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Teresa, the motivation for breeder/show photography is very different than the motivation for a pet person. I couldn't make a living on dog show advertising photography. I don't even do it unless I get a commitment of 4 clients at a time.



Julie, while I agree with your comment about what motivates pet people vs show people I don't quite understand this comment. Are you saying you will only accept an advertising client if they bring you 3 others or if they commit to 4 ads?

Teresa, we deal with both our puppy owners and our advertising clients and while the motivation is different with each, they will both order and both pay. The advertising clients *need* new images for their advertising and they are constantly looking for them; the puppy owners *want* images of their puppies as they are growing up and will pay for them on a recurring basis.

The key with advertising clients is to find the ones with the good dogs that are nationally competitive and be able to both capture good images, develop good ads and know where to place them and how to get decent placement within the publications. I'm not sure I'd make enough with the photographic piece of the advertising clients alone but together with the ad development and placement, it pays some of the bills.

Pet portraits are definitely an emotional purchase and therefore tend to be more lucrative. You can make some $$$ on that 16X20 canvas wrap but you won't get an order for that from most of the show folks. A few. But only a few.

Jim

Jim Garvie
www.jagphoto.biz