Breeder Group Shoots

The original Owner, Shared Owner, and Breeder shoots remain; but I am adding two types of shoots to address interest in a shoot/s for breeder groups as a whole.  So first a little bit about the original shoots, they are structured as they are, with limits on number of owners and dogs because of the difficulty in getting equal coverage of all dogs within a shoot.  My shoots generally are free form in terms of structured activity for the dogs.  I let them do what they want to an extent and take what they give me – it is how I capture  the unique character of each dog.  Although the dogs are generally running loose and it doesn’t always appear structured, there is a definite method to my madness and flow through different types of activities and lens choices as the light changes across an afternoon or morning.  In the simplest terms, it’s big lens and action closer to midday and standard to wide angle interaction as the light softens moving towards sunset or sunrise.  Except for about 5-10 minutes  where we might do a formal stack, I want all the dogs I’m photographing in front of me through the entire progression of light and activity.

As you can imagine, from a practical standpoint, it becomes very difficult to get equal coverage of all the dogs – some are hams or dominant and they tend to get more coverage.  This is not such a big deal when it is a single paying owner or breeder, as they might not get equal coverage, but they  certainly don’t get shorted as all the dogs belong to them.  Along those lines – if the breeder or owner wants me to prioritize one or two dogs among many, that is easily accommodated – this is often the case for people who have an older dog or a dog that is currently being campaigned.  On the other hand, if I have, say five dogs that belong to a breeder, two owners with two dogs a piece and a fourth with a single dog……it is impossible to ensure equal coverage and someone who has paid will inevitably get the short end of the stick.  This is not such a big deal if its one or two of the breeders dogs that gets less, but becomes problematic if its the owner of the single dog.  In addition to the difficulty during the shoot itself, it increases work exponentially for me on the backside.  Many folks are surprised to find out that I spend much longer (3-4 times) in the sorting and editing process than I do on the actual shoot.  So you can imagine what it is like to return home from the third shoot in a week, with well over 1000 images, and have to try and figure out which dog is which (out of 10 of similar breeding) and sort towards some degree of equal coverage to make sure everyone who paid gets their money’s worth.

So that’s the long winded reasoning behind the initial shoot options and limiting the number of dogs and owners.  Still, there is an understandable interest (and I share it) in doing shoots with dogs of a particular breeding as one big shoot – in other words with their pack.