by Erin King | 8 May, 2020 | People & Pets, Pets
“All a dog ever wants is love and we dog mums have a lot of love to give.”
For Mothers Day this year, I think we should take a minute to celebrate and acknowledge all of the fur mumma’s out there, because dog mums deserve to be celebrated too!
Erin’s sessions aim to capture not only emotion filled portraits of our beloved pets but also the interaction between pet and owner. Erin’s work illustrates the meaningful relationships we share with our pets.
In this series of images, Erin shares some of her favourite shots. She has captured the loving bond shared between women and their dogs. Each one sharing a special intimate and emotional tender moment. What better way to pay homage to the dog mum.
These days, pets are often referred to as our babies and similarly treated as such. They are now the ‘new kids’. It’s evident that as we become more and more connected and passionate about our relationships with animals they’ve become so much more than just pets. Dogs as our closest companions have now become an integral part of our family. Taking care of a dog is a big commitment not too dissimilar from taking care of a child. For some fur mums their dog will fulfil this role being the closest thing to their child. All a dog ever wants is love and we dog mums have a lot of love to give.
This article is also posted on Bored Panda If you liked this, head on over to visit and please give it an upvote.
by Erin King | 16 Sep, 2019 | Pets, Rescue Stories
Unfortunately it’s quite common for dogs not to be themselves in shelters. They may have come from a bad situation and because they are not in a stable home environment they are not receiving the best love, care and attention that they need. As such they can develop undesirable behaviours, become scared, stressed, anxious, and sometimes even act out or become aggressive. The problem with this is, this is the behaviour that becomes the basis for whether or not they are deemed suitable for re-homing or get chosen to be adopted. But more often than not, this is not their normal behaviour. It is often a behaviour based on their reaction to this living situation they have been placed into and often not a true reflection of the dogs real personality.
This was very evident in Lucy’s story from my second fundraising photo book project – Longing for Love – telling the heartwarming stories of Melbourne Rescue Dogs.
Lucy has to be one of the happiest dogs I’ve met who simply loves life and her new owner, Todd and who’s face is always plastered with the biggest Staffy smile. However you wouldn’t have known this from how she was acting at the shelter, but thankfully Todd decided to take a chance on her. Here’s their story…
“To this day, finding Lucy, has been the best thing to ever hapen to me.”
I’ve always been a dog person; I had family dogs when I was a kid. So after I bought my first house and fixed up the yard I was eager to search for a furry companion of my own. My Nan actually got me on to the idea of adopting a dog rather than buying a puppy, as she said, “When you adopt a dog, you’re saving a life”.
After looking at several different dog rescue websites, I came across Lucy. Unlike the other profiles, Lucy’s only had one picture, but I had a good feeling about her. I rang the RSPCA, and she was still up for adoption. The only issue was that she was in Broken Hill and I was in Frankston, approximately a 10 hour trip away. So, not knowing what I was really getting myself into, I packed the car and headed to Broken Hill.
When I got there they told me what they knew about Lucy’s background. She was taken off her original owner because he cut her tail off with an axe when she was just a pup. Lucy had then been adopted out and brought back as that owner ‘didn’t have time for her’.
When I first walked out the back to see Lucy she was scaling the wire fence and barking her head off. My initial thought was what the bloody hell have I gotten myself into, but as soon as I took Lucy away from the shelter she was like a completely different dog. She was only a year old and I hate to think of the amount of stress she went through in her first year on this earth going through all that she did.
In the seven years Lucy and I have been together she has needed very little training to be the perfect dog she is today. I’ve heard her bark only twice, she doesn’t dig holes, chew my things or terrorise visitors. She’s great with people and other animals. All she ever wants to do is be shown affection; belly and butt scratches are her favourite. She also loves napping in the sun, chewing on big marrow bones and chasing birds away when we go to the park.
