Quote:

Dog show formal is documentary, not really creative. A whole other set of skills involved in it.



Julie,
I resemble that remark !! BTW, also can't see your image. Dog show formals require that you know how the dog should be set up, that you light everything properly (which usually means flat) and that you capture the image with the dog and the people not looking entirely like deer in the headlights. Maybe that's not creative but it is difficult.

On the other hand, we also do advertising photography/creative and that is a totally 'nuther game creatively. You can use dramatic lighting. You can go for beauty shots or dynamic moving shots. You can show the personality of the dog -- something almost impossible in show formals.

So, yes there are differences between show formals:



Advertising shots:



And portraits:



But each type of photography is creative in its own way. Event photography -- like dog show formals -- is much more demanding of time, energy and processes than the other types and the amount of $$ earned never seems to match the amount of time/energy invested.

I have a cover shoot this afternoon with our Dane client, Drake, at his owner's compound in Palm Beach Gardens. I'll share some of the images over the weekend. This should be a really fun/creative shoot.

Jim

Jim Garvie
www.jagphoto.biz