024- Pet Photography with Jenna Regan-Lyles

Who knew photography would play such a huge role in pet care? If you're like us, you have thousands of photos, of other people’s pets in your photo library. Jenna Regan-Lyles joins us this week to help us up our photo game. Whether you have a DSLR or the camera on your phone, we can all learn to take better photos!

About Jenna:

I’ve been lucky. I’ve never known life without a dog, cat, or horse of my own. A (sometimes crazy) love for animals has shaped my entire world.

My passion for photography was ignited at Texas A&M University where I took a photography course while I completed my degree in agricultural communications and journalism.

When I’m not working, you might find me sipping wine or coffee, volunteering with dog rescues, or riding and training my horses. (One of these days I’ll get back to the show pen.)

Whenever I can combine any of the above with time with my friends or husband, Jake, life is even better.

Oh, and the rest of my time is spent spoiling my dog entourage, Jack, Ace, and Leo. They said to tell you that’s the most important thing about me.

Show Outline

- How'd you get started

- degree in ag communication

- What's your favorite gear? Whats your favorite lens?

- What makes a great picture?

- show personality and show who they are

- portrait planning meetings!

- get an idea of their pet

- and their story

- Do you have a philosophy on photo editing? What program do you use? 

- how would you describe your style

- After you took that class and started working, whose work has influenced you the most? Jamie Piper - Cowbelly media 

- given that people are still learning about pet photography, How do you get most of your business?

- Do you have a favorite photo or special memory of a photo session?

- bessy the basset as part of a rescue charity 

- health problems had to put her down

- Do you find pets are Leary of the camera at all? How do you get them used to it?

- go SLOW. Take as long as we need

- how it starts influences how it goes 

- How do you handle really difficult clients?

- Many people think taking photos is as easy as clicking a button, but are never satisfied with how their pictures turn out. When should someone seek out a professional vs trying to do it themselves?  

- challenging pets, multiple pets/species

- once in a life-time opportunity 

- What's been the most difficult part of being a pet photographer?

- What motivates you to keep going?

- I think the most frequent question we get is, HOW do you get the pet to sit still?

- Let's say that I do have a DSLR or a good micro-4/3rds, why do my pictures still not come out?

- out of focus

- too dark

- Most pet sitters have and use a smart phone, how can we take the best photos we can?

- slow down! 

- get help

- get low! 

- practice?

- work with easy pets

- get help! 

- Any final words of wisdom?

- ENJOY IT!

- Explore the world from their perspective

Jenna’s website :  www.jennaregan.com

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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

Provided by otter.ai

0:16  

I'm Collin and I'm Meghan. And this is pet sitter confessional. An open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter, who knew pictures would play such an important role in our day to day lives as pet care professionals, clients expect great ones and we like to provide them to I've probably taken more pictures of other people's pets over the past 10 years then literally anything else. This week, pet photographer Jenny Regan joins us to talk about all things photo from staying organized to what makes a great photo and everything in between. So regardless of whether you have a DSLR or just the camera in your phone, we can all step up our game when it comes to taking photos. Jenna has a lot of information and knowledge and experience to share, and I can't wait to share this episode with you. So let's get to it. So, Jenna, could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do?

1:09  

Oh, absolutely, I'd love to. So my name is Jenna Regan. I'm a pet professional pet photographer, and I specialize in capturing people and their pets. So that's an everyday full time thing for me with my clients and their pets.

1:22  

Wow, how'd you get started with that?

1:25  

Well, it's kind of a roundabout thing for me to be honest. I've, you know, I'm sure a lot of people can relate of just you know, growing up with animals and loving all sorts of animals and being the person that's surrounded by them in some way all the time. And after I graduated from Texas a&m, I had a degree in agricultural communications and journalism. And that very last semester, I took one photography class, and I did a whole bunch of projects and they always centered around animals. Every time all my friends, all my contacts were, you know, somehow in the animal department in one way or another, and I just started photographing. And then after I left school, I had a brief pause and trying to decide where which direction I was going to go. And I kind of somehow was inspired to jump in with photography, primarily, but really with an animal emphasis and it it snowballed from there.

2:15  

So and how many years have you been doing it now?

2:18  

Um, it is the year eight, I think.