To this day, finding Lucy has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. She’s my best friend. When I tell people Lucy’s story they often say she is so lucky that I adopted her, but the fact is, I’m the lucky one.
You can read Lucy’s story as well as many other inspiring and heartwarming rescue stories in this book. Have your very own keepsake limited edition coffee table book which can be purchased here
by Erin King | 15 Aug, 2019 | Awards, Pets
I’ve got a lot of great news to share. This years 2019 AIPP Professional Photography Awards involves ticking some pretty major career goals off my list.
First up in June we had the AIPP Victorian state Professional Photography Awards. I received 2 silver distinctions and 2 silver awards. My results also lead me to be a finalist in the Pet/Animal category once again. This is my fourth year running to be a finalist in the category is a huge achievement.
Fast forward to mid August and the AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards where my results we’re even better. I entered the same 4 images, (one with some changes), but re-printed them all on a different paper making minor enhancement tweaks.
Creating for awards
This year, rather than just having all dogs as I’ve had in previous years, I decided I wanted to show more range and diversity in my overall folio of images by photographing some different animals. I also shot specifically for the awards to create some more conceptual images that I wanted to create for myself. Although this is very different to the work I generally create in my everyday shooting for clients. But what’s great about this is it’s pushing me creatively to go outside of my comfort zone and try something different furthering my photography, editing and post production skills. In turn I’m also able to offer these image creations as exclusive sessions for my clients as well. The awards obviously reward images which are of a high professional standard technically but it also rewards images which are unique, something new which the judges haven’t seen done before whether this is a technique or an idea, and especially images which tell a story and evoke emotion.
Over my 5 years of entering the awards I am now getting fairly consistent results where generally my images are all being awarded. I feel I can gauge now whether what I am entering is award worthy. My long-standing next goal that I have been working toward is to be awarded a gold award. This year, I FINALLY managed to snap up not 1 but 2 gold awards! (I was starting to think these were an urban legend) as well as a Silver Distinction and a Silver for my other 2 images. Plus my photo book was also awarded a Silver. This meant my results also put me in the running as a Finalist for the Australian Pet/Animal Photographer of the year! This is such a HUGE achievement for me, that I am very proud of. I always have high expectations for the Victorian State awards, but never in a million years did I expect to be considered for the nationals from entrants covering all of Australia!
Having won a number of awards over the years I have now also achieved my Master Photographer status with the AIPP.
This is the image I created for the cover of my second Melbourne Rescue Dogs photobook – Longing for Love.
To get a Gold award for this image was actually totally unexpected! This image scored a Silver at the Victorian State awards in June and only just as well scoring 81, so I definitely wasn’t expecting this to do so well, even though I love it.
In the hope to get a better result at the Nationals, I reprinted it on a beautiful new metallic paper (the same as my green tree frog image) and I think this also helped to elevate it to the next level by giving it quite a different effect and feel. Although this was risky and I was actually very unsure about whether I liked it, it definitely paid off!
AIPP Epson Victorian Professional Photography Awards – Silver – 81
AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards – Gold – 90
This image did really well at the Victorian awards in June with some great discussion, scoring a high Silver Distinction after being talked up. Then it did even better again at the Australian awards!
Photographed through glass this is an image which sometimes takes more than one look to fully understand the story (as was missed by a lot of the judges). The fly is photographed on the opposite side of the glass to the frog, so the irony of the story is that the frog cannot actually catch the fly, despite all his effort.
To hear the judges talk about everything I was trying to achieve in this photo and that they actually got the story really makes me feel so emotional and proud of what I can create and achieve.
I took a risk this time and chose a beautiful new metallic paper to print on and printed with the amazing Rocco Ancora and Tanya Wilson at Capture to Print who helped to make this image literally pop off the paper! I’m so glad the judges picked up on this and it was talked about a lot. As these are print awards the printing and final presentation of the image is just as important as the image itself and can actually make all the difference in the scoring. My risk definitely paid off!
