I was sitting up in bed, far too late, engrossed in political doom scrolling on my iPad when I received an emailed plea from Odin’s humans. They needed an Honour Session for their beautiful, vibrant boy. At only 4-years-young, they wrote, Odin has lymphoma.

Of course, with my own personal history – losing MY first boy at only 4-years to lymphoma – I responded immediately. And even though my body isn’t quite ready for the demands of shooting since my surgery, I knew there was no way I could or would ever say ‘no’ to Odin’s guardians. My current condition, however, was not the only hurdle. Odin’s own physical limitations had to be seriously considered. And with their heart set on the “tunnel of trees” location, we had another huge obstacle: that location is closed until May 1st, accessible only with a 15- to 20-minute trek.

From my own experience, I was not at all comfortable waiting until May 1st when the gates would be opened, and Odin’s parents were resolute that there was no way his limited energy levels could endure the trek in and out of the location, along with the walking required to access various settings for shots.

But where there is a will…

Among the various bits of equipment I have accrued over the years, I have an ample fold-out wagon, as well as a heavy duty garden cart with pneumatic tires. However, I knew that neither of those would be satisfactory as they would be cramped for Odin. And then I remembered my past client AnneMarie who brought her beautiful Dexter for his Honour session a year and a half ago. Dexter had had limited mobility, and AnneMarie showed up for his session with a colossal, heavy-duty wagon/trailer … the kind you would pull behind a 4-wheeler on the farm.

Here is good boy Dexter in his ride back during his session in 2022.

So … I posed the question to Odin’s parents whether they thought he would tolerate a wagon, and then immediately wrote AnneMarie. Of course, I should stipulate that I have some of the MOST amazing and dog-loving clients on the planet, and I was not at all surprised when AnneMarie emailed back within minutes. “Absolutely!” she wrote; not only did she still have Dexter’s wagon, she was touched at the thought of another dog making use of it for an Honour Session. On top of that, she drove it to Odin’s house herself the very next day for them so that he’d have a day to get used to it.

And with that, Odin was set. Even though AnneMarie offered to drive the wagon to and from the location as it doesn’t fit in many vehicles, Odin’s parents rented a UHaul truck for the wagon, brought their car for Odin, and even brought friends to help with all of it. Odin’s will surely be one of the most memorable sessions in my nearly 20 years of photographing dogs; we were such a ragtag group making that trek in to the location – physically and emotionally – but most memorable of all for me will be Odin’s stoicism. He rode in that wagon like he’d done it all his life, hopping out and back in with each setting I found for him, completely understanding the assignment and never once faltering in his determination to please everyone.

I am so very grateful for AnneMarie’s generosity, and I will forever respect the lengths to which Odin’s parents are going for this boy since his diagnosis. Much like my first boy Murph, Odin’s life might end up being shorter than it should be, but it will have been a life filled with SO much love and compassion. And in the end, I know first-hand just how much Odin will have taught his family with his grace, perseverance, and loyalty.

Thank you to everyone who made this session work. And thank you, Odin. You really ARE the good boy.

The post where there’s a will… ~ Ontario pet photographer, end of life sessions appeared first on scruffy dog photography | award-winning professional pet photographer serving Toronto and Ontario.

First off, I hope you, your family and your scruffies are having a beautiful summer. It has been a busy year so far at this end … sessions, of course, continue, and – even after 17 years of running scruffy dog photography – I never tire of seeing new and familiar faces alike in the roster of sessions each season. Along with sessions, I’ve made some moves on the home front … the most significant of these was downsizing the former 400- square-foot area of scruffy dog headquarters into a space one third the size.

The scruffies and I are loving the new space, as are clients who come for their pre-session consults, with the office overlooking the catio and the gardens, the sounds of windchimes, waterfountains, and the birds. I do hope that this space will see many more scruffy clients in the days and years to come … OR maybe not.

Yes, as per the title of this blog entry, this could be a bit of a now-or never posting.  If you haven’t signed up for my newsletter you will not have heard my latest news, so here it is…

Not many are aware of the traumatic accident that took out my ankle 21 years ago, shattering bone and completely dislocating my foot from my leg. I’ve struggled for many years with the limitations and pain from this injury, and have now reached a point where continuing with that struggle is no longer an option. The surgeon has recommended a total ankle replacement.