2:22  

Wow, that's awesome.

2:24  

Yeah.

2:26  

It's kind of scary. I'm like, you know, thinking out loud. Wow. They have gone by fast.

2:30  

Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Fast and Slow days for sure. So, so as a photographer, I'm sure you have some favorite gear that you like to use. What are you using these days?

2:44  

Yeah, that's a really good question. You know, it is an important part. I won't dismiss it by any means. But I don't think gear is like the most important thing. You know, I think it's like how you use it. So I think, you know, anybody can take like good photos in different ways with with what they have, but For me, of course it it makes sense, you know, to have professional gear, I use canon DSLRs. And I really don't think a lot of times I get questions like, Well, what about what's up, you know, canon versus Nikon and Sony and stuff like that I actually think that, you know, the thing that to get hung up on, but it's just what I'm comfortable with and what I learned on so that's what I just stick with. And I often get asked a lot about lenses too, because oftentimes that makes the difference like having the removable lens to change, you know, for different focal length and distances and stuff. And I don't have you know, I bounced around depending on how I feel inspired but you know, on the subject matter and things but often it's a longer focal length for me, so like 75

3:44  

Hmm, wow. And that just is that because you like to shoot from a little further away or you can really get a difference in the backgrounds when you're doing the photos.

3:55  

Both actually and it just depends, but for me, I like the longer longer focus Thanks because it creates more compression and in the background and I can usually minimize the, you know, the distracting potentially depending on where we're at and what we're doing. But there could be like some distractions in the background, maybe cars or the distance or if we're at a public park, or maybe there's people you know, maybe some other people in the background actually decided that on Photoshop, to be honest, but at least to make some blurry. Yeah.

4:25  

Yeah. So you mentioned that it's not really all about the equipment, but how you use it. So how would you define what makes a great picture?

4:35  

You tell it's so subjective, so I don't want to just like you know, say My thoughts are the only thing that's considerable for this topic, but right me I feel like for me my like standards for myself and when I complete a photo session, and you know, as I'm like going through and make sure I've got the right stuff to present my clients, I feel like it has to show personality and really capture who that pet is. And so That's going to be different every time but I wanted to look like them and you know, feel like a feel a connection to the picture. You know, when I, you know, for my clients and for me, spending that time with them being able to look at that photo and be like, yeah, that's exactly how she was that kind of thing. So I think it comes down to showing the soul and emotion and in some way.

5:22  

So how much time do you typically spend with your clients before you actually start taking photos? And do you try and do you spend any time trying to get to know them beforehand so you can capture their personality?

5:35  

Yeah, that's a great question. I do actually spend a lot of time on this. It's a huge part of my process. I do what I call portrait planning appointments with my clients. And sometimes that includes the past. Sometimes not, it just depends because I have often you know, depends if my clients want to come to me or they want me to come to them for logistics, but it really involves just like getting a lot of backstory and just connecting with the client. And learning, you know, what, what they love most about their pads and the stories behind the years of their, you know, lives together. So there's things that I learned that, you know, lead us kind of on a direction to go later on, or I feel like it gives me a good insight on what would make them ultimately, like, most happy in the end, when they tell me and I asked a ton of questions and people tell me so many things, there's often so many emotional elements. So, you know, the years of having had some and you know, sometimes they're older pads, and, you know, and then sometimes we have the opposite where they're puppies, but you know, they might have lost the pet and that comes back up to the surface as well. So just the backstories and connecting and I think that's a major theme in my entire photography approach is connecting, you know, whether it's with people or animals

6:48  

Yeah, I mean, that's, that's such an integral part to that if you're trying to capture their personality if you don't know who they are, how we know how good you are, someone expected that to happen. So I it's amazing to hear all That front end work that you're doing to get to those photos that the the photo session is just that one time, but you're doing all this other stuff before them so that you can get the most out of that time you have with them. So after you get those photos and you're bringing them back in your in your office, do you have a philosophy when it comes to photo editing?

