LH6J2866copyThose of you who know me beyond the blog, know that Molly the Wonder Dog is a big piece of my life.  She’s the first dog I’ve ever had from puppy to adulthood and it’s been an amazing experience.  She’s pretty much the equivalent of a quiet 65 pound four year old!   Well, she turned five on Labor Day.

There are an estimated 163 million households in the United States with a dog or cat.  In the hierarchy of why people hire a professional photographer the ranking is brides, babies and pets.  Pets is number three and represents a serious segment of the market you should be targeting if you’re a portrait photographer.

This isn’t new information.  I’ve written about it before, but as we go into the holiday season, keep pets in the back of your mind.  Vicki Taufer launched a pet promotion three summers ago that expanded her reputation and made her one of today’s best known pet photographers in Illinois.  Kay Eskridge followed suit a year or so later and did a successful pet promotion in the Phoenix area. Jules Bianchi in LA did a whole book project tying in her dog into events around Hollywood and has a gallery on her website called, “Mutt Mugshots”.  Ann Hamilton has a whole section on her website putting weddings and dogs as her two primary specialties – plus, you’ll find her teaching workshops on pet photography at various conventions around the US.

If you’re a dog or cat lover I don’t need to say anymore, but if you don’t have a pet at home, then just trust me, this is an important market segment for you to focus on (pun intended).  As a portrait photographer it’s a segment you can’t afford to ignore and holiday time is the perfect excuse to make sure you include pets in this season’s sittings!

George Eliot wrote: Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.  

Thoreau wrote: It often happens that a man is more humanely related to a cat or dog than to any human being.

and Benjamin Hoff wrote in The Tao of Pooh: Lots of people talk to animals…. Not very many listen, though…. That’s the problem. 

There’s always a bottom line in every blog and here it is…work on having a few pet shots in your portfolio and in your galleries.  Just about every family, couple, person with a dog or cat considers their pet a member of the family.  Pets are an important part of our lives and you need to include them in your business model.

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The only challenge with pets…they do grow up! Fortunately we don’t have to!t-shirt_edited-1

“Me and Molly” by Cantrell Portrait Design