Although being talked up toward a gold award it just missed out scoring 89, however it then went up at the final review and scored 90 – GOLD AWARD. WHAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
AIPP Epson Victorian Professional Photography Awards – Silver Distinction – 87
AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards – Gold – 90
This is the first time I’ve really gone out of my way to create a conceptual image from scratch. Normally this is way out of my comfort zone and not my typical style, but this is the great thing about entering the awards, as it’s really pushed me creatively.
This is an image that I wanted to create purely for myself, and it will give me such joy to have this on my wall, but knowing I could also enter this meant it gave me the confidence to actually create it.
With this image I was striving for gold and I really feel it has all those elements. I am very disappointed it didn’t quite get there, it was so close, only 1 point off scoring a Silver Distinction – 89 at State and then an 85 at Nationals. It did however get a great response from two judges (both here and in NZ) who tried to take it to gold and I appreciate their passion to try and get the other judges to see it for what it is. It’s rewarding in itself to hear someone speak so positively about your work when they get the same feeling from it as you had intended. It’s an honour just to be in conversations for a gold.
This is an especially emotional image for me and I am very attached to it. Not only for the amount of time that went into creating this, but for what it expresses and means to me. My girl as the Angel we see her as, we always call her, our baby angel, and feel we are genuinely spoilt to have her. It’s a play on the angel/devil on our shoulders trying to influence us one way or the other. Plus we all know cats are all Devils right.
AIPP Epson Victorian Professional Photography Awards – Silver Distinction – 89
AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards – Silver Distinction – 85
This image was actually initially created to be the opposite of the Angel image, however it didn’t quite come to fruition in time. Out of all my entries, I thought this was my weakest. However it scored a solid silver at 84 at the Victorian state awards. One of the comments made was that it needed more to the story (which I knew considering it was essentially an unfinished piece).
I actually ended up taking this image in a different direction and playing on the power of the evil character of this devil cat. I added a beautiful little yellow canary and feathers. This image now tells the story of a sadistic devil cat who kills beautiful birds simply to strip them of their colourful feathers to use for his own vanity.
Even though this image talks to death and the concept is quite dark, it was still intended to be lighthearted rather than sombre, so I’m glad one of the judges picked up on it and spoke to this.
AIPP Epson Victorian Professional Photography Awards – Silver – 84
AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards – Silver – 80
Longing for Love – Photobook
Of course I had to enter my latest book into the Photographic Book category as well. Last year I entered my first book – From Lost to Loved, which unfortunately just missed out on an award scoring 79 and the judges scores were very varied. However it did get some interesting feedback about the layout and design which I tried to take into account with my second book.
This year I entered my second book – Longing for Love and I am very happy that it was awarded with a Silver award with all judges being pretty unanimous across the board.
It received some great comments from the judges which I think really empahasis the books meaning. Here you can listen to the judging video and the comments the judges made about it.
I’ve quoted some of the comments here which I think are very meaningful and are such great compliments to receive.
- “Obviously the photographer has a great affinity with their subjects and this shows in the book”
- “All the dog owners would absolutely love it”
- “The book has a strong message to think about the plight of dogs….they make a great contribution to our lives and the book is a great advertisement and acknowledgement of what they do for us.”
- “Dogs make a better contribution to society than a lot of humans do”
- “It’s nice to see a book that is designed for purpose, the design and layout is well thought out and implemented”
My photobooks make a great gift for any dog or book lover and can be purchased HERE with 10% of sales donated to the selected pet rescue groups.
by Erin King | 7 Aug, 2019 | Pets, Rescue Stories
Meika is the first in a series of Melbourne dog rescue stories I’m sharing from my first fundraising photo book project – From Lost to Loved – telling the heartwarming stories of Melbourne Rescue Dogs.
Meika’s story has touched me dearly and I’m so happy it has been told in my book as unfortunately she has since passed away. Ruby, Meika’s mum, is so thankful to have these beautiful memories of her special girl.
