Portrait of a Dog.......

A while back ago during my daily routine of browsing through Fred Mirand.com I came across a post that really had me laughing.

It wasnt't your normal portrait that you would expect to see in the people section, no fancy lighting or studio set up just a photo of a dog being a dog.



Fellow FM Member Patricia Boyd has done an outstanding job capturing both dogs and cats being themselves and having a good ol time.

As I continued to look through her website I can't help but smile and laugh, being a dog owner myself I know how funny at times dogs can be.

Curious on how she started I decided to contact her and ask how she got her interested in photographing animals. Below you will find our Q & A's .

Do you have any dogs or cats yourself?
Yes, 1 dog , 3 cats

What got you intersted in shooting dogs and cats?
Well, I am a life-long animal lover for one. But my interest in really doing this for a living started with Crissy Field in San Francisco, a beautiful park on the bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. It is dog heaven there. I began just randomly photographing the dogs every weekend about 5 or 6 years ago with an Olympus point-and-shoot. When I got my dog, I upgraded to a digital SLR and with much encouragement from a lot of people I decided to try to turn my love into a business.

What other animals have you shot?
As a matter of fact, I just photographed my first horse yesterday. I've also photographed a few bunnies.

What would you rather photography and why? animals or people
Until recently, dogs would have been #1. But now I'm photographing children (mostly babies) and I'm really loving that. I like photographing dogs and babies the most because they are so funny. They make me laugh so much. Also, they don't censor themselves so I like how "real' those shots tend to be. I also really enjoy shooting adults (just one at a time) who are young at heart. Cats are very tough to shoot and not too many I've met have a sense of humor. They tend to be very good at disdain and disinterest though.

Have you been bitten while shooting a dog or animal? :)
No but a couple of weeks ago in the studio a dog growled at me for the first time. That was a little unnerving. Also, I've had a couple of times at the beach and once in a dog park where a dog going by will consider me some sort of threat. That mostly involves a lot of barking and circling around me.

So how long have you been a photographer?
I think about 6 years but only 3 years professionally.


I would like to thank Patrica Boyd for allowing me to post her photos and for answering some of my questions, to see more of her work visit her website Pat Boyd Photography