However … because of my commitment to my clients, I am delaying the surgery until closer to the end of this year … after the summer and fall sessions have wrapped. What this means, however – with an expected recovery time of anywhere from 6 to 12 months – is that it is highly unlikely I will be able to start shooting again until much later into 2025 or maybe even 2026.

And then, of course, there is always the chance that I am not able to ever shoot sessions again. Face it, life doesn’t offer guarantees, and neither does this surgery. While I will certainly be doing everything in my power to come back stronger than ever, total ankle replacements don’t exactly boast the kind of success rates that knees and hips do.

So … why am I telling you all of this? Because I hate letting people down; I hate not being able to be there for my clients who want some one-of-a-kind artwork for their walls, who have brought home a puppy and want those once-in-a-lifetime shots or – more importantly – require a last minute session after a devastating diagnosis.

And … because I cannot guarantee anything past the end of this fall season, this really could be your very last opportunity to have a scruffy dog session.

So … this is me begging you:

… if you have EVER wanted a scruffy session,
PLEASE think hard about doing something RIGHT NOW

…inquire about booking a session for this summer or this fall.
I will work to fit as many sessions as possible into the schedule.

If your dog is older, please don’t wait until you’ve gotten bad news. Do it now, while they’re still feeling good.

If finances are an issue (as they are for most of us), please know that I have always offered payment plans.

If you’ve had a session years before and want some updated images that reflect the years and bond you have shared with your dog … Please. Don’t. Wait.

I do very much look forward to hearing from you and sending you more information about the scruffy dog sessions.

As always, please take a look under the menu tabs above for session details, information, tons of photos, testimonials, and much more.  And if I don’t hear from you, I hope you have a truly spectacular summer and fall season!

The post get a piece of the scruffy dog magic while you can ~ Ontario pet photographer appeared first on scruffy dog photography | award-winning professional pet photographer serving Toronto and Ontario.

And, because of the popularity of this season for dog photography, openings always go quickly.  Add to that a slew of summer sessions recently that are still on the books, being bumped due to heat or thunderstorms … well, the schedule is filling up.

BUT … as I have done with every fall season for the past fifteen years, I know how to make the most out of this fabulous time of year so that shooting fall sessions are the priority for the months of October and November.

Because of the way I organize the fall schedule, I actually still have a few of these highly-sought-after spots available right now!

So if you’ve ever considered a custom pet photography session for your dog, and fall is YOUR favorite time of year, please don’t wait too long to reach out, drop me a line, and make that happen!!

I would absolutely love to meet your pet and work with you in a custom session to capture unforgettable, one-of-a-kind images and pieces of art to hang on your walls or enjoy in a custom-designed album.

Drop me a line today to get onto the scruffy dog schedule!  I’d LOVE to hear from you!

The post get in on the fall sessions! ~ Ontario pet photographer appeared first on scruffy dog photography | award-winning professional pet photographer serving Toronto and Ontario.

Over the past decade and a half that I have run scruffy dog photography, I have linked to various other professionals’ articles on the ‘reasons custom photography costs more’.  In some cases, those photographers have left the industry, because – let’s be honest – this can be a tough haul.  In other cases, if those articles are still up, they are outdated, as business and equipment costs go up and up and up.

Nowhere online can I find any public article by a fellow pet photographer breaking down the true cost of running a full-time pet photography business and what actually goes into just one session.  And, as a mentor, an educator, and someone who has been working as a full-time photographer since 2007, I figured maybe it was time that I be the one to write this.

So … what are you really paying for when you hire a professional photographer?

REPUTATION & EXPERTISE
Of course, it should go without saying: when you hire someone who has been in the field at least a few years – and who has specialized in one particular niche, like pets (vs. a general photographer) – you are investing in far more than their talent.  You are benefitting from the experience of someone who has shot thousands of sessions in different locations, under varying conditions, and – in this case – thousands of dogs.