“I can’t even really describe the little lost soul I adopted to the loving little girl I know now.”
Ruby followed a number of animal rescue sites and found Meika the French Bulldog on New Beginnings Animal Rescue Inc. Jax, Ruby’s Aussie Bulldog, had become withdrawn, sad and lonely after moving into a new home so Ruby had been looking for a second dog to accompany him. Jax had spent his entire life with another dog and now he was was not coping well being all alone.
Driving over 3 hours to meet her with Jax in tow, it turned out Meika didn’t really like Jax, but he was immediately smitten.
It was saddening and obvious that Meika had been used as a breeding dog rather than a pet. She’d been mistreated – the fur rubbed away around her neck from a collar far too small for her, she had excessive belly skin which all overlapped and stuck together with enlarged nipples from having multiple litters. Her feet were stained from where she had been anxiously chewing them. She was timid and very unsure.
After making sure Meika and Jax were compatible, Ruby took her home. On the drive home, Meika sat in the front seat and ignored Jax the whole way home while Jax was basically grinning from ear to ear in the back.
Meika did not know how to play or act around Jax so spent 6 weeks inside before Jax and her could be completely left unsupervised. It was incredible to see her transformation, the first time she played with Jax. He was exceptionally patient with her and had transformed into a happy dog again with her around.
Eventually feeling safe at home, but Meika still took a long time to not be afraid every time she left the house. She could not cope being out of Ruby’s sight. It actually took several weeks for Meika to feel confident enough just to step off the back porch into the back yard. Even now she still needs to always stay close by to Ruby.
Ruby says: “Her physical appearance has changed as drastically as her personality. I can’t even really describe the little lost soul I adopted to the loving little girl I know now. She is happy and she is very loved. From the moment I took her home I have received endless love from her. I look at her and I am filled with love. I love her for what she has done for Jax and for trusting me 100% from day one. I became her person and I will continue to show her the life she deserved to have from the beginning. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
You can read Meika’s story as well as many other inspiring and heartwarming rescue stories in this book. Have your very own keepsake limited edition coffee table book which can be purchased here
by Erin King | 7 Feb, 2019 | Behind the Scenes, Client Sessions, Pets
I thought I’d share some of my pet photography image editing videos to show you what actually goes into editing images and that none of our dogs are perfect!
There will always be a lot of work ‘behind the scenes’ that goes into processing a photo for it to be of a high print quality and I would never provide an image straight out of the camera to a client.
Every image has to go through at least the basic standard edits to correct colour, temperature, exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, highlights and shadow adjustments. Then there’s the additional work which can include removing distracting elements, cleaning up of backgrounds, fur, faces, marks and scars, lead removal etc.
Because people often don’t see the before images, they think “oh my dog can’t do that” when they see the final image of a beautifully posed dog, but you’d be surprised to find that often these dog’s aren’t as well behaved as you’d think and often the dogs are actually kept on lead or with the owners close by.
With the digital editing capabilities we have access to now, it means that the final image is often not what it seems.
Dealing with Harsh Sunlight
This video shows the before image straight out of camera (SOOC) and after image once processed.
Often beach shoots can be difficult if it is a bright sunny day as there is no shade to help diffuse the light. This is why I always try to shoot later in the day when the sunlight is softer. But this day the sun was still too high and fiercely bright, causing very strong highlights.
I always shoot with my subject backlit by the sun, but to get a soft light on the dog instead of harsh highlights for this shot we needed a little extra help, where I asked the owner to step in and hold a diffuser to soften the light, because the dog was posing so politely it allowed us to do so.
This before and after image video illustrates how dogs can still remain on the lead during their session and it’s actually more common, than you would think!
Let’s address the most common misconceptions as to why people think they can’t have a pet photography session…
“my dog isn’t well behaved enough”, “they’re too naughty”, “they’re untrained or unresponsive”, “they just won’t behave”, “they don’t have good recall”.
