspiration, my own greyhounds. Bebe was the first to come into my life. When we first met, I had to wait for her to approach me, she was so shy. It’s been a joy to see her gradually come out of her shell.

Then Peatie came into my life. He started as a visitor as I grey-sat him over Christmas, the he returned to me permanently when his owners had to move. I sadly lost him to Lymphoma, November 5, but during his short life he had a significant impact on my life and on the lives of many hospice patients as a therapy dog.

Flippy was my third hound, with a special story. She was pre-adopted through a wonderful program, Follow That Hound, founded by Cathie and Bill Lambert of B&J Hounds in Jacksonville, Florida. It allows adopters to pre-adopt a puppy, and follow that puppy as it grows, trains, races, and eventually retires to their pre-adopters couch. It gives the adopter a fantastic opportunity to really see behind the scenes of the racing world, and it allows the racing owners to know their special hounds have good homes already waiting for them.

And last, but certainly not least, is our newest addition, Sam, who came home in Mid-November. He wasn’t a replacement for Peatie, but he has been helping me heal. And that is a mighty important and big job to fill, one he has been amazing at.

Throughout this series I will cover some of the major points of pet photography. I will discuss lighting, positioning, personality, action shots, the selection of settings, and the use of props. I will also be open to answering the questions of our readers if there are expressed interests in other aspects of pet photography.

I look forward to writing future installments, and hope that you will find them helpful, and hopefully even entertaining at times, because to photograph pets, you first and foremost need a sense of humor, and you’ll get to learn through some of my mistakes and experiences.