At the beginning of February (2017) I took the opportunity to photograph a selection of dogs at an event organised by the administrators of a Facebook group I belong.

I highly recommend joining groups on social media, in whichever field or industry you are. For photographers, as is my experience, it can be a very lonely existence, working for the majority of the time by ones self either out on location or in front of the computer. It is therefore, in my opinion, healthy to be able to interact with like minded folk.

As human beings we will, all of us, fall within two categories; introvert and extrovert.

For those of us who are introvert, this means we are able to find inspiration and creativity by ourselves.  However, the extrovert of us need to be surrounded by others in order to bounce ideas and opinions off of in order to feed the creative lobe of the brain. 

Whilst I consider myself to fall more within the introvert camp, I do also have an extrovert side and events like this are a way of fuelling that.  I find benefit in discussing different techniques that I have discovered and which are used by other photographers in reaching the results that we do.  Too many people like to keep their methods to themselves, and that's fine, but by opening up and sharing you may just learn something new. 

It's worth bearing in mind that times change, and what is working for you now may not work six months down the line, by which point you're already at the back of the field trying to reach the front again. Wouldn't it be a lot less stressful to remain at the front? Just a thought.

Anyhow, I digress.

At the event there were a number of different breed of dog, not to mention a skunk, snake and even a wild cat (Genet), which I wasn't expecting.

Duke and Ecco are Puli and as you will see below have a black, and a more silver coat to them, and lots of hair.  The difficulties with these two chaps was tying to capture a glint in the eye underneath all of that hair to add that little something extra. It was also not the best idea to shoot them both on a black backdrop, but that is what was available so yes, challenge accepted.

Jack is a Jack Russell, Manchester Terrier cross and was referred to by some as 'wonder dog' and he truly was.  When he was asked to sit, he sat. When he was asked to stand, he stood. He was an absolute professional from start to finish, so much so that I had to limit myself to only two or three different poses, otherwise I'd have run out of time for the other dogs.

Cookie and Buddy are both Chihuahua's and were both two of the less cooperative models, so I had to be quick on the shutter to capture them.

The smile on his face told me he was loving the attention.

To begin with Dodger was a little unsure, but as soon as the fan came out he was in heaven.  He absolutely loved the air whooshing through his coat.

Everyone had the same concern with Flower.....would she spray us!!! Fortunately for us she must have liked us as we managed to get some photographs essence of skunk free.

Now this cat was quick. So much so that I had the shutter speed cranked right up to 1/1000. We were informed beforehand that we would have to be quick as NEO would only want to be (sought of) cooperative for about fifteen minutes, after which he'd probably just want to curl up and rest.

WITHOUT PHOTOGRAPHY, THERE IS NO HISTORY.

e: gary.fernon@photoreceptorcell.co.uk