No bullshit: How to frame a life of adventure and dog photography

Life is an adventure. Dog photography is part of the ride.

In fact, dog photography has been a lifesaver for me. I mean, “lifesaver” might be a little extreme but it has saved me from a soul-sucking marketing career and opened me up to new people and new opportunities.

This week’s blog circle topic is framing. Frames are an important part of photography. You can use framing for composition, like I used these trees at Higgins Point in Coeur d’Alene.

Or you can encase a print in a frame for that final flourish for your wall art:

This week, though, we’re going to define frame as “create or formulate (a concept, plan, or system),” as in how I’m framing my business as Big White Dog Photography.

Building a niche in Spokane

My dog photography business started out as Noses & Toes but it quickly became wearing on me.

It was too cutesy, a word that always feels to me like a pair of undies that keeps creeping and bunching and pinching and … well, you get the picture.

It also didn’t really depict what my goals were: to celebrate the dog-human bond at epic landscapes in the Inland Northwest.

It lacked authenticity. It didn’t tell you what I’m all about.

And it didn’t set me apart from what others are trying to do with dog photography in Spokane. I took my two most important elements — adventure and dog photography — and rebranded.

Oh, and of course Big White Dog is inspired by the two dogs that have been central to getting here, too: Shep and Bella.

Framing the pursuit of adventure and dog photography

How does one go about setting one’s self apart?

For me, after 15 years of feeling inauthentic in a marketing career, I’m going for no bullshit.

The new Big White Dog Photography website — I hope — walks you through the experience from start to finish. I don’t want to hide anything. I don’t want to use words that are fluffy and set the wrong expectations.

We aren’t just having a fun time together. We’re setting goals to create a statement piece for your home, along with other items you can purchase and enjoy for years to come.

We aren’t just taking pictures for you to stash away on a USB and become digital dust. We’re creating images that become the story of your adventures with your dog in the form of prints and storybooks.

I don’t want you to post images on Instagram and Facebook, getting likes and comments for a day or so. They get pushed down your feed and forgotten about. I want you to have your images on display, an opportunity for friends and family to ask about your adventure when they visit your home.

And I don’t want you to ever forget your best fur friend and the legacy of love and learning I’m sure he has given you.

Dirty paws and boots

If life is an adventure, I want your dog photography session to reflect that.

We’ll have moments of imperfect joy like Amy Fumetti’s chaos at Free Range Boarding.

We’ll have water shakes and drooly faces and laughs and snuggles.

We’ll find the Magic Moment.

And we’ll make memories, stories for you to tell about your adventures with your dog.

That’s how I’m framing Big White Dog Photography: the perfection of imperfection, the joy of chaos, life as an adventure.

With dogs.

All around the circle

When you come home from the office or a quick trip to the grocery store, what’s the first thing you see?

I’m betting it’s your dog, happy as hell that you’re home. Doesn’t even matter if you just walked to the mailbox.

Where did you go, mama?!?!

My dog photographer friends and I have realized the importance of those moments and want to ensure your dog’s love is celebrated and documented in beautiful art.

Everyone is showing you frames this week in the pet photographers blog circle. Start with Darlene Woodward with Pant the Town Photography offering unique framed portraits of your pet.

At the end of her post, click the next link in the circle to take a journey around the world of pet and dog photography. When you find yourself back here, you know you’re home.

Right where you belong.