Now, sure … some dogs might be relative pros.  However, most possess only a rudimentary understanding of obedience and lack the ability to quickly adjust to new settings and new ‘asks’ from their guardian in order to be an effortless model.  And when you hire a pet photographer with experience you are hiring someone who can guarantee they can get the best out of your dog.

… and the best out of the light, the location, and the situation.  If they are a true pro and have put their years in, they have seen it all.  No matter how crazy the dog or the situation, no matter how challenging the lighting or the location, they’ve already dealt with it before and managed it with expertise.  And if you do throw something completely new at them, their vast experience provides them with the ability to adapt, to think outside of the box, and still create stunning images of your dog for you.

When you hire a seasoned professional – especially one who has focused all those years on a singular niche – you can hire with confidence.  No matter what you throw at them, they will be able to create consistently amazing images, and at a high level of quality so that your images can be beautifully laid out in a custom-designed album or printed as large artwork for your walls.

ACCESSIBILITY
As I enter my 15th year in business (and more years than that using professional equipment to photograph dogs) I’m not here to justify my business’s pricing.  In fact, all things considered, I’m actually undercharging the majority of my clients. Why?  Because, I have always wanted to remain accessible to any client who loves their pet and wants those photographic memories and artwork.  At the same time, like most other self-employed adults, I have to live; I have to put away for retirement; I have health costs and carry a mortgage.

And yet, I continue to encounter people (including hobbyist and part-time photographers) who seem to think a photography business is merely a hobby for us professional photographers, and not our sole source of income … people who simply have no concept of what actually goes into creating those images you see on a photographer’s website, and no clue as to the true costs of running a business – incorporated or otherwise.

So let’s take a look at the reality of running a professional photography business … the costs and all of those unseen hours.

Every professional has overhead and ongoing costs.  For a professional photographer, these are many.  The following are merely a few…

BIG TICKET ITEMS

• • cameras and lenses:  $25,000-30,000
    In order to capture high-quality images for each session – regardless of the location, lighting, weather, etc., and especially shooting dogs and high action – you need top-end professional equipment. My own camera bag at a session never holds less than $30K worth of professional cameras and lenses.
  • other lenses and backup gear:   $10,000-20,000
  • peripherals (memory cards, filters, batteries, etc.):   $500-700
  • session gear (camera bag, trolley, etc.):  $900
  • handling gear (long lines, tie lines, and a myriad of equipment to manage your dog):  $500
  • computer equipment + professionally calibrated displays + peripherals:  $20,000
  • software:  $1,000
  • a sound, reliable, and appropriately-sized vehicle including all dog related gear and riggings, as well as branding (and in my case, the vehicle belongs to the business):  $45,000
  • office furnishings:  $2,000-4,000
  • sample artwork:  $3,000

… and none of these costs are one-time expenses.  Equipment needs to be regularly upgraded, gear needs to be replaced, etc.  In the span of my own business, I am onto my second vehicle, have upgraded all of my camera gear 5 times (including a complete switch in brands), and upgraded my computer systems 4 times.

ANNUAL COSTS

• • insurance on all of that camera gear, office equipment, and office space:  $2,200
  • security system (and I’m not talking the scruffies; they actually cost much more!):  $1,200
  • rent, utilities, extra-high-speed internet, etc. … (even if your photographer is working out of a home studio, a good portion of their space is dedicated solely to their business):  $8,500
  • vehicle insurance:  $1,650
  • vehicle expenses including fuel:  $6,000-7,000
  • routine cleaning from client dogs:  $600
  • computer IT / support:  $1,000
  • marketing and promotion (business cards, brochures, tradeshows, artwork displays, etc.):  $5,000-6,000
  • website and server fees:  $1,500
  • website maintenance etc.:   $3,000-5,000
  • point-of-sale fees and bank charges:  $3,000-6,000
  • off site backup:  $1,500
  • office supplies:  $1,000-2,000
  • session supplies (treats, toys, etc.):  $650
  • accounting and filing corporate taxes:  $1,500
  • professional fees & memberships:  $600
  • cell phone + fees:  $1,200
  • professional subscriptions:  $800
  • annual software fees:  $900

I’ve been at this pretty-much single-handed for 15 years and have always felt confident in addressing my clients, handling their dogs, and shooting at the same time.  However, some photographers require assistants or dog wranglers, and this adds another level of costs.