7:20  

You know, I don't know if I say philosophy, philosophy, but yeah, I I don't like to, I don't like to like change things in it, you know, really distort reality and way kind of way. But I like to like clean things up a lot. So we have I mean, it's inevitable and this is part of, you know, the professional element of being a photographer, I wouldn't. It's not the easiest thing to do, you know, in a general way, but for me, it just kind of has to be perfect. So, I'm doing things like cleaning up stray hairs, drool. leashes, just like I said, if a person happens to walk through the very back of our shot, like I'm going to edit that person Without leader you know, we have without longer focal length and blurred them so it's not like a sharp persons you know, added to this portrait and kind of more just a little bit of distraction but I take care of it. Sure. Yeah so I just feel like I don't like to do anything crazy drastic but I do like to brighten eyes I like to feel like things are clean. like to have bright colors overall. Just my style the imagery is I feel like pretty bright and sunny, warm, like, like, to me it feels like you can almost be in that moment. Yeah, a lot of ways.

8:33  

Do you do you find yourself typically doing most photoshoot it's inside or outside?

8:38  

For me, it's up to my clients which women go but more of my clients request outdoors. Okay,

8:43  

yeah. Now what's your what's kind of your busiest season for photos?

8:48  

Well, to be honest, because I do this full time I really run the same pace year round. Pretty much take on the same amount of clients but I will say of course, the holiday season and What kind of expect is, is everybody has the same deadline? Yeah, I work on it a more concise, condensed timeline for these clients now.

9:12  

So after you took that class and you started working Is there anybody in the photography field that has really you felt like has influenced your style and your way of taking photos?

9:23  

I think I would have. I feel, you know, there's a lot of people that do it. But I think I always kind of lived in my own bubble for the longest time because I wasn't trying to be a professional photographer wasn't like, you know, really looking into the pet world. I thought I was just going to do my own thing initially. So I kind of wasn't affected too much at the early stages. But as I like went on with my development as a photographer, and then as more so as entrepreneur and business owner. I started learning more about like the industry as a whole. And I felt like I really identified with the style of photography and Jamie Piper, she has calibos pow, belly Media, I believe is what she calls it now. And I just really like that her images are bright there is a personality connection. It's not not the same kind of pose or idea in every photo with just like different backgrounds or, you know, it's very, very diverse and very much shows like a moment in time. To me.

10:19  

Yeah, I like the idea of when photos when you go to talk to a photographer, and if they're showing you some of their portfolio, when they're not all the same, when you are able to see that it's not like JC Penney's photo booth, where this is the three backgrounds we have, you can hold the box, or you can hold the hat and we take her photos.

10:38  

Right? Yeah. And there's like a place for everything, I'm sure but this is, you know, just me like, my thing is just making sure that it feels make sure way around.

10:47  

Yeah. So So after eight years, how how has the industry of pet photography changed?

10:55  

Yeah, that's a great question. So I think I think it's becoming more. More known, I still have a lot of clients or a lot of the interactions with people where they're like, Oh, that's the thing. I was buying some excessive amount of dog toys today for some upcoming photoshoot. And the cashier asked me if I got a new puppy. No, I'm a big user, you know, explained a little bit, but she's like, she just kind of looked at me like, Hmm, interesting. She was just, like, skeptical about that being a job or

11:33  

something. Sure. Yeah.

11:37  

It is, like, I think it is becoming more popular or more, you know, I get a lot of referrals and I feel like it's being talked about more or, you know, shared more, I guess, maybe with of course, we've had a great like, you know, social media presence anyway, but I don't know, maybe there's just more, more people out there sharing and talking and taking more photos themselves.

12:00  

Yeah, and that was kind of I was interested in trying to learn about how, given that a lot of people are still learning that pet photography is a thing, how you get most of your business and it sounds like it's, it's mostly referrals from customer to customer.

12:15  

Yeah, I would, you know what fear it seems to ebb and flow in waves you know, I do think that like, social media has a little bit of an impact like my you know, our own accounts and what we put out there the website referrals, repeat that, you know, it's nothing No, no, like greater compliment or, you know, excitement do I get like, you know, with clients coming in when it's a repeat like, how much more fun can it be to like see a pet or a client again and reconnect and do something different and yeah, you know, maybe they have a new pet added to the family, that kind of thing. So, so just kind of berries. That's cool. Oh, when I donate to charities and stuff like that, Oh,

12:57  

okay. So So if if there are fundraisers and things like that you will offer a photography package that kind of thing.

