Eight years ago on June 18th, 2016 I adopted my heart dog, Nelle. I walked into an adoption event, and walked out with my soulmate, and started photographing immediately. As I got more into photographing her, I realized the photos I loved most were the ones where we were being silly, or cuddling, and less of the ones of perfect poses on a rock with an epic view. The photos that brought back a feeling are the most special ones to me.
With Tails of Voyage, I try to strike the balance in photos, where we create photos that are both full of emotion, and maximizing all the beautiful landscape that Colorado has to offer.
Before getting Nelle, I had always wanted a dog. I spent my time playing Nitendogs, or the Sims Pets or pretending my stuffed animal dog Daisy was real, and when I finally added a dog to my life, I wanted to remember every minute of it.
Within the last eight years, I've learned so much about how to photograph any dog:
shy dogs who need time warming up to strangers,
reactive dogs, who like to have their space stranger free
dark colored dogs, who need different camera settings to really shine
wire-coated dogs with hair so long it can block their eyes a little bit
big dogs, who tower over you when you sit next to them
smol dogs, who feel safe when you're holding them
soulmate dogs, whose connection with you is something you explain to everyone every day... and you want to be able to feel it forever.
I mean it when I say anyone can photograph a dog. Scrolling through your phone's photo library and seeing all the photos you have of your dog sleeping will prove that. Anyone can photograph a dog.
It takes a well practiced dog photographer to capture their eyes glancing up at you when you say their favorite words, or how excited they get when you run full speed next to them, or how somehow... every SINGLE photoshoot we've done, there's a photo where you and your dog are making the exact same face.
Every time Julie and I take photos of each other with our dogs, we leave our shoot with a new phone background, new profile photo, new prints to fill our walls, and we're so thankful we get to share that experience with all of you. Below are some of our favorite photos from each shoot—some that show your dog's personality and some that show that unique connection you have with you dog. That connection where instead of trying to describe it, you'll be able to hold up your phone displaying a photo we made together and say "this. this dog right here."
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