I put together a quick video detailing some of my recent work to use in various spots around the ‘net. Enjoy!
2019 in review: 2020 in preview
This is a brief look back at the last year as a photographer, and a look ahead at new and exciting projects.
TOO LONG
DIDN’T READ
2019: Filled with a great deal of photographic and professional growth, as well as some serious personal trials.
2020: Hang onto your hats. You don’t want to miss this.
Whew. What a year. I guess everyone says that, but, well, it was.
One year ago I found myself writing a blog post detailing my hopes and plans for 2019. I’m thrilled to be able to say that I was able to achieve them all. I taught myself studio photography, I learned how to capture action with strobes, I hosted my first photography workshop (with the always-amazing Claudio Piccoli), I was able to develop my business and I was able to further hone my style and photographic skills.
first foray into studio photography
Viva the Malinois showed us her very best house elf impersonation at her shoot. Don’t worry, we got plenty of elegant photos as well.
The biggest goal I set for myself was to learn studio photography. Before ~February 2019, I’d never touched a strobe/flash/speedlight before, let alone used them in my work. I had avoided them up until this point because I was intimidated by them. I was nervous about finding myself at the bottom of the learning curve all over again. But I decided to bite the bullet and dedicate myself to learning another skill.
Now, I can’t get enough of it! I think I’ve taken to it pretty well. I find much of it intuitive and exciting to learn. Though, periodically, I find myself missing the days when I could show up to a photo shoot armed with nothing more than my camera and a lens or two. Now, packing for a shoot, my poor tiny car is filled to the brim with equipment which takes me ages to organize, pack, set up, tear down, etc. Ah well! It can’t be all good.
coloured powder
No write-up of my 2019 photography would be complete without mentioning coloured powder photography. At the very start of 2019, a small group of friends (+their very talented dogs) and I organized a coloured powder photo shoot, and the images quickly took off and were seen by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. I’ve learned a lot as I continue to practice using this unusual medium. I work hard to ensure that my art sets itself apart, and my clients always enjoy the experience. I focus on a dog’s natural form, dynamic lighting, and a rich spectrum of colours in my work, and of course I always keep the safety of the subjects paramount in my mind.
Then & Now
I find it fascinating to compare these two photographs. I think they do a good job of contrasting where I started, and what I learned as I developed my skill. Both dogs are utterly stunning, but my early series suffered from flat and dull light, which I’ve tried to improve upon going forward.
National CBC Arts video feature
A piece about my work was released on the CBC. (This is our national Canadian broadcaster, for the non-Canadians in the room.) I worked with a producer & video crew for a few days to capture the footage they included in the video.
It was a bit surreal to have a piece about me be released because I still feel like a clueless young person who barely knows how to work a camera sometimes. Perhaps I’m not as clueless as I once thought I was. (I’m certainly not as young as I once thought I was!)
best shots of 2019
These are some of my favourite photos taken in 2019. Thank you so much to all my friends who have helped me create these vivid and striking images.
2020 resolutions
Wild at heart
A personal project for 2020 is to get more exotic/undomesticated animals in front of my lens in a studio environment. If you are the owner/handler of an exotic, undomesticated, tame animal, I welcome you to contact me to discuss potential modelling opportunities. Of particular interest are wild canids, big cats, birds of prey, exotic ungulates, but all are welcome. My studio is mobile and I can travel to a safe location for such a project.
More colour, more light, more action
I’ve fallen in love with the sunrise (perhaps to my models’ chagrin). The light and colour present with the rise of the sun is magical. Some of the best advice I was ever given when it came to photography was that “without great light, you cannot create great photos”. I will continue to sacrifice a bit of sleep to create the very best photos that I can.
Photo session highlight: Random and Hazzard
Dalmatians are a stoic and elegant breed…
This double Dalmatian photo session with Hazzard & Random was absolutely amazing from start to finish.
It started with an early morning wake up and a trip to nearby dog-friendly facility for a sunrise shoot in the brush. Then we had a walk around the property, stopping at half a dozen spots along the way to photograph against different backdrops.