Not included in this annual breakdown is:

• • cost of goods sold to clients, which annually ranges from $30,000-45,000
  • business / corporate taxes

In the end … my total annual operating costs can run anywhere from $45,000-80,000 or more.

Any self-employed professional will tell you:  as a small business, you’re lucky if even half of your gross income goes to you as salary … while the other half (or more) goes to the cost of equipment and running the business.  In fact, looking at my last Income Statement from my accountant, my Net Income was barely 25% of my business’ sales.

UNEXPECTED COSTS
And on top of all of those costs and expenses, there are so many unseen and, yes, unforeseen costs … like, in my own business history, well over $25,000  spent internationally on trademark applications, and then legal fees to protect that trademark, IP infringement, and my brand and reputation over the years.

But hey, I get it.  Everything I’ve presented so far is just business numbers.  What if you’re a client and you’ve never run a small business?  All of the above may mean little or nothing to you.

So let’s look at the hours … the breakdown of actual physical hours that a photographer will spend just on your images.

THOSE LONG, UNSEEN HOURS FOR THE CLIENT
Let’s say your photographer charges $500 for a session aimed to capture a huge variety of images for you so that you can order a stunning wall piece, fine art prints, and a custom-designed album.

For this type of session – to achieve incredible variety for an album – your photographer would typically shoot at least 3 hours.  Wow!  $167/hr.  That’s not chump change.  But wait …

The time that you actually spend with your pet photographer – out in the field with your dog – is only the very tip of the tip of the creative iceberg.  What a lot of clients aren’t aware of is all of the other hours that go into your session and your images.

Here is a typical “album” session, designed – as mentioned – to deliver huge variety for a fabulous, one-of-a-kind album and artwork:

• 1-2 hours pre-session admin (emails, phone calls, answering questions, invoicing, contract, etc.)
• 1 hour pre-session consult
• 1 hour travel to and from the session at no charge
• 3 hours session (although this typically would end up being 5 hours as we move to various locations and take the time needed for your dog)
• 2 hours sorting and culling images and backing them up
• 5-10 hours of editing (in my case I do far more than just basic editing on each image in the finished gallery so that clients can see the full potential of each image)
• 1 hour exporting finished images, watermarking, backing up
• 1 hour admin: gallery upload and emails
• 1-2 hours in-studio or phone ordering consult
• 1-2 hours admin: reviewing order with client, answering questions, making suggestions, doing up storyboard mockups, etc.
• 3-4 hours final prep on images to go to print – leash removal, removing any other distracting elements like debris, dandruff, tear staining, shaved areas on a sick dog, swapping heads, etc.
• 2-4 hours of prep and design
• 1 hour of emails, arrange time for pickup of order, etc.

All totaled, the hours put into your session alone, your images, and ultimately your fine-art products and album can run anywhere from 23 to 36 hours total.  That’s twelve times the hours you actually spent with your photographer at your session … and the equivalent to almost a full week of work!

Now, on the other hand, for a client looking at just a short session for a few good prints and a wall piece … a 1/2 hour session … the total hours for this type of client would be approximately 7 to 8 hours.

Please understand though, these long and unseen hours are only ‘client hours’ … hours that are dedicated to you and only you.

The non-client hours are vast …

• initially creating the website, the brand, and frequent upgrades to those over the years
• maintaining the website
• compiling and creating client information and materials (and having just updated all of my client materials, I can tell you that this was at least two weeks of 12-hour days including light updates to the website)
• social media posts and blogging
• developing promotional materials
• developing and maintaining connections in the pet industry
• learning new editing and photography skills
• troubleshooting website, software and hardware issues
• maintaining and field-testing equipment
• location scouting

… I could go on.   And to be perfectly honest, these long hours spent building, launching, and then maintaining your own small business, are almost always incalculable.

What I can say – in the end – is that an average of 25% of my business’s gross income is salary, and more than 50% of my hours are non-client / non-billable hours.

