I’ve deliberately chosen to mainly focus on selling dog photography artwork instead of digital files, and I’m constantly reminded why I chose this.
This morning as I leaned back in my chair, I glanced up at a large piece of dog photography artwork in my office and smiled. I remembered the night we created the above photo—it was a whirlwind. We had a very short window of time, and the tunnel of lights behind Mavis was blinking unpredictably. I had to light Mavis properly but didn’t yet know which lens I would use or where to place her. This was all planned at the last minute, leaving me just time to grab my camera bag.
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Finding the back entrance to the park display where the tunnel of lights was took up valuable time. We finally got in place, and as I took a few test shots, the coordinator of the light show told us we had to leave for the light show to start. Apparently, the park couldn’t begin the show until it was completely cleared of people, even at the exit. We understood, laughed about the chaos, and returned to our cars. I wasn’t sure if I had even captured a usable image until I got to my computer. Thankfully, I did. It wasn’t perfect, but I loved it enough to create a large piece of artwork. My clients and I still laugh about that night—scrambling around, shouting, “shine the light on Mavis,” and getting in trouble for staying too long. It’s a fun story we still share.
This is what physical art does for you. It brings back the memory of the entire photoshoot. You remember driving there, being worried about whether your dog would behave or listen to you. Then you started to relax, realizing it didn’t matter if your dog was perfect because, in our eyes, they always are. You recall how excited your dog was when they figured out that doing what we wanted meant cheers and treats. You laughed until your stomach hurt. You felt so proud when they sat on that stump or charged towards us at 100 mph, with excited eyes, tongue lolling, and ears flapping. All of us cheering when we captured that perfect shot
I feel this way about every piece of pet photography artwork in my office – they all have precious memories, and I remember all the details of every photoshoot I do.
This is the difference between flicking through photos on your phone and truly stopping to look at the artwork of your dog, savouring all the memories it stirs up. This is why I’ll always have a preference to create Dog Photography Artwork rather than just sell the digital files.