In today's episode, Emily Abrahams joins me and we are diving deep into choosing locations, developing your style, different exercises that you can do to start to see what your lens is gonna see, to start to see how to create the different images that you wanna create of your subjects. We're also gonna be talking about that really annoying little imposter syndrome that is still really on the shoulders of almost all of us,

even those of us that have been doing this for well over a decade and how to manage that. And really truly, this episode is jam packed with so many nuggets of inspiration and tactical exercises and tips that you're not gonna wanna miss it. You're actually gonna maybe wanna listen twice. So stay tuned. Welcome to The Hair of the Dog podcast. If you're a pet photographer ready to make more money and start living a life by your design,

you've come to the right place. And now your host pet photographer, travel addict, chocolate martini connoisseur, Nicole Begley. Hey everybody, welcome back to The Hair of the Dog podcast. I am your host, Nicole Begley. And today I have a very special guest from across the pond over in Germany. I have Emily Abrahams from Inspawration Photography. You guys might have seen her Instagram videos cuz I know super popular there and they're awesome.

Emily, welcome to the podcast. Hello. Hello. This is my first podcast. I'm really excited. Is it really? Yeah, it's, oh my goodness. Well that's why I'm very excited and honored. This will be super fun and I promise to take it easy on you. Thank you. Good, good. So yeah, so welcome to the podcast.

One of the first things I always love to start off is just to kind of ask our guests like what got you into pet photography? How long have you been doing this? Kind of just give us your little bit of a business kind of photography background, A little background. So I, I'm from Australia originally, and five years ago I traveled over to Europe and I got a van and there is a point to this whole back part of the story.

Oh, oh, I love it. No, it is great. Go down the rabbit holes. We're not afraid of rabbit holes here. I mean I, I've been taking photos of my dog since I was 18 and I already always really liked it, but it was, you know, it was just for fun. And then we tr I traveled,

I brought my border Colly over with me, Loki, the black and white one that's in a lot of my photos. And we traveled all over Europe and of course I was taking photos the whole time and then I sort of finished the travels and I was like, well I didn't know what I wanna do. I, I'm like a trained teacher. I was teaching kids back in Australia and I didn't really wanna go back to teaching,

so I was like, I don't know. And then I saw somebody on Facebook, an acquaintance of mine, she was like, I'm a pet photographer now. And she put up some photos and I was like, my photos are pretty good. Like if she can do, you know, and no, no shade on her. Yeah, it was just kind of a realization that this was a thing that you could do if you could,

you know, take nice photos of dogs. And I was like, I've been taking some really, I mean I thought they were great. I mean now I look back at them and I'm like, mm, you know, they were okay for what they were, but like I was, I felt like it was something that I could have done. And so then I sort of started looking into things.

I actually signed up to Hair of the Dog for a while, you know, to get the whole business side of things started and you know, did workshop and stuff and just started teaching myself. And yeah, so that was about, it was the end of 2019. I really, you know, I did this workshop. I really found my, my style,

my thing, my whole everything. And then since then I started going and just refining that and developing it. And then I had all these people asking for like editing tutorials and I was like, well I am a teacher, that is my thing that I do. That was what it was at the heart of like my profession beforehand. So it was then kind of quite natural to move into that area of things rather than to just,

yeah, do the, the photography for clients. So the majority of what I do end up ended up being teaching rather than client shoots. Yeah. Now. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. No, that's awesome. I love that story. It's just like having no idea where, where the road's gonna lead. I too, never in a million years thought that I would end up in where I am now.

I was zoological animal trainer for 13 years and thought that would be my full career. And then when I left it was like, oh, I'll do photography. And this was like 2010. So pet photography was like barely a thing. There were maybe like three people in Seattle that were doing it. And so I was like, oh, I'll do families because obviously I need to choose a responsible niche to you know,

actually make money course in this industry. But then by like 2015 I was like, wait a minute, I can just go all bets. So yeah, love it. Ah, so, so fun, so fun. Gotta gotta go where You, like your heart takes you though. I've always just been like, yeah, that looks cool. I think I'll do that.

You know, I think I've been lucky enough that I, that I can though that I was able to travel and that I was able to be like, well I still have some savings so that's cool, but I'll just give this pet photography thing ago. And I like, I recognize how kind of privileged and lucky I am that I I I had that kind of freedom to be able to yeah,

sort of chase those dreams and those ideas a little bit. And I, I know that not everybody has that opportunity I guess. Yeah, yeah. Although I do believe that anybody that has the desire to, you know, if you're listening to this podcast, likely you have an interest in pet photography, probably not like an accountant that's just like happening to listen to a pet photography podcast.

But unless you wanna do pet photography, pet photography on the side, I believe that anyone that has that desire definitely has the ability to do so. But you know, the path might look a little different so maybe it is something that you have to do on the side and kind of like really bootstrap your business together, you know? But yeah, so I think anyone can can do it just depends what that journey looks like and between both of us,

you just have no idea what that journey is gonna look like. You just kind of keep on following these leads and following these interests and all of a sudden you turn around, you're like, how would I get here? And I think it is like so important to follow the things that you love creating. I know we're already off on some tangents, so that is great.

