Capturing pawssionate moments…
The beginning…
Pet photography was born out of the kindness of my first pet doggy Brio, a yellow Labrador, who is now two years old. He is the one who motivated me to start this special service for pet lovers. Brio has kept me motivated to enter the unique passion of pet photography. He completely changed my vision and made my life more creative. He became my family member when he was just 35 days old and since then he impresses me by his poses and different expressions. Brio perfectly suits the breed Labrador. He has all the qualities of typical Labrador. He always wants to play, eat, bark only at other animals and follows me all the time. He’s definitely the most pampered and spoilt, he wants an attendant while eating and eats only when someone is standing next to him. That was the time I thought of pursuing professional pet photography and to do something out of the box. Thus, First Pets Photography Studio was born one and a half years back.
Capturing the personalities…
When I photograph animals, I capture not only their physical beauty, but their individual, unique and special personalities. I photograph them in their natural environment, in a space where they can be free and comfortable. When shooting in a studio setting, I keep the design simple and let your pet’s personality shine.
Photographing animals is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and I love it. I love that each session is so different with every dog and this brings an entirely new adventure to the session. The only required thing is patience and note what they want to do.
Each click is different…
Whenever I have a pet to shoot, I give few minutes of warm up to let them adjust to the new place and create a happy atmosphere where dogs can be themselves. At this time, the reading of the pet is done. Whether he’s aggressive, calm, trained, colour and supportive, accordingly I plan the concept and shoot. For toy dogs, lighting is kept soft and for aggressive breeds, I play with single or harsh lighting which suits the personality of the breeds.
What clients want…
Choices of clients vary a lot. Many of them shoot to paste big prints in their living rooms, big frames in kid’s rooms or dog’s rooms, coffee table albums, matrimonial as in for mating, etc. They enjoy photographing their pet as they say that they never got this professional specialised eye to shoot their pet’s real personality.
On pooch love…
Pet parents are special, patient and supportive. They have a deep appreciation for their animals. The love and care for their paw-kids during session is always a family bonding. There are many memorable experiences but I particularly remember the Lhasa, who had his special clothes, glares, stoles, different types of brushes for different hair styles and only mineral water to drink. During the shoot, his pet parents used to converse with him in his ear and I got superb poses. People actually take care of their furry members just like their own children.
A memorable shoot…
Each shoot is a different experience for me. Every pet behaves different with all his kid-like nature and behaviour. The most adventurous and memorable experiences I’ve had was getting four 15-day-old Persian kittens to pose. The plan was to get a group shot and as they were so hyper and active that I could barely get them together. After testing my patience, finally in the end (before I thought I had lost it), I managed to get them all together, and that has been one of my best shots till date. At the end, those kittens must be saying, “Gaurav welcomes to pets photography.”
Tips to pet parents…
Just wait for his support and good mood and you will get the best shot ever, just be patient!
(Gaurav Thombre is the chief photographer for Overdrive magazine and runs the First Pets Photography Studio. For More details, log on to: www.gauravthombre.com)