These are not actually reasons not to have a session. These can all be resolved simply by keeping your dog on lead during the session and then in your final edited images you’d never even know they were on lead.
This is another before (SOOC) and after image video where if you have any concerns about your dog’s behaviour, then sometimes it’s just safer to keep the dogs on lead. Because at the end of the day your dog’s safety is always the most important thing during a session!⠀
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This image took quite a bit of work to get right, and you can see from the before and after that the images don’t quite line up as I had to make some further alterations to the background to get this one right.⠀
It’s very common due to the Breed Specific Legislation laws in Australia to have to keep your rescue Greyhound either muzzled or on lead (although the muzzled law in Victoria has just changed yay). And it’s not often I come across Greyhounds who are well behaved enough that they are allowed to be off lead. Let’s just say they don’t always have the street smarts lol.⠀
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Greyhounds, I find, are often one of the hardest dog breeds to photograph! They can be difficult to get them to perk their ears up, and they are often very stubborn and just like to do their own thing. Gazza and Milly here however, are not like your typical Greyhounds! These two are the exception to the rule and sure know how to model.
This is another great example where we needed to keep Manfred, the Beagle, here on lead. Being a rescue dog and having come out of a testing lab, he is still learning the ways of the world. Although now being out and about, now free, there are still some limitations to ensure his safety and comfort so he can gain his confidence.⠀
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It’s so great being able to capture an image like this where he is now running free, putting his best paw forward, happy and being able to enjoy life and the outdoors.⠀
by Erin King | 6 Sep, 2017 | Awards, Pets
Another year of AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards done and dusted. It all started with the Victorian State Awards in February, where 3 out of 4 of my images were awarded and I was a finalist for the Victorian Pet/Animal Photographer of the year (again) but sadly didn’t take out the title.
So in August, I went into the Australian Professional Photography Awards (the Nationals) with the hope to better last years result and my result at State, hopeful to get all 4 out of 4 entries awarded. Well guess what???… I DID IT! I got all 4 awarded Silvers and I’m stoked! For once my results were on par with my expectations and I didn’t come away disappointed. I entered the same 4 images only 2 images I re-worked according to judges feedback at the State awards for re-entry into the Nationals and luckily this got them over the line. Below are the images I entered along with before and after edits and a video of one of my images being talked up during judging.
With the awards I’ve won having entered for the past 3 years, I’m very proud that this year I also achieved my Associate status within the AIPP. The next level is to become a Master Photographer (wow how awesome does that sound!) which I’m on my way to achieving with 7 more points needed to obtain over the next 5 years. This is done through winning more awards. Easy right….haha
The variation in the scoring is very interesting and I find often hard to accept especially seeing as photography is so subjective. While the judging criteria is the same for both the State and National awards, because you actually have to qualify to enter the Nationals the standard of photography overall is so much higher and hence the judging seems much harder.
This girl was once a puppy farm dog, but now she is lucky to be treated like royalty.
In this before and after video of my “Bulldog Queen” image creation you can see she was photographed in this setting with this beautiful side light. However the original background was too distracting, so I re-created it from numerous other shots, taking pieces from each shot to build this little scene. I also added the crown (which I had photographed on her head in other shots) to further add to the story of making her a Queen standing majestically in front of her castle.
This is the original image out of the camera with basic colour and exposure adjustments.
This was my final edited image as entered into the Victorian State Awards. I’ve cropped it closer, softened the colour palette, and brightened it up. Unfortunately it scored 78 just missing out on an award. One of the judges comments was that they wanted to see more expression from the dog. I took this feedback and edited the image for re-entry into the National Awards.
This is the final version having changed the dog’s face to something more suitable showing more expression and happiness. This change meant the image scored higher being awarded a Silver award with a final score of 82 at the National Awards.
