This is the third in a three-part series on anticipatory grief and Celebration of Love sessions.
- Anticipatory grief: How the painful journey of losing our dogs begins
- From pain to healing: The transformative journey of Celebration of Love sessions
- Finding the solace: The comfort of pet photography in continuing bonds
At the heart of my journey in dog photography is one big white dog.
His name is Shep.
He left my physical world on Aug. 20, 2014, a day I will never forget. A day that created a wound that still stings 10 years later.
But I have photos, hundreds of photos of our years together, our hikes in the Rocky Mountains, our adventures throughout Alberta, British Columbia, Washington and Idaho.
I just don’t have many great photos of us together, a few snapshots my friends took and scores of stupid selfies with crappy phones from last decade.
At the heart of Big White Dog Photography exists my pledge to him: that other dog lovers won’t go without great photos of themselves with the loves of their lives.
Their energy and spirit stay with us
Two years ago when I was studying to become a pet loss grief companion and grief educator, I found resonance in the Continuing Bonds Theory, which suggests we don’t move on or let go when our loved ones die.
Instead, our memories and our emotional ties to them help us heal.
And that of course extends to the companion animals in our life.
Our connections to these dogs that transform us continue in a new way, and maintaining that bond, honoring the loves we shared, can be a healthy and meaningful part of our grieving process.
Finding our new way through photos
Photographs are a powerful tool in maintaining these continuing bonds. They immortalize moments, expressions and details that might otherwise fade with time, allowing us to hold on to the essence of our pets long after they’re gone.
When we look at a photo of our dog, it’s not just an image we see. We’re transported back to the moment it was taken, to the emotions we felt and to the presence of our beloved companions.
These images provide emotional comfort, acting as a bridge between the past and the present. They remind us of the joy, love and companionship our pets brought into our lives … how they made us feel more confident, stronger and safer.
Our photos become a way to continue the relationship, to keep our pets close in heart and mind even after they’re no longer physically with us.
One client told me her baby’s prints sit on a table next to the TV and she looks at them every day. They have been, she said, a lifeline during the darkest moments of her grief. She sits with them, touches her dog’s nose and remembers their adventures together.
The pain, she said, softens a little more each day and smiles start to replace the tears as she flips through her prints, keeping her dog’s memory alive in a way that feels healing and comforting.
To have and to hold
Too many photographers drop a bunch of digital images on their clients and dust their hands off.
Not me.
I make sure you print those images. I make sure they don’t sit on a USB or hard drive wasting away and sitting in digital oblivion.
I love to create photo albums for my clients, filling a book with the images from your sessions … a book to display in your home, to grab a cuppa (or glassa, whatevs …), snuggle up on the couch and flip through the pages to relive our adventure together.
My Storybooks and my Storyboxes are multiprint collections that become a tangible representation of the life you shared with your dog: prints and pages that show off your dog’s personality, her quirks, her screwed-up nose, the white flick at the end of a black tail and most importantly the moments that mattered.
Turning those pages, cycling through those prints can be therapeutic, offering a way to reminisce and reflect on your time together.
To dream of digitals
I know. I gained a lot of comfort from my social media community when Shep died.
I posted on Facebook and received more than 100 comments full of love and support, and I wouldn’t want you to miss out on receiving that nurturing from friends and family.
That’s why any artwork purchased comes with the matching digital files that are print-ready and social media sharable.
Sharing like that can also be a powerful tool for healing. Hell, every Aug. 20, I see that post in my Facebook memories and read every single one of those comments again. To know the impact Shep had on other people’s life and to feel that support even 10 years later has helped me move through my grief.
I want you to print your images because I believe they deserve a physical presence in your home and hands, to truly honor your love story.
Looking ahead at life without your adventure buddy
Over time, the images we create during a Celebration of Love session continue to provide comfort and joy. They become a way to celebrate the life your pet lived and the love they brought into your world.
They aren’t a reminder of loss; they’re a reminder of all the good times, the adventures and the everyday moments that made your relationship so special.
They help us shift from a place of deep sorrow to a place of gratitude and celebration. By revisiting these photos, we relive the positive memories.
After a while we start to remember our dogs with love rather than with pain, fostering a positive and ongoing relationship with their memory.
And as we move through our grief, our prints and photo albums serve as anchors, connecting us to the past while we continue to navigate the present and map our future.
They are a lasting legacy that gives us comfort and healing and a way to keep alive our dogs’ memories, the love they gave us and all the lessons they taught us.
In every print, every page, every image, we hold onto the love that transformed us. Our stories with our dogs never truly end; they continue, alive and vivid, in the photos that honor the incredible journey we shared.
If you need a Celebration of Love session, please contact me right away at (509) 720-8784. Text or call. If you have a bit of time on your side, send me a message here:
ED’S NOTE: The two dogs featured in this blog post left our physical world recently. Vinny, the big black German shepherd, appeared in my first self-published book, Paws of the Panhandle, while Heidi was part of family session this past summer.
When Lance passed, all I wanted to do was to look at his photos and videos. I still look at them everyday. He will always be a part of me and the photos help keep him alive.
There is nothing like having and holding those memories. I look through Kota’s storybook all the time. It helps bring me peace. I now can smile and laugh through those tears. Beautiful post! Thanks for all you do, Angela!
Love this post. i love the memories my photo albums bring to me!