Don’t get me wrong though.  I LOVE this work.  I LOVE navigating my way through this world as an artist, with clients’ dogs at my side, no less!  And I LOVE creating these lasting memories for my clients of their beloved dogs.  As long as I can keep shooting, there’s no place I’d rather be!

The post The True Cost of Custom Photography appeared first on scruffy dog photography | award-winning professional pet photographer serving Toronto and Ontario.

Here’s the thing…  In my 15 yrs of photographing exclusively pets, I have always made it a priority to be accessible to ALL pet guardians.  Distance hasn’t mattered, with clients traveling from all over Ontario and Quebec, from Michigan and New York, and even as far as Kansas and California.  Training and behavior hasn’t mattered, as I continue to work with every dog from young puppies who have yet to learn their name, to dogs with a bite history, and everything in between.  And just as relevant as those, I have worked hard over the years to make the scruffy sessions as affordable as possible to my clients – no matter what their socio-economic status.  I’ve had clients show up in their Porsche Cayenne and two days later have a client arrive in their rusted Ford, held together with duct tape and dog slobber.  As I have for the past 15 years, I continue to strive to make it possible for ANYONE to have images of their pet, whether that is a few good prints or a full wall of artwork and a custom-designed album.

The fact is, though, year after year – besides the increased level of talent, skill and time that I invest into every client’s session and their images – my other costs have continued to rise, even before the pandemic.  Equipment upgrades (to the tune nearly $30K in just the past two years), insurance, vehicle, software, website costs, overhead, and all of my corporate fees … they just go up and up and up.  And then there are the costs at the lab for the fineart prints and products I deliver to my clients; as the lab costs go up, so do mine.

Still, in spite of all that – because I want to continue to be accessible to ALL pet guardians for those very important and priceless photographic memories – I have not raised the scruffy dog session fees or the print and product prices in OVER FIVE YEARS.

However , now, with the pandemic, times have changed. Drastically. Not only have the costs of running my business increased by an alarming rate over the past two years, I have just learned that the costs on the fine art prints and products for which my clients hire me have risen 30% due to a struggling supply chain and exorbitant shipping fees. As such, I can no longer skate along at 2016’s fees.

So … it’s sink or swim time … and – as an artist and someone who understands first-hand the love people have for their pets, and the importance of those photographic keepsakes – I simply HAVE to keep swimming. But, sadly, the ONLY way I can do this is to raise my session fees and product prices to reflect the current inflation.

As with any change in a business, this is a major undertaking and has required great gobs of time to address all of the website content, brochures, and especially my online and printed client materials, and invoicing, while STILL working hard to keep things as affordable as possible for my clients.

Currently  I am in the final stages of this complete overhaul, and the revised fee structure will come into effect as of April 20th.  So … until that date, I am honouring the current prices (or more accurately, the 2016 prices).   NOW is the time to get yourself a scruffy session at today’s prices.

The only catch: I need you to have your session booked by APRIL 20th … and your session needs to take place before the end of September. This is the only way I can offer the current rates.

So please, if you’ve ever wanted a scruffy dog session, please consider booking soon in order to take advantage of the current rates.

Please reach out now, let me know you are interested in booking at the current pricing, and I can send you the Welcome Guide to get the process rolling.

I look forward to hearing from you … almost as much as I look forward to the possibility of working with your scruffy to capture some unforgettable images!!

NOTE: For those scruffy clients already on the books for a session this year, no worries. I will honour the pricing you booked with.

The post times they are a’changin’ ~ it’s now or never ~ Kitchener Waterloo Ontario pet photographer appeared first on scruffy dog photography | award-winning professional pet photographer serving Toronto and Ontario.

I’ve also gone through five different custom-built computer systems and high-end Eizo monitors for the editing portion of things, which – when it comes to dogs and a natural setting – is a huge component of the images you have seen here over the years.  And I must say – as I always say to fellow photographers I mentor – no matter what, you have to start with a solid, high-quality and perfectly-exposed RAW image to begin with.

For example … let’s look at this image of the stunning and VERY well trained Quill.  Here is the image straight-out-of-camera.