Yeah, I know. This is what We're do doing amazing. But you know, like I have one of my students in my community, she takes a lot of photos, sort of, of pets indoors, just kind of like chilling. But she makes some like these really fine art kind of things. And I was like, mate, this is your thing.

Like you are obviously drawn to this and she's, she's out in Arizona, it's desert. She's like, I can't find, you know the beautiful trees and forests that you have. I'm like, yeah, but that's, you don't have to make what I am making or like what you see people making. Like if you have a story to tell that you are drawn to that you find beauty and the simplicity of this dog on the couch with,

you know, these rich colors and stuff. They're like, do that. Go after that. You know, you don't have to make what everybody else is making. And I had another student the other day who's from Arizona as well, she's like, yeah, we don't have the trees. I'm like, yeah, but you have a cool desert. Like find the beauty in your desert,

right? Like we would look at that and be like, whoa, that looks so cool. And the rocks and stuff. I mean, I don't know, I've never been to Arizona, but like even Australian, it's Australian pet photographers. Like I I, I haven't seen many slash any Australian pet photographers who are in the outback and the Red Rocks and you know,

showing dogs in this like really alien landscape. And I think there's something so exciting there. And if I was home I'd probably be like, we're going out to the outback now, but you know, like I love the woods here and that's like a big thing for me in Europe. But like I think you really have to find those things that like make your heart sing a little bit and and and chase them.

Yes. Oh my gosh, a hundred percent. I love this conversation and so much of what I've actually had this conversation with Charlotte Reeves quite a bit of how where you live really affects maybe the development of your style. So you know, she obviously lives in Brisbane like sunshine every freaking day, like with the ridiculous beautiful sunset, like the most insane colors in the sky.

Meanwhile I'm like, I lived in Pittsburgh for the first, you know, 10 years of my business and it was cloudy all the time and you know, and we did have amazing architecture though, so I was kind of like drawn to shooting in the city and those lines and those doors and all of those things. And then of course I moved to Charlotte,

North Carolina now about five years ago and it's sunny here and we have trees like we did in Pittsburgh, but they're like thicker here or something because I go around and I'm like, where the hell can I get like one line of trees to filter some beautiful backlight when I do have the sun? It's either like deep, dark, like blocks out all light,

like black as your soul trees or like full sun. And I'm just like my first year down here I'm like, oh my god, how do I even shoot in this? Please can have a cloudy day. Jeez. Oh man, I want my clouds back. I know. I'm like, who one in sunshine. This is hard. So you know,

and then I go out west, I teach workshops sometimes like in Colorado or in like Tahoe and places like that and they have the most amazing forest with the absolute perfect amount of trees to give you like perfect filtered backlight without blocking out all of the light. I'm just like more of this. And yeah, so I think it becomes really easy for us as photographers to look online or when we travel or see other people that have these amazing locations available to them and it's like,

well I just have trees and I have a lake here that's awesome. But there's like one public access point that is like me and private access to the lake is still not really shootable and poor me. I wish I lived here, I wish I had that. And yeah, we just need to stop. Yeah, like That's the thing, you know,

people are like, how do you like find these amazing places? I'm like, I don't know, I just like drive around, look on Google maps, look on a satellite, see what's nearby and like work with what is there. Like I travel A Lot and you know, there's rarely times where I'm like, and you know, obviously Europe where I am is a little bit different.

I, you know, I think if I was in, but I think wherever you are you can find something beautiful it's like, oh a hundred percent you seeing the Arizona girls like you must have like really crazy sunsets I imagine like those big skies and big, you know, like if I'm thinking of back in Australia as these big landscapes and you know,

cool rocks and stuff, I don't know, I haven't been there but cactus I, Yeah, right. Yeah, no it's amazing. So Yeah, you know, just showing them in a different way and just trying to highlight the beauty of That place In a way that, you know, us who are in our forests are probably going, oh that's really cool.

I have, that's completely different to where I am. Oh yeah, a hundred percent. And you know, quite frankly if you're looking for clients, if you're showing all of these, you know, images that aren't created where your clients are, you know, you need to be able to let them know of what their images are gonna look like. So you do need to be able to work within your area if that is what your goals are.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. All right. I love it. That was totally worth the tangent. Love it. Amazing. But yeah, but one of the things we did well actually does kind of lead into what we wanted to talk about, which was, you know, telling a story with our photography and you know, kind of what we need to look for in these locations to,

to make the best kind of image. So what are your thoughts about that? Yes, so like when I'm, if I'm out looking for locations and stuff, it's always an interesting thing that like draws me at first. And for me, like an interesting thing can be anything I love moss, but like ferns moss or like textures or shapes or like a curve of a branch or some flowers or I don't know,

just something like we were, I did a workshop once and she was like, yeah, there's really nothing in this, this forest. And I like walked in there and there was this, this branch that had fallen off of a tree and it was so this like blue gray kind of cyan pine needle color and I haven't really seen this color of these pine needles before.