This image “Royal Chihuahuas” was a composite, created from a number of different shots. I was actually surprised that it scored an 82 – Silver at the State awards and I knew it wasn’t going to cut it going into the Nationals. Feedback from the judges at a print critique was that the dogs didn’t stand out enough and the archway was actually the main focus in this image. In the after version, I’ve stripped back all of the strong colouring inside the archway and some colour being cast onto the dogs. I’ve also re-created the top of the archway to complete the framing and darkened the image overall. I added a necklace for some more bling for Peanut, adding to her royal status. The re-edited version just scraped through at the Nationals scoring an 80 – Silver award. The changes paid off…Phew!
This image was actually my highest scoring print at the State awards and was talked up during the judging to score 85 – Silver Distinction. I re-entered this image without any changes into the Nationals and it only scored a 79! As you can imagine, I was gutted. But luckily it also got challenged and further discussed being talked up again.
Once re-scored it received an 81 – Silver.
3 out of my 4 images this year were created from client shoots and not just client shoots, but rescue dog shoots shot specifically for my rescue dog book project. I also entered my rescue dog photobook into the awards, in the photobook category, but sadly it just missed out on an award by one point, scoring 79. However it did receive some really positive comments from the judges and it was stated that the photography was of a very high professional standard. I was amazed that one judge scored it a 92!!! which is one of my highest scores ever and in the Gold range, however another scored it a 72, which ultimately and sadly brought the overall score down.
Some of the judges comments mentioned were:…
“I enjoyed the journey”
“Each animal is treated with the same respect”
“The photographs are great and the stories are well illustrated”
“A commercially viable book. A great piece of commercial advertising for the photographer”
My book ‘From Lost to Loved’ is available for purchase here: with 10% of sales donated to the selected pet rescue groups.
You can also view all the other awarded images in the winners gallery on the APPA website here: APPA Winners Gallery
by Erin King | 9 Sep, 2016 | Awards, Pets
To continue on from my first post, which talks in more detail about the APPA’s, (read it here) this is my second image which was awarded a Silver with Distinction at the 2016 Professional Photography Awards. This was my second time entering this image, as I also first entered it into the Victorian State awards where it was awarded a Silver and scored 81. We often hear that the National judging is much harder than the State (although they are trying to make them more in line together) so the fact that this was awarded much higher and pushed me through to the next level, makes me very happy.
My Entry
Image 1.
As you can see this dog was not originally photographed on the brick background in the final image.
I really liked the dog in this image, but the background is too busy and distracting attention away from him.
However the lighting on him is really lovely and he has a very cute expression so I thought the dog had a lot of potential if in the right setting.
Image 2.
After shooting a lot of different backgrounds all around the city, I knew I wanted something a bit urban.
This brick wall was the one I ended up selecting to use with the dog.
Image 3.
While I loved this background, it needed some work.
I worked on removing the piece of wood across the wall, by taking various different parts of the brick and merging it in.
I thought it might be fun to add a little humour into it and so came the graffiti writing over the no parking sign (this dawg is bad ass).
Image 4.
Here I’ve incorporated the dog in the foreground.
I’ve also brought across the ledge he was sitting on, but straightened this out to match the scene.
Played around with some lighting effects on the background.
With the final image I’ve cropped out the other distracting elements on both the left and right sides of the image again to bring more focus to the dog.
Now I just need to find a way to improve yet again on Silver Distinction next year #chasinggold
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by Erin King | 5 Sep, 2016 | Pets
Since becoming a professional photographer it’s been important to me to be a part of the photographic community and continue my professional and creative development. I became an accredited member of the NZIPP when working in NZ and as soon as I moved to Australia I also joined and became accredited with the AIPP (Australian Institute for Professional Photographers).
The Awards
Every year the AIPP run the Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPA’s) and for the last 2 years, since the addition of the Pet/Animal category, I’ve entered my work into both the Victorian State level awards and National level awards. The awards have been a great way for me to keep pushing myself creatively and also to receive acknowledgment and recognition for the professional level of photographic work I am producing.
