Buddy | State College pet photography session

I had just posted a photo on instagram announcing that I was considering offering studio photos when I got a call from Buddy’s family inquiring about just that. Buddy was their current dog in a string of dogs they’ve owned through the years. Relatively new to the central PA area, they had photos of their previous dogs taken in a photography studio in VA. They wanted to do the same for Buddy. I shared with them that my usual style of shooting is on location, but was thinking of branching out. If they were willing to work with me, I was willing to try. So we set up a time to meet so I could see their home to determine if this was going to work. Their home has this great little sunroom that was just the perfect size to set up my backdrop and lighting equipment. The window light was a bonus, but wasn’t necessary.

So we went ahead and scheduled Buddy’s session. While I’ve studied studio photography, I will always prefer photographing pets in the outdoors. But there’s no doubt that some dogs do much better having a session in their own home. Buddy would have been fine outdoors, but he would have been a handful. Plus, his owners wanted to match the style of the photos they have of their other dogs hanging in their home. This I could make happen for them.

Like many sessions, it took Buddy and I awhile to get into a groove. I brought a bench for him to sit on and he wasn’t comfortable with it at first. But once he learned that if he sat still for a few moments, he would be rewarded with treats. Then we couldn’t get him off the bench!

Buddy’s owners wanted just a headshot of him, and thought it would be perfect if we could get him to do his snaggletooth smile for his portrait. We did get it done as well as captured several other great expressions. They ended up picking this regal pose to grace their walls. The snaggletooth smile though gave us all a chuckle.