This was a wonderful wedding engagement shoot that I shot back in October. And again, I didn’t want to post these photos next to horror photos, so I am posting them a month or so later. But this was a lot of fun because they brought their dogs. Pets on scene usually just makes everyone involved happier. The clients tend to be happier and more relaxed because most people like their pets and I like animals, so I was happier too. This was an exciting session.

The thing I love about pets is that they look around. They look at you, they look at me. If you time it right, you can utilize pets looking around to bring the viewer in and make the picture more intriguing. You can use the direction the pets are looking at to act as a sort of leading line. Your eyes will ask “what is that dog looking at?” and then go in that direction on the photo. Or you can use the pets looking at your camera to connect with the person viewing the photo and pull them into it. Either way, using a pet to bring the viewer in is a happier way to do so as opposed to using just some random item as a leading line.

Don’t get me wrong, I love leading lines and try to incorporate them into my work often, probably too much. But if I can use a pet that just happens to have the right look in the right direction – I will got with that every time because animals make me smile.

All in all, this was a wonderful evening at Downs Park. And we shot it during golden hour. I did have a speed light for some of it but quickly just reverted to my camera. I also had a ND filter I kept putting on and taking off depending on the angle.