The Pet Photography Experience
Every genre and every photographer has a different way of doing business. Some common themes emerge within the pet photography genre because of the personalized nature that furtographers intend to deliver. Your furtographer is likely like you, with fur babies of their own and a deep connection. Oftentimes, our journey begins at shelters or working with Rescue before we ever dream of offering personalized sessions. To deliver the luxury service that you and your pet deserve, the dominant trend is a three-step process. A consultation before the session, the session itself, and an ordering session.
Step 1: The Pet Session Consultation
This crucial step is a brief introduction to the furtographer and getting to know the pet and their paw-rents. Understanding pet demeanor, what makes them special, and the overall style of the paw-rent ensures that everyone walks away from the experience excited to come back together.
Personally, I offer these as free thirty-minute phone calls, and that’s how the actual session is booked. Before the call, I’ll send out a questionnaire and a pricing menu. During this call, I also explain weather contingency for outdoor photography and session preparation based on the characteristics of the animal.
I don’t do time limits, and I don’t charge per dog or person. My philosophy is that if you get photos you absolutely love, you’ll want the prints. I’ve never had a session where this wasn’t the case, but if I did, we would just do another session, I want you to get photos that you can treasure forever.
Step 2: The Pet Photography Session
Most of my sessions are outdoor photo shoots with dogs, I obsessively check the weather leading into these sessions and compare that with the vision of the photos that we want to capture. If the weather turns, I communicate early on with the paw-rent to suggest that we may need to use our backup day. Because of the volatility of weather here in the DMV, I limit my bookings to allow flexibility to move sessions when needed. I also never book back-to-back sessions because I want to be fully dedicated to you and your pup that day.
Usually I’ll arrive about an hour or more early to the session to scope out the scenes available and when the light and weather will be optimal for the scene. This allows me to be in control instead of racing the light; I am ready and waiting for it in each scene. I also budget time early in the session to meet and greet the animal before I ever start taking photos. This step is crucial for building trust and can really make or break a session. Starting early avoids the stress, even if the pet and pawrent are running late, which happens, it’s not the end of the world because we set aside plenty of time to get the photos.
Step 3: The Wall Art Ordering Session
About 1-3 weeks after the session, the gallery is ready for the paw-rent. For this step, most furtographers do an ordering session in-person and I quite agree with this approach. The reason for an in-person ordering session is that there are a lot of choices when it comes to printing from sizes, materials, and where to place them in the home. I focus on acrylic and metal wall art, these are luxury pieces that will last a lifetime and should complement or enhance the home decor. If the paw-rent is comfortable (and usually they are), then I’ll do this in their home to aid in these choices.
Once the wall art is chosen, the order is made and the lab will deliver them straight to the paw-rent for inclusion in their home. I partner with the highest-end labs to deliver pristine quality, but I always follow up and ensure that the order is as expected. Prior to sending the order to the lab, I also do a final quality check to ensure that what is ordered makes sense based on the home decor and what we had discussed. Ultimately, it’s up to the paw-rent what they want for their home, but I would be mortified if they ever purchased something they wouldn’t absolutely love.