13:04  

Yeah, exactly. Okay. Okay, that's really nice. I really like hearing when people give back to the community in that way, and provide those services to people and try and you know, build value. And it also helps get your name out there to let you know, a little bit of advertising as well. Absolutely. I totally agree with that. And I, it's a nice, I mean, we all have like hearts for animals. So it is a really nice, you know, thing for, you know, to be able to, to give back and know that it's helping a good cause and meet people who have those same interests because you know, they're at these events or, or what have you. So we connect on that level. And oftentimes, they're rescue pads, but a photograph as a result, all around positive experience and great people.

13:50  

Yeah, because you still want to be able to help out in some way. And we all have our skills and our gifts and talents and finding out where and how we can use those. I'm Not a dog groomer, nobody would want me to groom their dog for part of a charity event. But you know, so, so, so? No, but we would gladly offer our services to care for an animal as part of something like that. So knowing, you know, where you can give back and how is is is important? Absolutely. So after after looking back over the past eight years, do you have a favorite photo or a special memory of a photo session?

14:27  

Let's see. I'll start with special memory because favorite photos a little harder. So I a couple years ago, I thought I have a lot of Don't get me wrong. It's very hard to even like pick one but I'm just comes to mind. Yeah. A couple years ago, I got to photograph a very, very sweet dog named bestie. It was actually part of a charity project that I was doing for a rescue here that that does the calendar every year Ambassador rescue and I was their crown their photographer for the year I donated my services I did 12 months, plus the cost And we had it spaced out over several months. And it was supposed to start like may or maybe it was like summer time, it was the start of summer. But I got a call right after the event. And after these, they were all purchased and bid on sorry if I'm making it sound a little more confusing, but basically everybody made these, I don't have my time, and then they were auctioned off and purchased and one of the purchases, she didn't realize when the condition of her dog and she ended up having a dog that was in really poor health. And we were down to the wire for, you know, looking like the dog would be able to make the calendar, you know, timeline wise. And so we expedited the photo session and she was scheduled to be unfortunately, you know, knew that her health problems and it was just in her best interest to to not prolong it. So it was really sad, but we photographed her a few days before and my client gave her life, the most amazing like last couple days of her life doing all these fun things and one of them was my photo session. So it was just really cool. She was such a sweet dog. And the very last picture I took with her like walking down this path, and she turned back around and looked at me. And we caught that moment. And it was so sad at the same time. My client cried and I cried later when we but like she picked up for the cover, and she was the month of December, and it was just really, like really sweet. And it was, you know, totally, like, shaky for, you know, party here talking about it, but I just felt such a connection to that client and that dog and I felt so good to like, have made that happen for her because those pictures are you know, on the top of her most treasured.

16:37  

Yeah, knowing that, you know, this is, you know, one of, if not the most loved being in somebody's life, and you have the opportunity to come them come in and give them a gift that's going to last the rest of their life. Right that that that photo was not just a one time thing. It's going to be on the calendar. It's you know, I'm sure that person looks at that every day. Then has fond memories of that and I can't imagine what it's like to be able to, to give that to somebody knowing it's not just a photo, it's a memory.

17:09  

Yeah, it really is special in that way. It definitely makes me feel fulfilled in what I'm doing when I can give that to people even when it is hard for all of us, you know, we're in those kind of moments and then you know, when they lose Pat and I hear I mean a little part of me, you know, my heart breaks when I get those kind of updates, but you know, I often get you know, great you know, but at the same time get like so much positive feedback on how much truth mean and how glad they are they did it and all that kind of stuff. So, yeah.

17:35  

So when you're when you're in there and you're taking the photos of the somebodies pets, do you find that they're they're leery of the camera and all the equipment

17:47  

they can be. Absolutely. You know, for me a lot of my stuff is is is a lot bigger, you know, bigger cameras, bigger lenses, that kind of thing. And you know, they've ever been around And my approach to that is always just to go slow. You know, I try to tell my clients, you know that we're not for me, I just kind of sum it up a little better. I've always approached it like we're not on a strict time schedule, you know what I'll tell my clients like oh, we have 45 minutes and go you know, I just take as long as we need and I just keep in mind that like the beginning of a session to me influences how the rest of it's going to go so I would rather go you know, real slow and work through what any sort of kinks we find in in in this you know, the like the process for the dog or cat if it's a cat that's another thing to they often are more leery. Yeah. And just see what we can do to just calm them and call my clients because oftentimes, you know, everybody feels the pressure of it be like, be time to perform.

