My Pet Portrait Muse
Chloë: My Pet Portrait Photography Muse
When my old dog, a beloved chihuahua named Ciara died last year I didn’t want any new dog. It’s tough traveling to national parks with dogs and I hate leaving them behind. They become our little R2D2 companion/counterpart/assistants and it’s tough to be away. Anyone who owns a dog understands this partnership they create with us over time. It took me a long time to love Ciara, and I denied how much I liked her up until the very end. A person must stay stoic around a chihuahua. If not they start demanding sitting on ones lap at all times. Oh yeah, they do that anyways.
For a long time I sent my wife, Mary, U-Tube videos of French bulldogs being goofy. So after Ciara died, she and our daughter decided to get a Frenchie. I stood opposed to the idea, but as usual I lost. Mary found a breeder through a friend who picked up their Frenchie from and started figuring out how to get one. Mary, already smart, really shines when it comes to online research. A couple weeks later I found myself driving the 99 miles to Drain, Oregon and picking up a puppy we named Chloë at the Umpqua Valley Kennels.
For the record when we were trying to come up with a name before I drove over I started reading through a list of movie stars. When we hit Chloë Grace Moretz we found our name.
She’s so naughty! She’s so cute! There’s a reason why you can find endless short videos of them on U-Tube. She’s really cute and funny.
Practicing Pet Portraits in my Studio
So far in my quest to become a pet portrait photographer here in Bend, the phone hasn’t really been ringing off the hook. So what’s a curious photographer to do? Portraits of his Frenchie of course! I also got to practice using the always surprising at how good it is Fuji XT-5 with the amazing 90mm f2.0 lens and the Profoto D2 for light. The Fuji really is a great camera. Though not quite as fast on the draw as the Canon with the autofocus and shooting, it’s really fun to use. Plus one thing I had to figure out the hard way: the menu control for turning off the exposure adjustment in the viewfinder to just a scene for studio work. It’s buried deep in the menu and not really labeled intuitively. I’m trying to figure out the next step, to put that control option onto the Q screen. Why does all this stuff have to be so cryptic?
I digress.
The Profoto D2 had an attached small umbrella and popped through my big 6x6 scrim. The light popped through the upper left corner closest to where I was shooting. This way the light had a better chance of wrapping around Chloë‘s cute little head and into the shadows.
The problem of course was the tear in her left eye. Mary noticed this immediately. I’ve so far made one try at repeating this picture with dry eyes and failed. She keeps wanting to bark at me while I’m working.
Chloë Barking at me while I try to get some portraits of her. She’s a goofy little potato-body doggy.
Work Fast, Be Patient
A photographer has to be ready for the split second shot with pets. The pose happens and then it’s gone. Poof! Seeing the same expression twice becomes the challenge. It’s like chasing the White Whale.
Chloë, with her insanely short attention span and habit of starting to bark at me with a look of, “What the devil are you doing? Why aren’t we playing?” Has become my favorite subject for studio portraits. She’s great practice. And I WILL repeat that picture without any tears in either of our eyes.