And I was like, oh my god, look at that. It's like, it's like blue gray, you don't see this in nature. It's really cool. And like Loki who's always my like workshop model has these orange eyes. I was like, oh cyan orange, let's go. This is gonna be so cool. And we put him in there and she was like,

I would never have thought to have used just some dumb dead fallen branch for like a location. I'm like, yeah, but the color is so cool. You know, like, so for me that's the start of it and then it's asking like, okay, well I found this cool little bit of moss or these ferns or something or whatever it is.

How can I use that to, you know, tell a story or to shape something that's going to make sense with this dog that I have in front of me? You know, like if it is some kind of foggy mossy situation and I have a golden retriever puppy there, I'm probably not going to try and make something really wolfy and serious out of it and like dangerous because it's a golden retriever puppy.

So trying to think of these elements of how we can make them fit together to be cohesive is really important for me. And it's like the location and the age of the dog and the breed of the dog and where they're looking and the expression that's on their face and how you pose them and like if there's some kind of like light trail in the background that can lead to their eyes and it's all like hopeful cuz you get them looking up into the light and it's all whimsical and mysterious and like,

ah, I just love these things of like, you know, if youre setting up your camera in the, in the location and you have your dog standing there and you like look in the camera and there's like this little light trail and you're like, yes, if I just move a little bit to the side, it's gonna like flutter out from their eyes and you can then I can see it in the editing how I can like darken all the outside and you know,

like I get, you can tell I get really excited about this cause I start, yeah, I love it. But like I get a lot of people who are like, you know, how do you edit this? Wow, that's amazing. What kind of camera do you have? You know, I saw my camera, it's like a whole bunch of different things,

but it's like I wanna put as many of those pieces together in that location that I can and I'm already seeing it. Like I'm seeing this light coming down. I'm seeing how that, that that bottom part will be dark and then my audience can't like leave my photo through the bottom part of the image or I've just glanced over to the side on my screen here.

I have a picture of my friend's little teeny tiny shelty, he's like a black and white shelty and I put him in some ferns one time and it's like, he's like this little forest creature kind of emerging from a little fury cave and you know, like just making that really dark and kind of mysterious and him like peeking up into the light there and you know,

like how can you use this location in a, in a kind of not necessarily unique way because I think sometimes we get really caught up with trying to reinvent the wheel every time, but just telling some stories that aren't like here's my dog, I sat him here on this log and he's looking at the camera, which is lovely and fine and clients love that.

But I love going a bit beyond that and and making something that's a little more magical I think with the combination of all these things. Oh my gosh, I love that. And I think one of the mistakes that people make is they, like you mentioned, they think that they need to find this big epic scene or they like forget to look at these little spots.

Like we can isolate so much of the background with a longer lens and like you really just need like this little tiny, itty bitty space and who cares what's going on for the rest of the area. And so I think a lot of people pass by what could be incredible spots, which is like one of my favorite things to do is to kind of take people around and be like,

all right, where are we gonna shoot here? Yeah this looks like just whatever. Nothing that exciting. We actually did that. I was teaching a progress lab with Heather, a business workshop here in Charlotte just last week and we did just a fun shoot because you know, you can't get pet photographers together and not go photograph some dogs. That would just be silly.

Yes. So we went down, we went down to the city to this park and almost all of the students were like, I would've never picked that location, but it was really, really fun. And for me that location is like a candy land cuz you're like, okay there's some fountains over here, there's some cool rocks over here, there's some brick buildings over here,

there's you know, some lines for the way the bathroom is here of just like different colors on the wall. Just unbelievable amount of options. And it was just really fun to see them start to see those possibilities and then have people go back to what they consider as an area that has nothing exciting and be like, oh wait, I can shoot here.

Yeah, for sure. And like that's it for me. It's like if there's one interesting thing and if I can kind of build something around that, then I have that starting point as long as long as it kind of makes sense, you know, I think sometimes I start talking about an interesting thing and then I, I see like from my students,

they'll like sit their dog next to like this bushy purple flour weed thing and they'll just be like one little purplely flower weed and then the dog and then like nothing. And I'm like, right, I can see what you're doing. I can see the interesting thing here, but it feels a little bit like we've plunked a dog next to a purple weed thing.

Like can we like get in closer? Can we make like put their head down next to it? So it's just the, and it feels like it's a bigger scene. I don't know, are there more purple flour weed things and we can put them in a field of them. Is there any way we can make this all kind of tie in a little bit more cohesively than just like here we have a dog and here we have a purple flower.

Enjoy. But yeah, I, I love, I love finding just yeah like an interesting thing and, and yeah, I actually did, there's a lesson in my membership where I went just around the suburbs where I live here in Germany and found, like you were saying just like locations that you wouldn't expect. There was one that was by a busy kind of road buses going past.