Then we moved on to action! Restrained recalls in the fields led to some amazing silly faces and energy.
Next, it was family portraits of the whole crew laughing and cuddling together.
Then we moved indoors to a nearby arena to my mobile studio, where we set up truly stunning portraits in rich and dynamic lighting.
And finally we ended the day with some messy fun. We broke out the powder in each of the dog’s characteristic colours with the intention of creating a large piece of wall art to display proudly at home.
This is just a small example of some of the amazing images we captured this day. Seriously, I love every single shot from this day. I love it when clients opt to participate in these lengthy combination sessions! They’re so much fun, and the results speak for themselves.
Session highlights
10 Must-Have Dog Photos You Don't Want To Miss
Your relationship with your pets is amazing. The thousands of hours you’ve spent together should be commemorated. Life can be fragile and unpredictable, and sometimes our time spent with our pets is too fleeting. This is why it is so important to capture this relationship in photographs.
I’ve spent some time thinking back on some of my favourite “must-have” photos that help ease the pain of losing a beloved animal. As a pet photographer, I endeavor to capture as many of these special moments as I can for you when we work together, but many of these photos can also be captured by the novice photographer armed with a cell phone camera.
At the end of the day, you can’t have too many photos of your dog. But to make sure you’re getting the most out of it, here’s a list of things you probably don’t want to miss.
1. At least one amazing photo of you and your dog together each year
It’s not easy to take photos of you and your dog together. Most of the time you need to enlist in some outside help, and that help is not always easy to come by. Having a series of photos of you and your dog together over the years is an incredibly valuable thing to have, and definitely worth the extra effort required to capture them. Look back on them and marvel at how the two of you have changed together over time.
#1 - An amazing photo of you and your dog, year over year
2. Puppy photos!
Who doesn’t love puppy photos? While I’m always very happy to see my puppies grow out of the bite-everything phase and learn how to potty reliably outdoors, there’s no denying that puppies are cute. The puppy phase is fleeting, so make sure to take plenty of photos to look back on over the years.
I can’t get enough of those oversized paws, sweet eyes and clumsy run that all puppies seem to have.
#2 - Puppy photos!
3. Photos of your dog at play
Does your dog have a favourite toy? Perhaps they have a favourite sport or activity? Agility, nosework, hiking, swimming, tugging, playing fetch… Make sure to capture photos when your dog is full of joy and living life with exuberance. As our dogs age, they tend to play less; bodies get sore, energy levels become more easily depleted. But at their heart, dogs live to play. I personally adore capturing photos of dogs at their most active and excited. It poses a challenge, as it’s not terribly easy to create quality images of moving targets, but it’s tremendously rewarding when you’re able to do so. There’s a certain thrill associated with nailing the perfect action shot!
#3 - Dogs at play
4. Photos of your dog at rest
If your dog is anything like mine, rest doesn’t come easily to them when they’re out and about. Rather, photos of them at rest are best captured when you’re in the privacy and comfort of your own home. These peaceful moments are relatively easy to capture by a dog’s owner. And you get bonus points for capturing some hilarious sleeping positions.
#4 - Dogs at rest
5. Photos of your dog looking alert
Ears up, head cocked, eyes bright! We tend to most adore photos of our dogs looking engaged. It’s not always easy though. Some dogs seem to melt when they see a camera pointed in their direction. It can be stressful, especially for sensitive dogs. If this is the case, try taking photos from further away, and engage the help of a professional.
#5 - Dogs alert and happy
6. Photos of your dog running toward the camera
There’s a certain joie de vivre that is embodied on the face of your dog as he runs toward you. There’s a special sparkle in his eye, and his mouth is open in a smile that gets wider and wider the closer he gets to you. These photos of your dog in action like this can be something we cherish as our dogs slow down with age or illness. I love photos like this because they freeze a split second in time that we frequently miss if we’re observing it with our naked eye. And the occasional crazy face is always a bonus.