This image is taken at 1/640 sec at f/3.5, ISO 500 with Canon’s 1DX iii and 70-200 f/2.8 ii.  I would have preferred to have shot this at 200mm, but there was no way for me to back up any farther in the deep snow, so it was shot at 70mm.

Now, after so many years photographing dogs, you wanna bet I know better than to start shooting until I’ve had an opportunity to clear any distracting elements like all those dead weeds.  In fact, I even carry a pair of secateurs in my camera bag.  However, on this day, the snow between Quill and I is hip deep, and for this shot, I am actually sitting back in the snow as though I were sitting in a chair, it was that that incredibly deep.  Prior to this shot, we were having Quill run through this deep snow for some stellar action shots, so here was an instance where I could neither get to the weeds, nor did I want to trample the snow before we’d captured those running shots through fresh snow.

So … all I could do – as he stood so proudly in that opening in the cedars – is shoot.

Next we see the same image with my standard editing in LR. Again, we always start with a high quality RAW image … and – from my perspective – editing isn’t about fixing mistakes made in the field or creating something that was never there.  Editing is about shifting the image you shot into the image you SAW.

Yes, when I sit hip-deep in the snow and ask Quill’s mom to stop him in that opening, I am absolutely seeing in my mind the burst of colour the cedars provide in this cold, white landscape … and I absolutely see the glow and light coming from the trail on the other side of this cedar patch.  But the camera doesn’t see all of these nuances.  Its job is to find neutral grey for its white balance and essentially ‘flatten’ that expansive, breathing landscape you see with your eyes.

So it is my vision that dictates the editing I do … and in fact, it is the editing I know I am capable of that allows me to have that vision in the first place and know what look for and see when I am in the field.

… definitely improvement over the flatter, rather monotone image straight-out-of-camera, but man, all those stupid, distracting weeds!

So this is where I will take that image, still in LR, and edit it as a tiff in photoshop (as I prefer to keep my workflow on the images all in the same LR catalog).

With this next image – while Quill looks smaller in the frame – I have actually increased the canvas size and resolution of this image from 5472 x 3648 to 6072 x 3992.  This way – should the client decide to have this image printed as a larger print, a canvas, or perhaps a full spread in a custom album – I have even more pixels to work with.

So, in photoshop, I first increase my ‘canvas size’. Then I figure out the best way to tackle those horribly distracting dead weeds.  In this case, the best approach was to copy some of the cedars and use that to cover some of the weeds; and to use a combination of the cloning stamp and very careful content-aware fill – while zoomed in by 200 or 300% – to get rid of the weeds in front of Quill’s body and to the right of the frame.

And for those wondering about the amount of work done an image like this before the client even receives the gallery … well, yes, I do put that work in with a very limited number of images.  Most of the images receive no more than my personal LR editing – which is still a LOT of time investment into each image – and with only a few do I conduct this kind of more extensive work.  I do this for a couple of reasons … I might want to share that image on social media … but mostly, I want to my client to know what is possible with their images.  I would hate for a client to not choose a particular image simply because of some distracting weeds.

There are two more images of Quill in this setting … one where he is looking dead into the camera, and the other where he is panting and looking to his left.  I will likely put all three of the images in the client’s gallery, but only this one will receive that fuller extent of editing until I know if the client wants any of them in print.

Of course, sometimes I just like to have a little laugh with an image and a fun client, especially one who knows her super handsome dog is really a fun-loving dufus …

While culling Quill’s images the other day, I thought that this image – with the placement of his feet – looked as though he was doing some ballet instead of catching the ball …

I could see it in my mind!  … and I was already giggling when I went back to his images to find a usable ‘head’ … pasted it on his body and sent it to his mom who probably laughed as hard as I did.  It is SO Quill … like: “what? nothing to see here. I’ll just pirouette on over this way.”

And sure enough, in the same moment I received her response about a adding a tutu, I was already on a stock site searching for a png of the right pink tutu.  Of course, the funniest part in all of this is that THIS image is more true to Quill’s fun-loving, dufus, comical character than the first image I shared.  LOL

I hope you enjoy Quill’s image.  Of course, this boy is a rare model in the level of training that has gone into him.  I do have clients with dogs at similar levels, who can be off-leash and even collarless, but at least 90% of my clients over these many years need to keep their dogs on leash, and THAT’S OK!   There are ways around all of that as well – in the field and back at the computer – and I will try to share some more of that kind of shooting and editing content in upcoming blog entries.

