Sasha, The Bull Terrier (Click to enlarge)
Let’s talk about compelling. I am very lucky to have been allowed to surround myself with very talented writers, painters and artists of all manner of media and design. This weekend I had occasion to meet with one of those people. She tried to assist me with making my work marketable to the generic pet loving public for resale. I keep coming back to the descriptive word compelling as it’s what drives me to choose my shot plan as well as what I use as criteria for pointing our customers to those proofs for their homes. I share this with you because it helps us segue to what makes things compelling and to whom we wish to be compelling. Compelling is my word, not the word of my artist acquaintance, but from her advice I see that this is something like beauty. We all know the problem with that word, as it’s an individual thing. Such is the problem with compelling, I’m afraid.
Compel: To drive or urge forcefully or irresistibly (am I the only one who still uses Webster’s?). For me it comes from the gut or hip (depending upon whether I’m thinking or shooting 
). It is a force which makes me sure this is the one. I know some struggle with these decisions and sometimes ask me to make them for them. Is this what makes it correct? I think not. When a photographer is being juried for contests or gallery exhibits, a panel will make those decisions. Technical factors are clearly objective in nature. Few could argue with the up or down votes based upon those factors. But there is more, and it has to do with what makes a photograph compelling. For your home gallery you may find many more images compelling to you based upon the subject. That’s my dog (cat, bird, horse, child, spouse, you fill in the blank) so I find the image compelling, or beautiful.
This weekend (what a busy weekend I had!) I was contacted by a friend concerning one of my photographs of her dogs that she had juried to be featured in a breed calendar. Of course she did this with my permission. It was returned to her doctored with kindergarten graphics added to the background because the jury felt it had too much negative space “for the masses”. To compensate, they felt the need to apply what they called “pizazz” and what I would call crap to the simple background with just the right amount of negative space. Of course they asked for my permission to publish. Of course I denied them permission. But this raises the issue of the day.
This past month we have been talking about pet photography…in more general terms. To improve your pet photography you may want to make audience decisions. I have been trying to share what I know about pet photography for a little wider audience. My current audience is you. Pet owner. My studio audience is the family. I have been able to please many of you because you found the subject to be compelling. This blog was started to share tips for better pet photography for your pet(s). But some of you may want to explore an even wider audience as I am doing now. And for this audience we must discuss the compelling nature of the photographs. I invite you to participate in this discussion. Perhaps we have left the juried decisions to people who have taken for granted that their expertise makes the image compelling. What do you think?
In the midst of our discussion, let’s not forget our image of the day, Sasha. A gorgeous Bull Terrier. Is she compelling to you? Is this image? Exif: 1/250, f11, ISO 100
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