Recently, during an online photography conference, one of the speakers showed the evolution of his images and I thought it was really cool to see how his photography changed over the years. So I thought I would go through my own images to see where I started and what themes there were along the way and why not write a blog post to go with the photos. Just a warning, even though these were my favorites, there are some bad photos in here. But let's get started!
My Photography Journey started as a young kid when I was promoted to the official family photographer since I was the only one in the family who could take a photo without cutting heads off. Is that really a thing or were they lying to me? I'm not really sure, but the bar was clearly low. Later, when my horse was too young to ride, I would walk her down the street to the arena and photograph her while she ran around, bucking and kicking. She had a blast and I loved capturing her joy.
Other times I would pose our German Shepherd, Jake, next to something completely unnatural - like a Pepsi can, and I took photos of him. hahaha I've always been awkward with Props! Jake didn't enjoy his photo sessions, but he was a good dog and tolerated my ignorance. I don't have those on my computer or I would share for the laugh.
During high school, in photography class, I learned the flip the lens backward and shoot through it for close-ups trick. I spent hours trying to get the perfect close-up of our cat, who also tolerated me. no idea why. But I did get one shot! For my photography class, I needed to enter something in the county fair and the cat close-up was one of my entries and it won first place in its category!
Here's the scanned copy of that image. I hope the real one was more vibrant than this, but I don't remember.
After high school, I didn't do much photography, until my son was born. When he was a baby I took photos of him constantly. I must have 6000 negatives of him sleeping! That continued through his childhood, but slowed down due to the cost of film. it was the olden days and all.
Then in 2001 I got my first digital camera. Woohoo! at that time my son was 13 and we had just started playing flyball with our Border Collie. So what better to shoot with a 2.1 megapix, delayed shutter than crazy fast dogs? It's amazing any photos came out, but I did get pretty darn good at knowing when to hit the shutter. I enjoyed that camera so much! Then... in 2004 (I think) Canon released the Rebel just in time for Christmas and that was my gift. I was so hooked.
From there I started shooting flyball dogs racing, dogs at the lake dogs doing pretty much anything. It wasn't long after that I decided to buy myself some strobe lights so I could shoot whenever I wanted and I would up half the night, almost every night taking photos of my dogs, then editing. My dogs were such pros, whenever I pulled out my camera, they would look for something to jump on to pose for their treats. They would allow me to mold them like playdough and they would wait for me to take their photo and give them treats. Facebook didn't exist back then so I don't even remember how people saw my photos, but friends started asking me to take portraits of their dogs, then I started doing mini session days, and eventually decided I needed a name and website.
Below are my first studio images of my dogs, back in 2004.
I did portraits as a side hustle for a few years but eventually needed to take a step back to keep up with my hobbies and other commitments. I maintained my website but rarely updated it (it was hideous!), and I continued doing occasional sessions when asked.
Below are some images from 2005, when I was just learning Photoshop, I went through a phase of playing around a bit too much - like with the fake reflection. hahaha
Then I started shooting families, kids, and really anything and everything.
A few more studio images.
Then one day I discovered that I love shooting outdoors! It may or may not have something to do with finally having a couple of nice lenses.
In 2019 I let my Google phone number go, (sad because it was such a great number that ended in FOTO). But I wasn't using it. In March, I decided not to renew my website or domain. It seemed like a waste to spend that money year after year for no reason.
Then in May of 2019, I used a friend's Nikon to take a few photos of her dog for her and OMG! I. had. to. have. that. camera. 3 days later, I bought the Nikon and several lenses. Then the hard part of selling my Canon gear. That was a little soul-crushing, and in reality, I should have just upgraded my Canon and saved a ton of money. But I'm still so grateful I made this crazy leap because it's what inspired me to get back into photography. I immediately wanted my website back, but my domain was on hold and I had to either wait it out or pay a ton of money to buy it back. I chose to wait it out. So frustrating in the age of immediate gratification.
Once I was able to get my domain back and a new website back up, I was all in and I haven't looked back since! Like everyone else, I thought 2020 would be awesome. It was not. Instead, 2021 has been amazing and it's only February! To start with, I left my job in January to photograph dogs full time!
So that's my story and how I finally ended up doing what I love - capturing pets living their best lives and creating artwork for their people to enjoy!
Want to chat to discuss your pet's session?
Don't forget to follow the blog circle, starting with Linda Perdue with VP Shoots Photography specializing in photographing pets and their families in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.
11 Comments
Mar 11, 2021, 7:53:27 AM
Tracy Allard - So much fun to hear your story and what a journey it's been! I too love it when a "now famous" photographer shares their early work; it gives us all hope that they we too can achieve the same greatness with time and practice.
Mar 5, 2021, 2:22:04 PM
Danyel Rogers - Oh the adventures that lead us to our happy selves. Your outdoor work is amazing. Fellow Nikon shooter. ;)
Feb 27, 2021, 7:26:44 PM
Nicole Hrustyk - Thank you! Shooting the snowy owls was an amazing experience, one that I would love to do again.
Feb 27, 2021, 1:11:49 PM
Darlene Woodward - Love reading the story of your journey! Beautiful images and I'm a little bit jealous of the snowy owls... on my list of "must photograph"! Great post!
Feb 26, 2021, 1:18:42 PM
Terri - A great photographic journey!
Feb 26, 2021, 12:07:11 PM
Nicole Hrustyk - Thank you Angela!
Feb 26, 2021, 12:06:53 PM
Nicole Hrustyk - I had to have the Nikon D500. The low light capabilities and the amazing focusing system blew me away!
Feb 26, 2021, 10:54:00 AM
Elaine - Quite a journey. It is great learning more about you! What camera made you make the switch?
Feb 26, 2021, 10:08:46 AM
Jessica - Wow, what a journey! Thank you for sharing your story.
Feb 26, 2021, 9:42:17 AM
Angela Schneider - This was a fun read, learning about your journey into pet photography. Vegas is lucky that you decided to get back into it.
Feb 26, 2021, 5:23:46 AM
Kim - Oh how I wish I’d learned about photography when I was young. So I’m curious which Nikon camera you used that you had to have? Congrats on going full time.