18:55  

Yeah, yeah. especially knowing Okay, we know I've paid for this, this service. This and now make magic happen. And that doesn't always happen.

19:06  

Yes, that's a very good way to describe it. Yeah, I just go slow and I try to use positive reinforcement and, and I try to know what I'm getting into. That's part of the planning beforehand, you know, some pets are just going to take to it naturally because they just love, you know, attention and are not at all bothered and others, I know that I'm going to have to take a different approach.

19:27  

So how do you handle those, those difficult clients?

19:31  

Well, first off in my planning, I've tried to figure out if I have a difficult path or not, you know, and to me, it's not a bad thing. If they are I like love, you know, the challenge doesn't bother me. And as a professional, I feel like I come up with a plan, but I kind of have to know, you know, a little bit like, you know, before that's the thing, I try to really feel at the client and take any red, you know, any signals or red flags or anything that I might mention, maybe they don't think they have a difficult time, but I, you know, I'm wondering if it might be a little more challenging than may think. Sure. Um, yeah, that's happens and, and, you know in the moment? Well, I'll add another note to that I base my locations to on the type of path or like the personality of the path for what would make the most sense for, you know, a successful photo session. So, if we have an highly anxious dog, I don't want to be at the most popular park on Saturday afternoon. Yeah, yeah. And so we kind of strategically plan those those details before as well. But in the moment, I just try to, you know, use a lot of common sense with dogs and you know, give them space beyond their level, go slow. Use rewards positive reinforcement tree, I tell my clients, I'm not above bribery at all. What's gonna happen with me? Yeah. So, I try to, you know, just be, you know, as quiet and gentle as possible.

20:56  

Yeah, and kind of just letting letting the letting the dog The cab tell you when they're ready. And I'm sure you do a lot of reading body language and, and some animal handling in there too.

21:09  

Yes, all three. Very good boy.

21:13  

Well, hopefully by now, anybody listening to this would not think this, but I know many people do that think taking photos is just as easy as clicking a button. And some, for some reason those people are never satisfied with how their pictures turn out. When should somebody seek out a professional versus trying to do it themselves?

21:34  

I would say if there's a challenging pad, you know, that, you know, rather than making a traumatic event, maybe just bring a professional in from the beginning. You know, I would also say if there's multiple pets or multiple species, species, you know, dogs and cats together or other animals. I think that, you know, the more you're adding, just logically, the more challenging it's going to be so, right. So if you have high aspirations You know, for a big group portrait in that's probably a job for someone like me. If, if, if it's, if it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for some reason, to me if it's, and I do get a lot of clients on both ends of the spectrum like this, whether it's a brand new puppy, or it's an end of life, you know, those moments are, are really precious usually, you know, to my clients and, and if they feel like, you know, it's not going to be something they could ever, you know, redo if they're just experimenting and doesn't work out, you know, no big deal. But if it's, you know, if they're high stakes to it, probably best professional.

22:35  

Yeah. Because, you know, listening to you and thinking about all of the planning, all of the thought that goes into that, like that's not something that I personally do and I take photos and so when I you know, you talking to us the scenarios of challenging pets, multiple animals once in a lifetime, I don't have the capacity to do that kind of planning. So those definitely when I would be reaching out this somebody to take photos of my pants because I wouldn't want to mess those up. So what's been the most difficult part of being a pet photographer?

23:09  

You know, I definitely have figured out I'm a planner, I like to have like everything sorted out as best they can and then at the same time I can, we can have this plan my client and I and then we can get there and, you know, circumstances could be entirely different and today's a different day and you know, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. I just have to roll with it a lot. So I feel like I do well with this now but I feel like potentially that would have, you know, once upon a time was more challenging to just adapt a little more. Because ultimately they're you're working with animals and there's things you cannot control Mother Nature outdoors. You know, when sun, you know, clouds, active dogs, lazy dogs, dogs that don't care, other things, catch that want to hide. All these things are bringing out good memories, but it just, I think, you know, you have to be flexible. And I'm sure you know a lot of people who just have pets in general who get it, but as like it being my job, it's even harder because you don't have these expectations for these plans, but I tend to go with, like what's possible?

