Dog Magazine dot net - free online dog magazineby K9 Magazine, the lifestyle magazine for dog lovers

I have been meaning to get a set of photos of my dogs done for a little while now.

Well, when I say ‘a little while’ what I actually mean by that is about 14 years.

For some reason this is one of those things that I always put off until next week. Some 728 weeks to be precise.

But why?

I honestly can’t answer that much past the fact that life is busy and something has always, always seemed to crop up ahead of me getting the shots done.

That was until November 2007. As with most things of this nature, having someone put a date in the diary and instruct me that I would be turning up at Venture studios in Nottingham was all that was required. No excuses, no appointments. Just be there, bring dogs, bring self. Even I can do that.

So I did.

And what a mistake. What a huge, huge error on my behalf.

At this point you’re thinking, oh no. What went wrong? What happened that was so bad it made me realise I’d made such a monumental catastrophe?

Well I can tell you, very simply. I really should not have put this off for 14 years. I should have gone and got that set of professional photos done years earlier. And how much do I regret it now? I regret it enough to say that since me putting off this - actually very enjoyable experience - I lost my best friend.

Jackson, my first dog and greatest friend in the world passed away in 2005. It never really hits home just how important images are until they, along with your memories, are all you have left. Everyday I am grateful for the few pictures I took of my beloved Labrador. They sit in their little frames dotted around the house and they bring a smile to face every single day, without exception. How can you even put a price on something like that? How can I ever forgive myself for putting off the opportunity to let a professional capture him on film for evermore?

So now with Chloe (Jackson’s daughter) and Mia, a new addition, myself and Kim arrive at Venture’s swish but warm and friendly studios ready to get some pictures done.

I’ve only ever been in a photo studio once before. I hated it. I hated it because I had better things to be doing, I hated it because I don’t particular like having my picture taken and I hated, ultimately, because the photographer thought he could break me out of my surly, visibly annoyed state of mind by climbing on top of a ladder and serenading me with a squeaky Gordon the Gopher puppet. Far from making me want to crack a smile, it made me want to crack the photographer.

This was real, old school family portrait stuff. All line up in an orderly fashion and stare at the camera (or Gopher) or arrange yourself in a pose which you would never actually find yourself in in real life. I really hated it. I think my distain came across beautifully on the finished photographs as well. I had skillfully managed to ensure I not only wasn’t smiling in any of them, I actually looked positively aggressive. Result. I never wanted them done any way.

So whilst it would be far fetched to say I was anxious when we got down to business at Venture, it would certainly be accurate to report that I was hardly on cloud nine in eager anticipation for what lay ahead.

I shouldn’t have worried. This experience was as far removed from my original experience with a Gopher wielding puppet I actually found myself enjoying the whole thing. And I’m a man who enjoys very little. Very little indeed.

Seeing the dogs in a new environment was fun. What made it better was the fact our photographer, Caroline was so incredibly friendly and skillful the whole experience passed me by without really realising if any pictures actually got taken. I was vaguely aware of some clicking and flashing but my eyes were more firmly fixed to my two dogs who were obviously comfortable enough to play their little hearts out whilst everyone around them looked on.

The result. The images we were able to select from were true representations of my dog’s personalities. Nothing staged, nothing ‘fake’, no Gophers in sight. Just Mia and Chloe looking like Mia and Chloe.

We were given a screening of the best shots Caroline had selected from hundreds and asked to pick our favourites from each pairing of similar images. Wow, that’s a hard job when you’re being asked to ‘remove’ a beautiful image of your much loved dog! Each shot was so well presented, as in fact was the whole screening process, it was obvious to me that we were being looked after by professionals who really love their work. They also happen to be very good at it.

Eventually we got down to a couple of choices. We went for a large, black and white picture which I have since entitled “Mia, featuring others” - the others being myself, Kim and Chloe. Mia is a very (very) dominant personality you see. I don’t even know if she means to be, in fact I often think she tries hard to be a little bit more subtle in the way she goes about things. The problem is, Mia’s version of a subtle is something akin to having Mike Tyson give you a gentle nibble on the ear rather than Chloe’s version of subtle which is more akin to trying to make herself become invisible in a white room.

Mia can’t help being dominant, Chloe can’t help being a little on the camera-shy side. It’s who they are, it’s how they are. And fantastically for us, it’s exactly how Caroline captured them in our photo session.

So if you’re thinking about whether to have your pet’s image and character captured forever, don’t be an idiot like me. Don’t put it off. You’ll never be able to put a price on the sheer joy delivered every single day by being able to look up at a truly professional and eye catching image of your own dog hanging somewhere in your home. I wouldn’t exchange my pictures from Venture for an original from van Gogh. That is how much I will cherish them.

Find your nearest Venture studio

or call 0845 121 1085

On behalf of Kim, myself, Mia, Chloe and K9 Magazine we would like to extend our sincere thanks to Caroline, Paul and everyone at Venture.

Author Details
Ryan O'Meara is editor-in-chief of K9 Magazine, the lifestyle magazine for dog lovers. He lives in the East Midlands with his own two dogs, Mia and Chloe. - See this author's webpage

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