The post Just a peek at image editing – Ontario professional pet photographer appeared first on scruffy dog photography | award-winning professional pet photographer serving Toronto and Ontario.

And then, of course, there is the question as to how many people actually DO come to see blog posts, as blogging seems like such a thing of the past.  So … PLEASE … if you are reading this, and you would love to see more blog entries, PLEASE drop a comment below so that I can weigh the value of posting more.

Today’s post is about two red dogs: Stella and her littermate Wiser.  I first met these two back in 2014 on a beautiful summer afternoon down in Long Point and the lovely shores of Lake Erie.

We captured so many fun images of these two jockeying for the ball and engaging in lengthy games of keepaway with each other.

At the time, Stella and Wiser were living in BC, and had flown with their guardians to Ontario.  But today – 8 years later – these two now reside in southern Ontario, and I was delighted when they made the trip to scruffy dog region for another session.  And what fun to be able to shoot a winter session for these two beach-bums!

Eight years hasn’t seemed to make a big dent in the energy level of these two.  Sure, Stella has a few more white hairs, and Wiser … well, he’s just gotten wiser, I guess.  And they’re still playing keepaway with whatever ball I throw at them.

Of course, with any winter session, the dogs always have a blast … while I am either kneeling hip-deep in snow, or even lying in it sometimes.  Note to self: do invest in a better pair of insulated, waterproof pants.

Also, in regards to winter sessions … so many people worry that a winter session with not only be uncomfortable (trust me, I keep my winter dates extremely flexible and work around the temperatures), but they assume that the images will be boring … that every image will  be a backdrop of just snow, snow and more snow.   But that is far from the case!  I choose our locations very carefully, and – no matter what the season – will always strive for a wide variety of settings, vegetation, light, tones, textures, etc.

Thank you, Bernadette and Jordan, for once again trusting me to be the one to capture these photo-memories of your two amazing companions.  It is always a pleasure to spend time with you and the red dogs!

The post Stella & Wiser are back ~ Ontario pet photographer appeared first on scruffy dog photography | award-winning professional pet photographer serving Toronto and Ontario.

So … before I tackle any blog entries about the past two years and the affect Covid has had on the business, me personally, and the scruffies, I figure I can at least share some of the images of clients over the past two years.  These are images which have been posted on the scruffy dog Facebook page and/or the scruffy Instagram page … so if you’re ever needing to see the latest from SDP, you might consider following me there.

In the meantime, here are some images from just a few of the urban sessions I’ve shot …

Carlos and Pepe came from Toronto for their session. These two little men rocked their Doggles and their entire scruffy session.

But urban sessions aren’t just for mature and senior dogs … check out young, flatcoated retriever Enzo, who added a ‘booster’ to his puppy session so that we included a good handful of urban shots.

And the very handsome Hank – a smooth-coated Brussels Griffon – travelled from Toronto with his sister Murfy, who has been a long-time regular of scruffy dog since 2013, having had numerous sessions over the years.

And even with urban sessions, we often find spots downtown that allow us to shoot some more natural images as we seek out long grasses and other foliage.

Stay tuned here on the blog for more urban session images and many more!

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This lovely Sharpei girl was just as sweet as they come during her session back in July 2015.  And what’s more she was already 10 yrs old when her guardians adopted her. In guardian Kaitlyn’s words:

“We rescued Charlotte at the ripe old age at 10+ on New year’s Eve 2013. She was a companion for our other Shar Pei Herbie who was 8 at the time and dealing with separation anxiety.

To be honest we did not think Charlotte would be around more than 6 months because of her health. She had arthirtis, was deaf and not in the best physical conditions. We wanted to give her a home to live out her days. In the fall of 2014 we bought a house and a female shar pei pup joined the family. Charlotte continued to keep up with everyone.”

