While in my final year of university, I have had several opportunities come up for exciting work. One such opportunity came when a friend of mine told me that the RSPCA in Huddersfield were hosting a sponsored dog walk and their photographer had dropped out. We therefore were able to volunteer ourselves and work with the RSPCA to document the day.

The day began with meeting up at a local park in Huddersfield with the organisers of the event. I used the time I had before the dogs arrived to set up my camera ready for the shoot in terms of light balance and exposure so that I could get right into shooting once we began the walk. Once the dogs began to arrive, I took some photos to see if my settings were correct and made some slight adjustments now that I had the subjects in front of me. 

We then started walking around the park as a large group, this is where I began taking photos at every opportunity. My goal was to not only take photos of the dogs but to also make sure I had images of the owners walking too, both in groups and with their dogs. The whole shoot was alot of fun as I got to work with dogs once again which, as I have mentioned in a previous post, is something I have come to love doing. However as I have also mentioned, the focus here was different, documenting an event rather than partaking in the artistic practice I have done with dogs which I had become used to. 

It was a challenge that I had not had before and that only fueled me to make sure I did a good job. Because of the documentary nature of the shoot, It became a simpler job than my university work as I just had to make sure the basics in terms of visuals were shot well. 

The main challege was the changing conditions in the lighting, meaning I had to think on my feet and adjust settings on the move in order to make sure the images weren’t too over exposed or under exposed. Once again, this is something I have talked about that I like to do as a photographer, being on the move and photographing subjects as they move.

After the walk was over, the owners had the chance to ask the photographers for personal portraits if they wished. This excited me as it was an opportunity to showcase the skills I have been honing for the past year with my university project. 

It of course goes without saying that this opportunity blends well with the photographic practice I have been doing as of late. I am very much grateful to the RSPCA for choosing me to help photograph this event, though I do believe the images I have recently produced for my photobook ‘Truest Friends’ played a big part in being selected for the event.

When applying to take on this role I had in mind that it would help me in a professional sense, building my portfolio of pet imagery and thus helping later down the line when it comes to other job roles. However, more opportunity came from the RSPCA themseleves when the organisers told me that I would be chosen for future events with the possbility of paid roles too. This of course opens up more doors in the future relating to  pet photography and/or other roles involving the combination of photography and animals which could be the start of a new network of clients.

Other opportunities also came from the shoot as some of the dog owners began to ask about my practice. Some then inquired further when I spoke about my book as they asked for a link to it. The book is available for purchase but I havn’t expected any sales, only listing it on Blurb’s website as a test to see if anyone would buy it at all. And while nobody at the event specifically said they would buy the book, there was definitely some interest towards it which may indicate that with some advertisement, it may indeed sell.

So that concludes the event and what came from it. One more thing That I did learn from this experience was that taking opportunities like this on a whim can be extremely beneficial to my career. It would have been easy for me to have let the opportunity pass by but by taking myself out of my comfort zone, I was able to take part in something new to me and gain valuable experience in the process.