24:15  

Sure. So what motivates you to keep going through that? those difficulties?

24:21  

Um, I guess part of it will be at this point, just the experience. And in my mind, I know that I always come up with something, you know, I always have an answer, figure it out, you know, not that you ever see everything or know that you're ever done growing, but there's been a lot of a lot of circumstances and, you know, reflecting back that, that we've overcome, to have, you know, great images and the end and people wouldn't know the backstory. I guess that's a little bit of a benefit to as far as the end result. You know, nobody knows exactly what we had to go through to make that happen. Whether whether it was easy or whether it was hard, I mean, in the end, and my clients of course, have had a good time and I've reassured them and they're comfortable throughout this whole process of I don't have any negative feelings or anything about it. But, you know, I have to be sure not to show it on my face and in my mannerisms and pick up on all that. So yeah, it's a delicate balance of being responsible for a lot and, you know, wanting to be, you know, very myself as like a high achiever, perfectionist and sometimes a little, you'll have to kind of rein it in,

25:24  

right, balancing those personal expectations with the ultimate outcome of the entire product. Mm hmm.

25:31  

Yeah. And as long as we get something, you know, the clients are ultimately you know, are going to be happy and, you know, we always come through one way or another.

25:38  

Yeah, I think the most frequent question that that we get is how do you get the pet to sit still?

25:46  

Oh, that's a good one. Um, well, like I said, bribery is a big thing, but and I always clear it of course with my clients because you have to be sure special diets or allergies or things like that, and we bring treats and clients bring treats Stuff like that. And we do small portions and you know, just kind of enough to keep them engaged as needed where, you know, where we're reading the body language of what's a good idea and what's not retrieved. But, but also dogs are motivated by different things not always food, you know, some are, you know, cat to affection,

26:18  

toys,

26:21  

you know, there's different, like, sometimes just love to like get a little break and go take in this mouse and, you know, stretch your legs and then they come back and they're, you know, ready for the next thing, but it's just kind of, you know, finding out what would be a good rewarding and giving it as throughout the process.

26:36  

So let's say I figured out that reward, we've done some planning. And let's say that I even have a good DSLR or micro four thirds. Why are my pictures not still turning out the way I'd like them to be?

26:51  

Um, let's say hypothetically, well, something that I would I would look at is, are they completely unfocused? You know, Sometimes people, my clients will even show me photos, maybe they're taking themselves or different things throughout our process and say like, Oh, look at this as one of my favorites. And, and sometimes I can just tell that it's actually not in focus behind the looks halfway, but you know, and so perhaps like a reason why that might happen could be because you're moving too fast, you know, as you're photographing. You might have a fast enough shutter speed, if you have the DSLR and you're setting those kind of things and in working with a manual mode or,

27:28  

you know, shutter priority or something like that.

27:32  

What are the other reasons? Maybe they're too dark? Maybe the light isn't, you know, quite right on the on the dog itself. Yeah, um, you know, maybe you're, maybe you're standing kind of over the dog and your body's casting a shadow yourself, or maybe, you know, a location that really, really heavily trees, and it's a dark day, and there's not a lot of available light source. Let's see what other things what I see. I think probably blurry and dark are two really popular ones. Can you think of other Thanks.

28:01  

Yeah, no, I was trying to think of that too. I think the other side of this is that most of us don't have DSLRs on hand and we're actually taking pictures with a smartphone. And so what what kind of principles of photography? Can we apply to using a smartphone to take pictures of our pets?

28:23  

Absolutely, I mean, as I think amazing photos can come up iPhones and stuff as well. So my tips for using an iPhone for your cell phone for pictures would be to slow down again, you know, if you're the camera shake or you know moving or you know, if you're holding a dog's leash and they're pulling or something in your hands going forward, you know, at the same time you're trying to take a portrait, you know, you're going to have some blur to it. So I would slow down you know, get some help, maybe you know, someone else the home police or, you know, wrangle a pet in some way. Let's see what else would be good. I would get lucky. Get on the dogs level. I don't know how much other people do that. But that's huge for me.