So far over the last 2 years I’ve been awarded 4 Silvers in the Victorian awards resulting in being a finalist for Victorian Pet/Animal Photographer of the year and also 3 Silvers and 1 Silver with Distinction in the National awards.
While it’s an amazing high to win awards, it also takes it’s toll emotionally and mentally. It’s not easy putting your work on display to be judged and critiqued in front of so many other professionals in the industry, in fact it’s bloody nerve racking! So much work, literally blood, sweat, tears, sleep deprivation, time and money, has been put into each image. It often takes hours and hours working on it to get it just right to the point that you do become very attached and invested in each image. It’s lucky there is a deadline for submissions as you could literally just keep coming back and continually tweaking until it drives you mad! And although this process is really hard, it’s also somewhat addictive. Having such high expectations of myself and my images, means I can’t help feeling a little disappointment that my images didn’t do better, but this just means I have to keep entering and striving to hopefully one day achieve a Gold. This year I was happy to break past a Silver but now I want Gold all the more!
The Judging
It’s a very personal thing to be given a score which essentially tells you whether your image is good enough or not. I already have very high expectations of myself and my imagery so it’s hard not to feel disappointment if this isn’t reflected in the judging. The judging panel is made up of 5 judges who each score the image and then the final score is the average of these 5 scores. If there is a large variation between these scores, there can be a challenge where the judges will discuss the image and why they feel it’s worth that score. After discussion they will re-score.
Judges are always going to be looking for originality and uniqueness within the concept, the level of emotion and whether the image conveys a strong story. And just as important is the overall photographic quality, technical skill and the printing and presentation of the image. Australia only awards Silver and Gold, compared to NZ who also awards a Bronze. Silver is 80-84, Silver with Distinction 85-89, Gold 90-94 Gold Distinction 95-100. 75-79 is considered to be of a good Professional Standard.
The Entries
Most of my entries have been derived from photos taken during my client sessions. However the images have also been re-worked in Photoshop to try and take them beyond just being a good image. I do have some conceptual ideas bouncing around in my head, which I would like to explore to try and create imagery specifically for the purpose of the awards. This would be a big project in itself and one I’m a little scared to embark on, to be honest, but I hope I can put some time aside to try this.
So I thought I’d share with you what it has taken to achieve the results of each photo that I have had awarded. I’ll share each photo in a separate post, as otherwise you’ll be reading this all day! I’ll start with my image of Bear, the Staffy. This was a new image being entered for the first time.
Image 1.
Straight out of camera. A little under exposed.
Image 2.
Colour corrected and further warmed up.
After attending a print critique (which the AIPP run prior to the submission deadlines) the feedback I received was to remove the tree directly behind the dog’s back end and also to add another light source onto the dog to really bring the dog out of the image.
Image 3.
Removed the tree directly behind dogs back end.
Worked on minimising distracting highlights in background.
Image 4.
Worked further on evening up and dulling down harsh highlights throughout background. Replaced trees where highlight was too distracting.
Brightened up the dog as well as branch he’s standing on.
With the final image I decided on a closer crop to bring more focus to the dog.
If you want to create something unique and original and possibly have a creative concept you would like to explore, please let me know and we can work together to create it!
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by Erin King | 1 Jan, 2016 | Pets
Another year over already, I just can’t believe how fast the time goes!
So before I get stuck into another year, I wanted to post a wrap up of the year that was 2015 and share my personal favourite pet photography images shot throughout the year (although this is a hard task as there are SO many) along with some of the years highlights for me.
- Being filmed and making my promotional video.
- My first year being able to enter in the newly introduced Pet/Animal category in AIPP/APPA awards and winning a Silver award in both the State and National awards.
- Quitting my part-time job to concentrate solely on my photography business.
- I started running my pop-up pet portraits at various events, which have proven popular.