It was like on an electrical box and it was this sort of bushy bush with white flowers on it. And I shoved Loki in there and was like rubbish all over the ground. I'm like, get in their locs and like the flowers were kind of around his head a little bit and he just like peered out and it's, and you can actually see,

I think I put the behind the scenes of that on my Instagram, but it is literally just the side of a road and a bush. But it, we could be in the woods, we could be in some like magical flowery place and there's another one of journey next to a tree and there's all these like they're just green weeds and it's just a green tree.

But I liked that it had some like ivy going around it and I was like, Ooh, I love ivy. Ivy's magical too. So I'm like stand next to this tree Joni. And there's all this like greenery at the bottom and there's like a fence to an apartment building just sort of just off the, the photo. And then there's an apartment building that you can't see cuz of the lens and it feels like we're in the middle of the woods,

but it was like just this one little patch of greenery, like nothing apartment fence, apartment building. But you know, if you can start seeing that in a way like ooh look at this cool ivy or ooh look at this cool bush or ooh look at the light, the way the light's shining through this, this bush in the background like let's put put,

put him in there and have this, you know, framing him and yeah it's really amazing what you can do with a long lens and something interesting and thinking about how you can make that feel like something other than just a perfectly flowery weedy thing I guess. Yeah. One of my favorite kind of homework things to have students do is to actually just take,

like if they don't wanna drag their dog around or they don't have a dog or their dog's maybe not the best model, like just grab a little stuffed animal. Yes. Or your camera bag and just walk around and set up shots and you will start to see things so much differently and start to see these little pockets of beauty or little pockets of light without having to worry about managing a dog and getting an expression.

Because I mean, you know, there's so many things that go into that final, that final image that if you could nail down managing your camera on manual and like switching all around for all of these shots depending on the lighting, seeing what's in the scene, setting up the right lens choice to create that composition that you are imagining it in your head.

And then once that becomes second nature it becomes really easy to then just be able to focus on the dog. Yes. Yeah. Agree a hundred percent. I actually just said that to a student of mine who did a workshop with me. He was like, I was really amazed that you would like look at the background with your like eyes and you could see oh there's gonna be light here and this will be like a curve here.

I'm like, well yeah, okay so grab your camera, just take your dog for a walk but don't pose them. Focus on something sort of in the middle foreground so you've got the same kind of depth of field. Imagine first what that background's gonna look like. Try and like picture it in your mind's eye how it's gonna look through the lens and then bring up your camera and be like,

oh okay, that's really interesting that bit of boca from the sky is actually too high for my lens and that's getting completely chopped out. Huh? Didn't know that. And like the more that you can kind of kind of preemptively try and imagine in your mind's eye how that background, that scene's going to look before you look through the camera, the more you're kind of training your eye to be able to see that before you get your camera essentially.

But I think it's like such a skill that you have to practice you, you just have to do it again and again and you start getting more sensitive to seeing those light and dark kind of tones and those shapes and the background and how the foreground can kind of, you know, there can be a little bush and make a little bit of depth there,

a little bit of blur or something and you know, you start to really understand some people, a lot of people ask me like, how far away do you have to stand with your 1 35 millimeter? I'm like, I don't know. I just get there and I go where it feels like I need to be because you get so used to using, I mean if you've got like a 7,200 it's a bit different cuz you're zooming but you know you,

you still can get a feel for like okay this is gonna be the closest I'm gonna be able to be, this is the furthest I'm gonna be able to be. And you know you, the more you kind of do it, the more you start to feel that without having to think about it so much I Guess. Yeah, well even with the 7,200,

I'm a 200 or die kind of girl so like shoot at 70 no way. Unless I'm doing action and the dog started to get a little bit close then okay, maybe It'll zoom out then. Yes. But truly what you were mentioning about being able to picture that I, it is a hundred percent accurate and it takes practice because when you start shooting with different lenses,

obviously that's gonna render that background differently. I know that took me a while. If I had to choose two lenses for like the rest of my life, I would probably have my 7,200 and then my 24 1 0.4 and like total ends of the spectrum. But I remember when I was starting and playing around with that little bit more of a wide angle, it captures a lot of the background,

you know, so you're like, oh man, that's a lot of sky. Oh man, that's a lot of everything. Oh and then you go to 200 and you're like oh I can make everything disappear. And then of course everything in the middle is is different as well. So yeah, just takes practice with each different kind of lens For sure.

And I think like when you go back to the other one, it's almost like starting again. Like I kind of go through phases. I'm really on my 1 35 at the moment, that's the one that's on my camera all the time. It really doesn't come off love it so much. And then I'll be like, oh I feel like the 85 today and I'll put it on and I will feel kind of awkward with it at first to be like,

oh nope, I am too far away. Or oh boy that background is a lot more busy than it normally is like and it's not even that busy cause it's an 85 and it's not like Right. You know it's not like a 24, it's just, yeah, it's just different. It feels different and I'm, I mean usually be like, mm,

no I think we're going back to the 1 35. No I think we're changing back. Oh my, I actually did this with my 50. I had a love hate relationship with my 50 actually it was just a relationship in which I completely ignored it because every time I would try to use it I'd be like, eh Does me my 35, I'm like,

you are good for indoor product photos only. And that is, it made me a landscape because you're the widest thing I got. But no, you're seeing my bag and I don't like you. We just don't get along. I only have it for product photos now, like It's so funny. Well when I was at, when I was in Spain in the fall,

