The W's of Pet Photography, Part I: What is Pet Photography?
Beautiful Louie hamming it up in a pop-up studio setting
The W’s of Pet Photography
You’ve thought about it. You’ve seen photographs of dogs in some beautiful outdoor setting or in studio. It’s so cute, sure, but is it for me? Is it for my pet? What even is pet photography and why is it any different from our routine family photos? Why should I consider a portrait of my pet?
In this series of blog posts, I’m going to get deep into the questions of pet photography—What is pet photography, really? Who is it for? Who should take them? Why have professional photographs of my pets? Where would we even take them? When in the year, when in their lives, when in my life should we take them? And one non-w— how—how would my dog, cat, even chicken be suitable for pet photography?
These are all great questions that we can take a bit of a deep dive into so you can decide—is pet photography something that I should share with my pet?
We’ll start with the most basic question:
What Even Is Pet Photography?
That’s the big question of this section—what is pet photography? It’s so important to name and define what we’re talking about when we’re talking about, well, anything. Pet photography is the visual documentation, though candid or formal portrait, focusing on either the physical and emotional form of our pet animal, or the human-animal bond we share with our pet.
It might be helpful to say what pet photography isn’t—the inclusion of our pets in our family photos. While our pets are part of our family, we often include them in photographs without making them the subject of our photographs. Of course its wonderful to include our pets in our family pictures—they are part of our family. But often with family pictures we’re focusing on the bonds between human family members, or the growth of our family over years. Yes, our animals are part of that documentation, but they aren’t the focus of documentation.
Pet photography focuses on the animal or the connection we share. We’re looking for what makes our dog so special—that little glance our pup always gives when dad walks in the room; the way our cat smiles with just her eyes when we pet her; even the way that chickens interact with each other! That’s the focus of pet photography, capturing that small thing that makes your pet an individual, so you can have that documented forever.
Pet Photography is a true subset of portrait photography
This is something that I should probably just clarify—pet photography is a real thing—yes, really! This is a subset of portrait photography where the photographer should ideally undergo some training and time to hone their expertise in capturing animals and the human-animal bond. While there is no accreditation for pet photography (yet) through Professional Photographers of America (PPA), it is a fast growing portrait subset. PPA recently began including animals as a distinct category for image competition. Additionally, in 2019, pet photographers in America created the Animal Image Makers conference to accredit pet photographers. I am presently working on my accreditation through AIM to show my commitment to perfecting pet portraits right here in Acadiana.
So that’s it for this W—pet photography focuses on the physical and emotional side of our animals and/or the bonds we share with them. And it’s a legitimate subset of portrait photography that is fast growing, with talented photographers across the globe documenting our animals and our relationships with them.
coming up Next: why pet photography?
Marissa and Emerson sharing a moment showing the human-animal bond
Kiba posing to show both his form and engaged personality.
