Roux & Scrappy (Click to enlarge)
I remarked to an aspiring group of pet photographers I spoke with a few weeks ago that before you’re a pet photographer you are a photographer. Pet qualifies photographer. I say this because we bring all our life skills, experiences and moods into the studio or on the set or in the field when we photograph. We bring our talents and our foibles. We bring our hearts, souls and our feelings. You may think saying this is superfluous to photography, and I say, au contraire mon amis, because before we are photographers we are human persons.
We’ve received frightening news regarding the health of a family member recently. The news has touched all close members as well as those in the periphery. Emotions radiate and spread to the periphery of the periphery, and the frailty of life that is forever in our midst occasionally becomes the main character on our set. Animals do not bother to worry about such things as life-spans or even illness if there is no pain. If a dog approaches a bridge she does not think about crossing or what happens on the other side; she crosses if she wants. It happens in the now. Good smells? Then I’m going! Now. There is no trip-planning.
Which brings me to Roux and Scrappy, 12 and 11 years old respectively. Their owner is a gentle loving man who loves these two people immensely and does plan a future. He arrived at the studio with Roux, an American Bull Dog and Scrappy, a Red Nose Pit Bull, in tow. Roux is beginning to show some age and is definitely not the gal she was in her prime years, but she worries not. She still gets into the occasional tiff with Scrappy and she still thinks she’s the alpha dog. She waits for her home cooking and forays about in her yard, but does not worry about what is happening on the other side of the bridge. A blessing.
Roux and Scrappy’s dad wanted to be sure to have that loving documentation that humans desire. It conjures those feelings of warmth that we remember while looking at that photographic representation. It is not only a picture of our pets. It is the depiction of the profound love we share with our pets. Take many photos. Write many words, for in the timelessness of our love resides the reality that we are human persons first.
Exif: 1/250, f11, ISO 200. As always, please comment on my post and/or photo or post something of yours. You may notice something about the crop that I’ve always said not to do. Can you tell me what it is? And can you tell me why I presented it like this? Be safe, mon amis.
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