Charlotte and Kaylee and all these other students kept on showing photos with their 50. I'm like, I love that image. I'm like, what the hell? Why can I not shoot with my 50? So I made it a point in one session, I'm like, I'm only shooting with my 50. And lo and behold I figured it out and I actually created some beautiful images that I love and I'm like,

oh okay, maybe I need to use this lens More often. Now think so you do have to sometimes do that and just put it on there for a whole session and force yourself. I actually tried the same thing with the 50 ones we're in the black forest. I was like, right, I'm gonna try this. I wanna do like a little bit more like documentary style.

There's this Russian photographer, Suka, I think her Instagram is, she does, I haven't seen anything like what she does and I really love it and it, she like really catches like the spirit of an adventure with a person and their dog in a town and they're like feeding chips to the dog. I don't know, like it's just like these little moments and I really love it.

And I was like, I kind of wanna try this cuz you know, I, I like trying different things. Yeah. And I was like, right, I think a 50 would be great for this cuz you know, it's like what we see, it's gonna be great but I have to just use it for a day. So I was using it,

using it and then we got to this one spot where there was like a tunnel of trees, some light broke behind, you know where this is going. And I was like, this is so pretty. And I was like, with the 50, I was like, yeah, but consider this. And did I not switch to the 1 35? Indeed I did.

And then it stayed on for the whole and then I like there was this mossy place and this backlight, it was really cool and the 50 didn't come back on. But yeah, I do think you'd have to like force yourself to be like, we're doing this today, we're using this one lens and I'm just gonna get used to it until it like feels a bit easier for me.

I, I think that's a great creativity exercise to do regardless just to cause you to look at things differently, you know? And obviously if it's a client shoot and you're used to usually creating like these big like you know with your 200 or your 1 35 like shallow depth the field, you know, obviously you're not gonna be like, I'm gonna shoot this whole session with a 35.

I'm experimenting today. That's maybe not the time. Yeah, Maybe not the there, but maybe you do get a mono call or grab your dog or grab a friend's dog and just go out and be like, Hey I'm just wanna shoot with the 35. I'm gonna force myself to, to create something with this. And it just causes your brain to start to look for different opportunities because we can get in a rut of just this is exactly what I look for,

this is what I create. And yeah that's great for consistency but are you really then still pushing yourself creatively? That's sort of like one thing that I talk with my members about a little bit is like the difference between creating for yourself and creating for clients. And this kind of comes back to like what we mentioned before about like needing to find these epic locations all the time.

And you know, I'll have people say like, how do you keep finding these these places? And okay, yeah I travel a lot but if I was doing client shoots I wouldn't be looking for a new location every single time that I had a client, I'd take them back to my old faithful tried and true. I know this stump, I know this log,

I know this fern, I know this moss here, here, here, here. And we're going. And you know, we do the nice safe poses and we sit them here, we stand them here, they look forward, they look to the side where we can, I mean I obviously don't wanna stifle creativity with client shoots, but I feel like especially as creatives,

we put a lot of pressure on ourselves A, to create something beautiful but B, that, like I said before, like that we have to reinvent the wheel every time. And I don't think that we do with clients and of course there's something cool comes up and you're like, wow there's this new patch of wildflowers here, let's try this thing. I don't think they're gonna say no but like they're hiring you for your style and what they've seen you create and the dog on the log that they've seen you create before or whatever it happens to be.

That's your kind of thing. They're not gonna be up upset if they get the similar photos to what they've been seeing you create before. You don't have to go to a new location every time. You don't have to try a new pose every time. Whereas like for yourself, like that's where for me it's like I, you know, I have so many photos of my dogs now,

so many photos that I really do need something a little bit different and a little bit interesting and a little bit more epic for me to be like, oh my god, yep, we're doing a whole thing today. Like there's fog and sun rays, like boom, right, we're getting, we're getting the camera out and we're gonna take these photos but I can't expect that every time with clients and that's fine.

Like they don't need fog and like if it happens, amazing, yeah, great for them. Holy crap, how lucky are you today that this happened? But if not, then that is okay. Like it's okay to be simple with them and if you wanna experiment or if you wanna go more epic or if you wanna explore further a field, then those photos can be for you.

And if they don't turn out quote unquote perfect or if you know they don't work out or if you try and be really ambitious and you're like, hey I'm in this really deep dark forest and there's back light and it's shining through, it's gonna be so cool. But then there's not enough ambient light and you have to underexpose like crazy and the dog is so dark that when you brighten him up it's like a mess.

You're like, oh no, there's nothing lost. It's just I, I know this is one of your favorite things. You either win or you learn I think. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's like that, it's like okay well obviously that didn't work for these reasons. So cool. If I have a client shoot and I'm in this situation, I know that maybe I can't go quite as deep into the deep dark woods for these back lit photos because I learned that from when I was doing it for myself as a bit of an experiment and trying something a bit more epic and trying this kind of crazy glowing backlight or whatever.