“In July 2015 we got Charlotte’s photos done. We didn’t know how long she was going to be around because she had started slowing down and her arthritis worsened. It was important to us to have her personality captured on camera so we would always have memories of her.

Charlotte passed away March 9th 2016 at 13+ years old. Her health just kept getting worse and she was having a very hard time doing much of anything besides sleeping.

We are just so grateful to have had this photo session.  It meant that even when we had to say our goodbyes to Charlotte we would always have wonderful shots of her which would help us remember how incredibly beautiful she was, inside and out.”

“Having those photos of Charlotte from our session meant the world to us. We miss her terribly but Illona did an INCREDIBLE job at capturing her on camera. Charlotte had the best smile. She was a bit of a nervous dog so very rarely she would relax and we would see it. We saw it that day during her session. She was relaxed and comfortable. Looking back on them now we remember what an amazing dog she was and how blessed we were to have her a part of our family. Thank you Illona for giving us this gift.”

I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with Kaitlyn and Justin’s other two Sharpei, Herbie and Stella, and two more loving, attentive guardians you will never find.  I know that Charlotte is deeply missed, and will forever be a part of their hearts.

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For me, I’m not a diamond gal, nor do I wear excessive of jewellery … although there is one piece you will never find me without, and that is the silver nose print of Merrick.But besides these nose prints, over the years I have collected the ashes of those whom I’ve lost.  However, those satchels of remains were tucked away in crematory-issued spruce boxes with names engraved on the top and admittedly ugly ceramic urns, sitting on shelves around the house.  I wanted something better … something special … a place where the remains of ALL of my beloved scruffies could be kept.

So I turned to friend and potter-extraordinaire – my favorite clay person in the world – Steve Irvine.  Steve doesn’t typically take commissions, so when he responded to my pleading email and description of what I was after and agreed to make a large ‘group’ urn for me, I was beyond thrilled.

I had given Steve my approximate size requirements (having already lost five animals), as well as a colour preference … “turquoise”, I told Steve … partly because of the colours in my bedroom where I knew I’d want to keep this incredible piece, but also to represent the colours of Big Bay, the lake I grew up on … a lake – along with its colours – that Steve knows all too well.   “… and with several, short, peg-like protrusions,” I wrote him, “on which to hang a couple of collars or tags…”  I had also requested some treatment that would suggest the rolling ridges of the old farm where I grew up next door to Steve and his family.

Of course, being an artist and having a background in clay myself, including a Fine Arts degree focused on clay sculpture, I knew I was going to be hard to please … and no doubt, knowing me, Steve understood the challenge at hand.  And yet, the finished piece could not have been more perfect.

This group urn stands 17″ tall and almost 8″ at its widest … and sits on the top of my dresser next to my bed so that at night we can be all together … Murph, Mirren, Morley, Matea, Merrick, along with those living, Matlin, Mirabelle and Mowat.

And here are some details of this fabulous piece … the lake colours and the rolling ridges that Murph loved so much.

… Matea’s noseprint … Morley’s collar …

And even though Murph – my first scruffy and the very reason behind scruffy dog photography – was buried on the family farm which had since been sold, he has finally joined my pack.  Two summers ago a dear friend and I made the trip up north, and along with some help from the new property owner at the time – Annie, a lovely and brilliant artist herself – the three of us toiled through a significant cairn of rocks and 15 years of washed-in soil to recover my sweet boy.  I am so grateful to Gateway Pet Memorial who had already agreed to handle the 15-year-old remains … and after many years, Murph had finally come home.

Of course, placing everyone in the urn was a deeply moving experience for me … especially Matea’s remains.  Her ashes sit in the fleece ‘snood’ she’d often have to wear around the house to stop her from flapping her ears … and as such, I can still touch her hairs as they are woven into the fleece.

It is such a comfort to be able to have all of my passed animals together, and I am deeply, deeply grateful for Steve’s incredible work and creativity on this group urn.  There isn’t a single piece in my house that means more to me.

I hope I have inspired you to do something special when it comes time to honor those scruffies you’ve lost.  And for those of you who have already lost, please feel free to share in the comments what you’ve done to honor your lost 4-leggers.  In the meantime, hold them tight … the ones we love and who are still with us.

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