Every Little Detail: Photographing People and Their Pets
Including your animal in your family memory may need a little bit of prep
There’s lots happening over here at Telltail Dog Training – and I’m working hard to catch up! If you haven’t received your notes yet from our training session, shoot me a message. The magazine will be here the week of December 15, just in time for Christmas. And I’ve got gift certificates! Grab yours for a friend or to lock in 2020 prices. I’ll work with current clients on rates past the January deadline.
Ten years in, Julie Gayler finds the smallest moments inspiring.
Thirteen years ago, her husband bought her a camera, and Julie started her photography business, Seven Rising Studio, three years later. She moved to Little Rock, Arkansas in 2018 with her four children, and she focuses on telling the stories of individuals and families. Often, those stories include pets. “A lot of times, people’s animals, especially dogs, are really considered a member of their family,” Julie said. “I love to include them because that’s part of their story. That’s their other family member that greets them when they get home and jumps up on the couch to watch a show with them…. For some couples, their dog is their baby, so it’s important to include their baby in the stories that they tell. I consider animals an extension of the stories I’m telling with people. I don’t specialize in animals, but I specialize in people and their families and their dog is part of the family for sure.”
One of her biggest inspirations is Norman Rockwell, who was able to take the details of a life and tell a complete narrative. “I love how all of his photos tell a story,” Julie shared. “You can see all of the detail that has been put into it, the little details that are left around and it’s always representative of the time. It’s not forcing it somewhere else. It’s something that’s happening and relevant. I love how some of it is a little tongue in check. He has a sense of humor that comes out in his work, and I love how he was also an activist for his time, including things that push those boundaries.”
Julie focuses on families and children, but she enjoys capturing stories in general. “My favorite thing to take photos of are people’s stories in general,” Julie said. “I love setting up a scene that tells a story and conveys something that’s unique and personal to the individuals, that really reflects their style. I love things on the wall that give an excuse for someone to tell a story about their family, more than just even a picture. I love that storytelling aspect of it. And that story can be any age range of stage or phase of life. I do tend to drift towards families and children.”
When she lost her husband three years ago, the pictures were what remained. “The pictures that we cherish most are the authentic pictures that show something about us or where we’re we’re interacting,” Julie explained. “They may not necessarily be the absolutely perfect posed thing. They’re the pictures that are more emotive and showing the heart. I want to draw more and more of that out to give to other people.”
She also sees the importance of including pets in those memories. “A reason I love including family pets in photos is because you never know, too,” Julie said. “Dogs’ lives are shorter than humans’ lives, unfortunately. Including them and documenting the part they play in our lives is important.”
When deciding to include an animal in a photo shoot, Julie recommends talking to your photographer. “If someone wants to include their family pet, one of the biggest things is to let your photographer know,” Julie explained. “Sometimes it’s happened as a surprise inclusion and I think it’s because people are afraid to say they want their animal in the photo because maybe it will be too much or they think it will be just a quick thing, and it’s not really a big deal. As the photographer, I would love for people to know that it is important, and it is a big deal in the sense I want it to be just as perfect with your animal and be able to put in the same level of attention and planning that reflects how special and important they are. If it’s important to you and you want to include them in your photo, I want to take the time to plan for that.”
This includes thinking about the location and helping them get accustomed to new people doing odd things. Beyond the sit, down, and stay, preparing can look as simple as helping the dog get used to a strange person holding a weird item or training at the park. “The sit, down and the stay is part of it that people know and understand is helpful, but having a new person come in, especially with a big black plastic box in front of their face, can be intimidating to an animal,” Julie said. “Part of the training is the socialization to other people, and to people who are acting in erratic ways. It’s not normal behavior for a person to be holding a little black box in front of their face or for maybe the lighting equipment to go off or other things to be going on.”
Dogs can be sensitive to energy, movement and unusual activity, which can result in anxious behavior. “There is an element of stress,” Julie explained. “Of everything being just right and everyone being where they need to be. Sometimes the dog isn’t actually used to that. The dog is used to hang out around the house. And all of those are part of the training and exposure of the dog to the situation that we just sort of take for granted that will happen because we want it to.”
While a park might sound like a fun idea for a backdrop, it may be intimidating for the family dog, who might be more interested in the other people or animals in the area. Take into consideration where the dog would be comfortable and where the dog is prepared to go. “Part of it needs to be preparing where will suit them the best and then the socialization aspect of that,” Julie explained. “It would be helpful if your dog is familiar with where the photo shoot is going to be and familiar with training there. There’s a difference in dogs’ abilities to generalize their training. They may do really well on a sit and stay inside the house, but when you try to take the sit-stay out to the park, then it looks different. Preparing for that would make sure that your dog is prepared to do that sit-stay somewhere new. And also preparing for where the dog will go when they will not be in pictures. I think it’s really important that the dog isn’t left in the car or tied up somewhere because they really need to have a person that is assigned to keep them safe and comfortable and not just leave them when the rest of the session is going on.”
She knows from personal experience that taking photos with a dog isn’t always easy. Even her own dog, Tucker, posed a challenge when he was a puppy, as she realized when she and her friend tried to pose him for photographs. “We wanted to get pictures of him when he was in his cute little floofer puppy phase,” Julie explained. “She has a lot of experience handling animals. I have a lot of experience handling animals. I’m not a trainer, but I’ve been around animals a lot. I feel very confident in my photography ability and the ability to set up the lights and know where everything goes and have it all ready and in position. It was a lot. We should have had a camera on us. Two photographers and one puppy, who will win? It is a lot of things going on. And then when you start adding people in, it just compounds the scenario. In my experience, my attention is to creating the story and telling the scene. A dog really is looking for someone to be communicating with them and I would love to have somebody dedicated to communicating with the dog.”
Telltale Dog Training is partnering with Seven Rising Studio to make photographing your pets as stress-free as possible! Contact us to schedule your consultation. “I feel like more people want to include their dog in photos but they’re scared of how their dog might behave,” Julie said. “What I would love to do is include an expert that can communicate with the dog because it just hurts my heart when, at the last minute, we decide the dog is maybe having a bad day or it was just too much stress. We had maybe even been planning to have the dogs in the pictures, but then they’re like, ‘Well, we were running behind or whatever and now we just can’t bring the dog.’ That’s sad, because as a valued family member, we really want to include them and do what we can to make that possible.”
Julie is no longer booking for 2020, but be sure to reach out for 2021! As always, there’s so much more in the podcast episode. We discuss death, memories, inspiration, style, and niche. Follow Seven Rising Studio on Facebook and Instagram. Have you been able to include your animals in your family photo? Do you need some help? Sound off in the comments below or send me an email at info@telltaildogtraining.com. Telltail Dog Training offers group classes and private in-home lessons in the Little Rock area, along with training walks for current clients. Find Telltail’s podcast here, or find additional information on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