But you don't have to do that with clients necessarily. Hopefully that'll make sense. Yes. Yeah, a hundred percent really did. Yeah. And when you start shooting for yourself too with that personal work and you can really just experiment so much and that I think is where people start to really dial in, you know, what their style's gonna be. Oh yeah.

And what makes for sure them unique and can differentiate them from the sea of pet photographers that is becoming, because it is only gonna get more competitive and more saturated in our markets as more people get into the industry as like the AI editing makes it easier for people to remove leashes and do these things. Like we need to keep kind of raising the bar of what we offer in terms of service,

in terms of products. Yes. In terms of craft. And so I think it's gonna be more important than ever to really continue to work on that personal work so that you can just create something super unique that other people aren't or can't or aren't willing to put in the work to do. Yeah, for sure. And just, yeah, like really being aware of again,

those things that make your heart sing because your passion and your love for what you're creating is gonna come through in that. And I think people can feel that it's like this is not just another, not just another nice pet photo. It's like there is something special about this that, that I want on my walls or I want that for myself as well.

And that's what's gonna make them wanna book you for that. Oh my gosh, so many people that I've interviewed of like you know the the top and the field the most in-demand pet photographers, the one underlying theme is that they are being true to their artistic self and really creating work that they love in a way that they love on products that they love.

And I think so many times people are scared to just double down on what they love because they see what other people are doing that they think are successful or they're labeling as successful and they feel like well I need to create the same work as photographer A because obviously that's what the market wants. Market wants what you love cuz there'll be people in the market that love what you want and maybe don't like photographer a's work as much as what you Create.

Hundred percent. Yeah. Oh my Gosh. Or, and I think like if you try and if you try and create something that is inauthentic or if you try and spread yourself too thin, like okay I'm gonna do like beautiful back lit pet like portraits, but also I'm gonna do like this action photo but also I'm gonna do like those kind of like wide angle with the flash and the thing.

Like people then don't know what you are doing necessarily. They're like, well but am I gonna get this wide angle thing that I don't particularly like or am I gonna get the thing in the forest that I don't part? You know, so I, and I, I found this on, on, on social media a lot that the more kind of like authentically yourself you can be like whether it's in your photos or whether it's showing up on social media,

the more people respond to that because they'll either like you or they won't. And if they don't they'll go somewhere else and you can't, you can't convince everything they Were never gonna book you anyway. If they Don't Like you like it sooner or later they're gonna figure out that they don't mesh with you and they would've never actually booked you. Yeah. Or even just your style.

Like you can't create everything that everybody will like, it's just not possible. So you might as well create what you like and the rest of them can go somewhere else and who cares? Like they aren't your people. Like the, I get, I get this a lot with, with my members and staff, they're like, you know, I don't know,

I don't know when to stop editing or you know, I dunno when it's, I just want my photos to be perfect or whatever. And I, I agonize over them before posting them and I, I spend two hours just going back and forth on edit so I'm like, at some point you have to just do your edit, hit save, go to sleep,

come back the next morning, have a look at it, go it's great and just post it. You know, like you could go back and forth for two hours and, and it would be as good or as bad as it was two hours ago and you are the only one who knows that and you're the only one who's gonna see that. And and there just for me like the day that I was like,

do you know what? Just save it and post it. I mean I usually don't post immediately things on social media. I do like to give it a night just cuz sometimes I do come back and I'm like wow that is a lot more green than I remember being last night. Yes, exactly. Let's just desaturate that a little bit more and then it's done.

But I don't like reopen and start from scratch cause I just don't think that that's worthwhile cuz we tend to be our harshest critics and I think a lot of that like back and forth comes from trying to make a photo that everybody is going to love and at the end of the day, if you should be the only one who, who loves it and if you're like,

you know what, I think this is pretty good, good done. That's it. We can, we can save it, we can move on. We're happy with it. Come back to it tomorrow if you need to. But like I just don't think that there's a point trying to edit something to oblivion to try and make it something that everybody in the universe is gonna like cuz it's not gonna happen.

Yes. I don't think there's any photo anywhere that everybody in the universe is gonna like. Yes. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And along those lines too, too really as you start to figure out and it takes time. Cause I, I hear a lot of people say too, like I've been trying to figure out what my style is for three years,

I don't know. And like it took me a good seven or eight years for, I was like, oh wait, I do have a style. That's the Thing though, I feel like so many people have it, they just don't know it yet and they're like, they're chasing other styles like well maybe if I do a bit more haze in the,

maybe if I do like the greens like this. Maybe if I, and it, and for me it was like if I just, cuz I did this workshop and you know we got very desaturated and everything was very like whatever. And it was lovely. Love it. But I was like, I felt something was missing in my photography cause I was like,

I like colors and I missed colors when I was editing in this way that I'd kind of learned at this workshop and that I'd really taken on board. And I was like, this is the way we're gonna edit now. And then I was like, I like color, I miss colors. And so then I started just being like, well what else do I like?

