Dashing dog
Every so often I get a legacy job from one of my old clients that takes me away from the pressure of shooting architecture or high end residential property. Dogs Trust are one of my regulars, and I’ve actually done a fair bit of stuff for them this year. I was therefore delighted when I was asked to head down to North Yorkshire to photograph an ex-rescue, youthful Lurcher called Dasher in-situ at his new home for Wag Magazine – the quarterly publication produced by the charity to keep contributors and sponsors up to date with how their donations are being used.
These jobs can be quite challenging to newcomers. Dogs Trust went through a period of using volunteers to carry out PR shoots in order to save money, but I think it wasn’t a great success as the requisite skills and equipment tend to be those belonging to press photographers rather than dog-loving hobbyists. Working with dogs is an exercise in patience, creativity, and a complete knowledge of the technical aspects of photography in order to be able to shoot sharp, properly focused, well-exposed images inside and outdoors.
The owners were very welcoming, and I had a well-deserved cup of tea after a long, delay-ridden drive. They had a dog-trainer in attendance – a young girl who had been working with Dasher since he’d arrived. She had made great progress working with the family, and Dasher was a lovely young lad who was true to his breed – always on the lookout for something to chase, always on the lookout for food to steal, and always on the lookout for somewhere to crash out in comfort. As he was pretty relaxed when I got there, we started indoors.
There wasn’t a specific brief to follow, so I decided to go with about 7 or 8 different scenarios, and just run with things. As you can see, Dasher didn’t pose a problem when relaxed, and I could move around him to shoot anything I wanted using flash bounced from the ceiling generally. There was some lovely sunlight streaming in through the back windows, so I also took advantage of that by using it as a backlight in some of the interior images. I got the owners and trainer involved, and shot a few lovely frames by getting them to interact. One consideration that hobbyists never make, is the requirement to shoot certainporrtait oriented images with a block of dark or light colour in a space that would be populated by type on a magazine cover.
When we headed outdoors, Dasher changed into a dog befitting his name. He’s a big, lolloping mutt, and it was easy getting action shots in the back garden using treats and toys. I shot photos through legs, through plants, had and shoulders, sitting, full length, jumping, and then just lying down sunning himself. We had a few breaks so that he could get his energy back, and after about an hour he decided that enough was enough, and went in for an afternoon lying in the sunny spot on his wicker sofa. Nice life.
The magazine was published a short while after, and I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get a cover shot out of it. They only used two images in the article, which featured other ex-rescue dogs from other rehoming centres nationwide. They weren’t even my favourite shots either. They’ll probably turn up in various Dogs Trust publications and marketing materials in the future anyway. Back to the serious job of photographing houses now.