29:04  

Yeah. That changes the whole perspective too. And I can see how that would make some very interesting perspectives for photos. So like, Oh, I didn't know my dog looks like that from that level or

29:20  

you get to kind of see their world from their level. Yeah, wow. Which is can be really comical. We have tiny, tiny pups or big dogs, too. It's just a good strategy for sure. Get low as low as you can, you know, and in practice, you use different angles. You don't have to, I mean, sometimes I do like the shots from above as well, you know, where they're looking right up at the camera, or, you know, just by playing with it, you can get different different angles. You know, don't just do it from your own perspective. I'm just the ending.

29:47  

You know, a good way to mix it up.

29:48  

Sure. How do you practice taking good photos?

29:52  

Oh, so if I was going to give like someone suggestions on how to do that, I would say pick it easier, you know? quotes around this and easier pet to start with, you know, maybe a pet that's, like more laid back or highly trained if you have friends that are dog trainers or you know, maybe make a connection there to to get, you know, work with someone who has, you know, highly trained pet that's that would be a great way to not have as much stressor on the controlling the animal. The other thing I would say is to get like I said, Get help, you know, bring one in. Sometimes pets do a little bit better when they're not being hand like leashes and being held by their owner, you know, if you put the owner behind, you know, I don't know how this will all work, they realized that like dog, dog walking or other businesses, you know, you might not even be with the owner, but that is you know, totally fine too. I often think they do better when they're not in the control of like person they're most familiar with.

30:50  

Yes, yeah, that's, we see that. I see that all the time of this dogs, you know, my dogs crazy. They go you know, whatever and then 30 you know, 30 minutes after they left, the dog is asleep and we know barely moves the rest of the time there and there's just the most loving laid back, no energy kind of animal. And then as soon as the owner gets in there, they go crazy. And they're hyped up again. And yeah, it's a getting separating the animal from the owner can show you an entirely different animal than what you expect.

31:18  

Absolutely. I totally love that. You guys have seen that in your in your world too. Definitely. Definitely an interesting point. Yeah. Yeah. So I would bring someone in to help like maybe it's a friend or a fellow, a fellow dog walker, or someone who else is in the industry that that is familiar with pets, because you want to have someone that definitely has a grasp on you know, body language, and it can be an asset to you, you know, to practice, but and then I just think your practice, you know, everything takes practice. So, not to be too, you know, not to have, you know, expect to be able to do the same things, but, you know, as I do or, you know, looking at professional portraits and thinking, you know, that's going to happen right away, right, it's it just takes time.

32:01  

Jenna deef any final words of wisdom for us when it comes to taking pictures of our pets,

32:06  

I think I would just say enjoy it, you know, make these are, you know, working with animals is a fun thing and any to me in any capacity, and to enjoy your time with them and explore the world from their perspective, you know, by changing those angles and, and doing the things they love to do, you know, that stuff makes for great photos is an enjoyable time for everyone. It's good for the pet. And those are, you know, like we kind of talked about earlier. Those are the kind of moments and places in time and things that people really look back in love. Yeah,

32:36  

yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming on today and sharing all those great tips and helpful pointers. I you know, it's it's a it's a wonderful thing to hear all the forethought and planning that you go through to make those photos that makes them not just a snapshot in time but a memory that lasts forever. So how can people get in touch with you and follow along with your Oh yeah,

33:00  

absolutely. So I am online. I have social profiles on all the websites of course generation photography. And then there's a lot of content and information and examples and stuff on my website, Jenna reconned. calm.

33:14  

Okay, well, wonderful. Thank you again for coming on today, Jenna.

33:17  

Thank you for having me. It was lovely to chat with you guys.

33:20  

Like I said at the beginning of the episode, regardless of what you're using to take the photo, there are so many other things that you can be doing to make sure that you're taking the best quality photo that you possibly can. Jenna is a great resource. If you have any other photography specific questions, definitely reach out to her she would love to help if you have questions or maybe stories that you'd like shared on the podcast. Reach out to us at feedback at pet sort of confessional.com you can follow along and stay up to date with everything that we're doing on our website at pet sitter confessional calm and join us on social media at pet sitter confessional on Facebook and Instagram as well as PS confessional on Twitter.

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