I like a bit of drama. I'm gonna put some drama in my editing, you know, let's darken the, the edges a bit more. What else do I like? Oh I like it when it's got like a little bit of light coming in from here. Okay. So the more I was kind of asking my, like my style, you can see like a lot of my style from like way back before I even was thinking about pet photography as a thing cuz it was already stuff that I like.

Yeah. And, and that's a thing like that I say to like my students, it's like your style is probably already there. You just like see, look at what you like, look at what you don't like, look at the photographers you like and what you don't like and what are the, the common elements that are kind of tying everything together and then create in a way that you like and the elements that you like.

If you don't like flashy colors and you like it to be a little bit more subdued and mellow, then cool. That's probably part of your style. You know, like if you like, like super strong contrast, you like strong blacks and you know this around, you know, a lot of like, you know, if I'm thinking about Alicia from Poland or I think some,

her recent stuff was really like she had a cave one that I saw was like blacks around the edge. And for me I'm like wow, that is a lot of black but it looks really cool. Yeah. And you know, so that might be the, the style if you're like, yeah I like it when it's like boom blacks and strongness and you know,

if you are like I really find that's cool then that's probably part of your style too. And I think if you start to recognize these things you're like, wow, I love, rather than just being like, oh my god I love this edit. And then like not being able to kind of see what it is, like what parts of that edit or that photo.

Is it the light? Is it the way the dog's looking up into the light? Is it the way, you know there's a, is it warm, is it cool? Is it contrasty, is it matte? You know, there's some photographers that do like these really matte kind of filmy sort of backgrounds. Is it, you know, I don't know,

is it, is it pale boca in the background? Is it golden hour? Like there's so much that goes into it that if you can start kind of picking it apart and being like, that's what I really like, that's gonna be your style. And, and I think as well, one thing that, I mean I, I had never been like searching for my style and I,

I, I hear this a lot, like I just can't find my style. Like you were saying people like, I've been looking for my style for years. I'm like, it's not a unicorn, we can't find it. It's just like a, a process developed. It's a thing that, yeah, yeah. Like it's a thing that we repeat and it's a,

it's just a, it's, it's just a stylistic decision I guess. But like people were saying to me like, I love your style. I'm like, I have a style and then I was looking at my photos, I was like, oh yeah, I see it. It's like, and now I call it fantastical reality because I like, like it to be realistic feeling but like a bit extra,

you know like I want the light being natural. I like there you to look at it and go wow that is like nature but magical I guess is like where we kinda go. So you know like if you look at your photos and you see what's being repeated often, that is probably already the style coming through and then it's just like refining that to be repeatable and to like be stronger and more of your voice I guess.

Yeah. I have two thoughts on this. Number one, once you start to figure out your style and like what those repeating kind of factors are that that you love that are kind of the underlying currents in your images, you wanna curate that style. So when you're choosing to put things on your social media or in your portfolio so the clients know what they're gonna get,

like get really harsh. Like there's been some beautiful images that I love that will never be part of my portfolio because it doesn't actually fit my aesthetic. But it do, it doesn't mean you can't ever shoot anything else. It just means that you wanna be fairly cognizant of what it is you're putting out together to make sure that you're, what you're creating looks cohesive.

But backing up a little bit to figuring out what those cohesive pieces are, number one, the key to creating something unique for yourself is to learn so many of these different processes and pick and choose. So I am a huge believer that like your style is not this one photographer. Like if your style is everything that one photographer does, that is not a style that is straight copying.

What your style is is, oh my gosh, I love this photographer's use of their composition. I love this photographer's use of editing, I love this photographer's use of color, I love this photographer's location. And you're starting to pull these different pieces together and you're mixing them up to create something really unique. And I think it can be hard to figure out what those are looking at pet photographers because we are pretty biased with the subjects.

So we are going to like more things that we see of pet photographers than we would if we looked at other genres. So if you force yourself to instead be like, let's look at wedding photographers or baby photographers or family photographers or commercial photographers, real estate photographers, whatever, pick any other genre other than pets, then the types of styles that you see will jump out at you more because you don't have the subject bias of like,

but that's a really cute puppy and it's my favorite breed. So of course I love that photo. And also potentially like, you know, I also feel like there's a bias and you know, this is probably in any industry anywhere, but I also feel like there's potentially a bias to toward the, the names quote unquote in pet photography. Like yes,

you know these big names and you are immediately expecting to already like their stuff and you probably do cuz they're amazing. Like great, yeah, yeah, right. But you in some ways can't see past that then to look at it more objectively I think. Yeah. And I think that that bias that you're mentioning also comes with a, like a subconscious belief that well they've made it so this is what I need to do.

Yes. So obviously this is what sells. Yeah, yeah. Oh My gosh, a hundred percent So good. I do wanna talk real quick before we wrap up about the process of developing your art and your craft and this feeling of, you know, creating these perfect images. And I, I mean, I don't know about you, but spoiler alert,

every time I leave a session, I don't think ever once have I left a session and be like, I captured every single thing. Nailed it. I wanted to nailed exactly how I wanted to and I didn't forget to do anything and there's nothing else I could have possibly done It that way. Like never. I do, you know what I'm thinking about?

