Pflughoeft - Beautiful beasties: a creative guide to modern pet photography

Beautiful Beasties
A Creative Guide to Modern Pet Photography

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard

Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com

Copyright 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-1-118-23520-1

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at
http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization of Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (877) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010941220

Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Credits

Acquisitions Editor

Courtney Allen

Project Editor

Dianne Russell, Octal Publishing, Inc.

Technical Editor

Alan Hess

Copyeditor

Bob Russell, Octal Publishing, Inc.

Editorial Director

Robyn Siesky

Business Manager

Amy Knies

Senior Marketing Manager

Sandy Smith

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher

Barry Pruett

Proofreading

Octal Publishing, Inc.

About the Author

Born to an artist mom, in a family of animal lovers, one could argue that pet photographer Jamie Pflughoefts path was predestined. A self-professed dog fanatic, Jamie became passionate about photographing pets in 1999 after seeing never-ending camera-worthy moments happen in front of her while working as a dog walker and pet sitter. She attended the University of Washington as an adult student studying animal behavior as part of her psychology major, Jamie was able to take the knowledge she gleaned from her university classes and apply it to her photo shoots with animals. Jamie graduated shortly after September 11, 2001, into what was a poor job market in which she was competing against Ph.D. holders for entry-level positions, a friend recommended that she turn her pet photography hobby into a business. Is that even a job? Jamie asked. After a little bit of research, a six-week business training class, some homemade business cards, a $500 loan and a switch from a film camera to a digital camera, in July of 2003, Jamies business, Cowbelly Pet Photography, was born. Jamie established the business to meet a growing need of pet owners to have high quality photos captured of their pets for posterity.

Since the inception of Cowbelly Pet Photography, Jamie has worked with over 500 private clients and has provided commercial and editorial photography for several large companies and magazines. Editorial clients include The Bark Magazine , Modern Dog Magazine , Cesars Way Magazine , and CityDog Magazine . Some of her commercial clients include Purina, Wal-Mart, Nutro, PetSafe, ABC Studios, AAA, Signature DNA Unleashed, Pinnacle, and more.

Along with blogging on topics such as photography, digital editing, business, dog-friendly travel, and more, Jamie has taught 14 workshops to over 150 budding pet photographers in cities around the United States, with plans to teach internationally starting in 2013. Jamie has developed a large following on Twitter, Facebook, and the Cowbelly blog, and sold out a Master Class at WPPI in 2011. She is largely considered one of the foremost leaders in the pet-photography industry.

When not photographing dogs in Washington and California, you can find Jamie with her beloved Lab-mix pooch, Fergie, by her side, enjoying all that the Emerald City has to offer.

Like the dogs she photographs, Jamie believes life is best lived playing, sleeping, eating, loving, daydreaming, having regular adventures and being sure to feel plenty of joy every single day. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Woofs!

You can connect with Jamie on Twitter at @cowbelly; on Facebook at her page for pet photographers, www.facebook.com/BeautifulBeastiesByCowbelly; or her website for pet photographers, www.beautifulbeasties.com. You can see more of her work on her portfolio site at www.cowbelly.com, which she tries to update as frequently as possible with photos of cute, funny animals just being awesome.

By the way, the name Pflughoeft (pronounced flew-hoffyoure welcome) is of German origin. It is used as a nickname for farmers.

Jamie and her dog, Fergie.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Bill and Nat of Photo Lab Pet Photography for providing input on the cover design as well as the information about twentieth-century photographers who captured pets. A big thank you to Moira McLaughlin of Dog Art Today for also providing information on twentieth-century photographers who trained their lenses on animals.

To Courtney Allen, my editor at Wiley, for believing in me enough to take on this project, inviting me to write for you, and for being so patient with me during the process. Thank you for understanding my bizarre notions about human energy fields affecting electronics. (Im still waiting to hear the story about the Mexican food and the microwave!)