#6 - Running toward the camera
7. Photos of your dog in his or her favourite location
Your relationship with your dog is defined both by who your dog is, and what the two of you do together. Maybe you’re agility aficionados, or perhaps you have fond memories of waking up before dawn and hiking up a special trail on the weekends. I feel as if it’s important to capture images of your dog living in the world she inhabits, so that the photos represent entire memories and stories that you will be prompted to recall when looking at the photos at a later date. Adventure is calling!
#7 - At a favourite location
8. The walk
There’s something beautiful and poetic in a photo of you and your dog walking quietly down a forest path, or along the the beach. It’s a photo of two beings at peace, moving together as one in the beauty of nature. I find these shots are frequently cherished dearly by my clients, and are requested frequently during my consultation sessions. You may miss it “in real life”, but in photos, it’s frequently evident that both your dog and you turn into one another while walking along together. The subtle curve of the tail and dip of the shoulders is my favourite thing to see.
#8 - The walk
9. the little things
A close up shot of her nose as she rests her head on on your knee; his eyes as he looks at you hopefully when you cook bacon on a Sunday; the special little dance that she does when you grab her leash. It’s these little things that make up some of the most special moments between you and your dog, and they’re frequently a secret known only to you. Start writing down some of these special moments in a list to remind you to take the time to communicate these moments to your animal photographer, or to remind you to make a point of capturing these moments yourself.
#9 - The little things
10. Hire a professional at least once
There’s something to be said about working with a professional animal photographer. When you hire a pro, you’re hiring someone who understands the emotion behind the little details we see in our animals, and brings them to the forefront in images for you to look back on and cherish. We understand the deep love and connection between you and your pet, and we share that same deep love with our own animals. There’s no “oh, it’s only a dog” when you work with us because we understand there isn’t anything “only” about it.
When hiring a professional, look for someone who not only creates photos you love, but someone with whom you gel with on a personal level. When you work with a pro, you take the guesswork out of photography. You hire someone who understands the technical aspects of photography, printing and getting the most out of your images by displaying them in print.
“Why hire a professional?” could be a whole blog entry unto itself, so I am keeping this point brief here.
#11 - The power of print
BONUS
11. The power of print
To print a photograph gives it life. Don’t let your memories become forgotten, buried in a desk drawer on a USB key, or lost to the annals of time on a social media feed. Display your photos proudly in your home or office for all to see.
What do you think?
This is clearly not an exhaustive list! What more might you want to add, if you were talking about your dog? What types of photos have you found that you cherished most deeply, years later? I would love to hear your thoughts and input!
This blog post was inspired by the wonderful list written by Roxanne Hawn at Champion of My Heart, and is used with permission.
Behind the scenes - sunrise disc photo collaboration
I had the most magical sunrise photo shoot with the uncomparable photographer Claudio Piccoli and the amazing dog trainer Sara Brueske (and her equally amazing dogs). This day was one of those “dream come true” opportunities that only rear their head once in a blue moon.
I knew ahead of time that this was going to be a special day for me, so I arranged for some video coverage of the event! We brought in a drone operator to capture a portion of our shoot from the air, as well as coverage on the ground. Check out the video below!
I love how the images captured reflect the dynamic, rapidly changing light of sunrise.
This was a family affair. Both Claudio and I had some family present. Most of the shots below were captured with my daughter happily sitting on my back.
Sara was a trooper by hanging out in the water on this chilly September morning. Hats off to her! And thank you to EVERYONE who helped make this day happen. It was an absolute honour getting to meet and shoot alongside a true master like Claudio - not only is he immensely talented, but his energy is infectious.
This behind the scenes video is of an artistic collaboration between Jess Bell Photography and Claudio Piccoli Photographer, featuring the amazing disc talents of Sara Brueske & Bazinga. The two of us planned out this special sunrise photo shoot when Claudio visited me in Toronto earlier in September.
This still warms my heart. That’s my 2.5 daughter eating crackers on my back as I take photos with Claudio. She was nothing short of perfect this day. I love being able to involve my daughter on some of my shoots.
The photos!