One of my recent client shoots and I took like 1100 photos and I'm pretty, and like we shot from the beginning of golden hour till like pretty much dark. And I'm pretty sure I walked away from that one going, do you know what? I'm pretty confident I got a few good ones. Like I got at least like 10. But I'll tell you what,

like before that, before that shoot, you know, and this is because I don't do a heap of client photos, so I don't have that constant practice of Yeah. Of doing client shoots. I'm mostly shooting my two dogs so it's a lot easier. But I, that night before wa and I am not generally like a super anxious person. I have a D H D,

but I, I don't have a heap of anxiety about stuff. But that night I really had trouble going to sleep because I was like, what if I'm a fraud? What if I right, what if I dunno how to take photos? Like what if it up this whole time? And I was like, stop. You have a whole bloody business about pet photography.

You've got a whole portfolio, you've got a whole social media channel about photos. Like I'm pretty sure you know how to take a photo. I'm like, yeah, but what if I've been faking it this whole time? What if I Can't do with these dogs at this location? What if the like's totally different tomorrow? Like, I don't know, like the sun's gone.

Well actually that was the interesting thing because we hadn't really found a location. I was sort of like, this one's okay and then we sort of tried it there and I was like, eh. And then she's like, oh I've got this one other idea I was was like, all right, let's go. We're gonna try it. So it was like going in blind,

which is always Oh yeah, yeah, great fun. If you wanna challenge, just go into a location blind, you know, so great. But yeah, like it was really just like these anxiety dreams, what if, what if you don't know how to take photos? You know? Oh, I think we've all been there. It's like last week.

All right, we're back. Sorry. Everybody had a little technical challenge and all of a sudden it stopped recording. So we were just wrapping up talking about just showing up at a location blind and how stressful it is and how Ethan, Emily and I for a long time still feel like imposters on the regular. So you are not alone. Oh my god.

Imposter syndrome is real. Yeah. And it doesn't matter if it's your first day or you your like it's still there because all of a sudden you're just gonna forget how to do all of the things and your clients are gonna realize like, wait, what? Why am I paying you? What the hell you doing? I'm photos of dogs. I swear I thought I did.

Well, maybe not today. Oh my gosh. All right. Well anyway, this has been so good. Such a good conversation. I mean we had a lot of rabbit holes. They were all really important. Yeah, I feel like we went all over the place. Like we had two topics and I think we kind of covered them more or less,

but it was like, it was like everywhere else at the same time. So I hope everybody listening a found it entertaining, but also like that there were some interesting tidbits in there, hopefully. Oh, there were. Yeah, I think so. I think so. Been so good. So if people wanna follow up with you, Emily, where can they find you online?

I'm pretty much all the socials, so I guess my biggest ones are Instagram, so just inspiration photography there. TikTok as well. Facebook, I'm not really that active on, but I'm there if you just wanna come and stalk me. Yeah. Otherwise like I've got my online membership that's open once every six months or so where I have like huge library of resources and everything and editing tutorials and whatever.

So if you wanna learn some stuff, come in, get in contact with me. Cause I love teaching people all this photography. Yeah, that's awesome stuff. Fantastic. And you are actually going to be a guest instructor at the hair of the dog academy talking about sharing one of your edits with us, which again, remember guys, we're not just copying editing,

we are going to learn all these amazing techniques and then you can pick and choose all these things to make yourself, like make your own incredible style, which is truly the secret to really attracting your people that love you and will pay anything for your work. Yeah. And I really like talking about like why I am doing what I'm doing so that you can take it or leave it or apply it to your photo or you know,

be like, oh yeah, that makes sense, that's sensible. Why we're darkening this part of the photo or whatever. You know, like, so it's not just like, and now we press this button and now we put in these settings and now we, you know, because if you don't have a rationale behind what you're doing, then. Yeah.

You know, are you just editing all over the place, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's a great point. For sure. Anyway, this has been fantastic. Loved our conversation. Thank you so much for being part of this, and everyone definitely let Emily know. If you found this conversation great. Let her know on social media.

Yay. As well. Let me know what your biggest takeaway was at Nicole Begley official, and in the meantime, I'll see you guys next week. And Emily, thank you again so much for being here. Thank You so much for inviting me, Nicole. It was awesome. Yay. I had a great time. Thank you. See You guys next week.

Bye everybody. Everybody. Thanks for listening to The Hair of the Dog podcast. This was episode number 1 99. If you wanna check out the show notes for access to any of the resources that we mentioned, simply go to www.hairofthedogacademy.com/ 1 9 9. Thanks for listening to this episode of Hair of the Dog Podcast. If you enjoyed this show, please take a minute to leave a review.

And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss our upcoming episode. One last thing, if you are ready to dive into more resources, head over to our [email protected] of the dog academy com. Thanks for being a part of this pet photography community.