- Getting a presence on Instagram (my favourite of the social media platforms) and taking heaps more photos of my girl, Peanut, to share with my audience.
- Making friends with so many of my great clients and getting to meet their beautiful dogs – and as a result many more playmates and playdates for Peanut.
- Getting to photograph some native Australian wildlife.
- Meeting and making new friends with other amazingly talented photographers who I have the utmost respect for.
- Developing some important relationships with other business people and pet businesses, which I really value, in the pet industry.
The only major thing missing from this year for me was travel, well there was a short trip home to NZ, but I don’t really count that, so I must plan another overseas trip in 2016. It gets harder each year now though as I absolutely hate leaving our girl, Peanut behind.
2016 brings many more pet photography client sessions, a few weddings, more award entries, hopefully a personal project and much much more. It’s going to be a very busy start to the year, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.
by Erin King | 7 Oct, 2015 | Client Sessions, Pets
Olivia and Taco were the lucky winners of my Styled Shoot Pet Photography competition run in conjunction with Touchdog.
I think Taco looks very dapper modelling this Touchdog checkered shirt. Make sure to check them out as they make an awesome dog clothing range and also have some great pet bed options too.
After we took off his shirt, Taco spent the whole time running circles (literally) around the park. Toward the end of the shoot, to my relief, he had finally tuckered himself out enough to have some loving cuddle time with mum and at this point he almost fell asleep.
Taco is a serious cutie and I just love this cheeky little Foxy Chihuahua Cross.
This is Taco’s Canvas Panel which was the product Olivia had won. I think she picked such a great image to display for this!
by Erin King | 13 Sep, 2015 | Pets
I first met Amanda and Ollie when I selected Ollie to be a part of the Friendly Dog Collars photo shoot. Being a puppy I was super impressed with how well he behaved for us in modelling the FDC clothing range and I was very happy when Amanda decided to book another session with me so we could capture more photos of Ollie while is is still young.
Amanda describes Ollie as active, affectionate, friendly, playful and cheeky – so you could say your typical Golden Retriever. It’s taken 8 years since the passing of their German Spitz, Fluffy, to get another dog and Ollie has already won over not only Amanda’s heart but all of the family with his overly affectionate and loving personality.
Amanda Says: “Ollie is growing extremely fast and in order to cherish his puppy period, I just had to get some photos with Erin after seeing how amazing she worked at capturing him! We had such great fun with the Friendly Dog Collars Shoot and wanted to see more of her great work! Ollie truly reminds us how important loving each other is and he is just is a joy to be with!”
When we met for our shoot at the Carlton Gardens, I was amazed to see already after such a short time, how much Ollie had grown! It just shows the importance of getting your puppy photos done quickly as these bigger dog breeds aren’t small for long!
by Erin King | 2 Aug, 2015 | Client Sessions, Pets
It’s such a huge honour being asked by another photographer to photograph them, so when I was approached my Mel to photograph her wedding with their dogs included I could hardly say no. Mel actually found me initially by seeing my pet photography work and I was lucky that this was a big draw card for her being interested in having me photograph her wedding. I think her friends and family found it funny when she told them she had hired a pet photographer to photograph her wedding.
Being a portrait photographer herself she has plenty of shots of her dogs, but not so many of her and her fiancee together with their dogs, so we decided to focus on this for their engagement session. This also meant we could spend a bit more time focusing on getting some great images of all of them together away from the throngs of their wedding day and without being constrained within the wedding day schedule.
Because Mel is a photographer too, her dogs feature quite a lot throughout her work and they are obviously very used to being photographed. However it become quite a common theme that the focus was often on Bindi the Pug who is always stealing the limelight where everyone would say “but what about Charlie?…” so Mel named her business What About Charlie Photography – how cute is that.
I loved working with these two, they are such a beautiful couple and their wedding was just so full of love, they will make a beautiful family as well.
