LOL, Nina, that's awesome!!! Curiously, when you do your in the park portraits, are you dragging all of your lighting gear? Or is it strictly on-board flash (assuming you may be working in non-ideal lighting)?

James

Nina your shot is an absolute gem. Perfect expressions. Next month I'm doing a fund-raiser shoot with a Christmas theme and yes it is at a dog park. It will be early summer here so their aim is all outdoors. (And mine is to stay calm).

James,
I lug all my portrait booth stuff, without the actual booth
lights, props, camera etc
this is a large indoor dog park & this time I set up inside the park area, last time was in the lobby.

thanks

Love it! I've got an outtake or two from my own dogs' sessions last night.

That's hilarious

Ha! That's awesome.

Nina,
we have two dog parks here in Hunters Creek in Orlando and both are outdoors. I've had several portrait sessions there over the years but the environment is anything but conducive to good portraiture. There are dogs running around everywhere and even with my lighting and lots of props, it's hard to get the dogs to focus on the photographer.

I love your shot but I'm betting it's one of a lot of less usable and sellable images. Regardless, outdoors means you really can't use a backdrop and the existing backgrounds at both parks are less than photogenic.

On the other hand, I do go and take candids of the dogs in the parks and those sell pretty well. As do the shots of the kids on the soccer fields right next door to the dog parks. But when it comes to portraiture, I'm a bit of a control freak and dog parks are not an environment where you have much control.

Jim

Lamar,
I post the images on my website and give the owners a card with the website address and tell them to check it out. I know most of the people -- and all of the dogs -- so I can always remind them the next time I see them and ask if there's something special they'd like to see.

I don't go from dog park to dog park in Orlando doing the candids. I stay in my own "home" parks where I bring my own dogs and so nobody is pressured into buying but if they see something they like, they do. Also, it's a good way to get formal portraits once the dogs demonstrate their love for "Uncle Jim". Having Dr. Doolittle hands doesn't hurt.

Jim