“I want to start a dog photography studio”

Those were my wife’s words and our second big decision. It was probably late November 2012.

My wife and I had taken a photography class a couple of years earlier. Actually, I was the one who enrolled in the class but my wife and I drove out together to check out the classroom and meet the teacher. It was he who suggested she and I take the class together. She agreed – reluctantly.

Class was conducted at the instructor’s home. We met once a week for the better part of a year and a half. We received a lot of instruction on lighting, exposure, and composition. Each week we were given an assignment, usually a series of pictures to be taken of a particular subject matter.

These pictures were to be taken with film cameras. We were not allowed to use digital cameras. With digital work a no-no, we had to think carefully about how we set up each shot. The images were being recorded on film. We could not “see” instantly (as you can with a digital camera) how the picture turned out.

Progress was, at first, slow going. There were techniques to learn and lots of details to memorize. Sometimes it was expensive. But it was also eye opening and we did make progress! I felt like I learned a lot.

But at the end of it all, it was my wife who realized she wanted to learn more.

Much of her classroom work had been done with a macro lens. Flowers and butterflies were some of her favorite subjects. Sometimes she worked outside. Sometimes she worked inside using natural light from a nearby window. She got some amazing pictures: beautiful colors, tight focus, and shallow depth of field with near-black backgrounds.

After the class ended we made the switch to higher-end digital cameras and she began applying close-up techniques to another favorite subject: dogs and puppies. It was as if a whole new world opened up for her.

One night, not long after our Mother’s Day “let’s fix-up the house” decision, we made a trip to eastern Indiana to visit with a close family friend whom we’d not seen in awhile. Our friend was also a Shih Tzu breeder and, knowing my wife’s interest in dog photography, she’d invited her to take pictures of a six-week-old litter of seven pups.

I think it may have been those puppies that truly gave my wife the “shutter bug.” One look through the lens and she was smitten. Looking back at these pictures now, it’s obvious these furry friends represented something close to her heart.

It wasn’t a total surprise then when that November she announced, 

“I want to start a dog photography studio.”

We started work in early 2013. The process took two-and-a-half years. First, there was creating the physical space. To make that happen, another friend offered some unused office space. Remodeling was completed in early 2014. Then there were the (numerous) experiments with camera equipment, backdrops and lighting configurations. And of course there was the whole learning curve with software.

My wife’s role as budding animal photographer often required her to crawl, cajole, and coo her subjects into cooperating with the camera. My job was to handle the technical difficulties and sometimes wrangle the guests (the animals, not the people). Along the way, we were blessed with lots of friends (animal and otherwise) who agreed to be test clients. Dogs, puppies, and kittens got up on all fours in front of the lens. There was even an unhappy rabbit and a small pig who thought I was its personal treat dispenser.

The studio opened officially the Sunday before Labor Day, 2015. My wife’s first customer was a family and their Yorkie. It was both an exciting and stressful occasion. But it was also enjoyable. Seeing a family pet close-up and catching through the lens its response to its environment and its owner - the love, excitement, interest and curiosity - brings my wife (and me, truthfully) a lot of joy.

It's that JOY that reminds us both that 

opening a DOG photography studio was the right decision.

I’m not the dog lover my wife is, but I have learned something from watching her look through that lens: any opportunity you have to make a decision that will bring joy into the life of another -- take it and make it.

You won’t regret it!