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My Great Dane, Emmet,  is the center of my world. When I come home, the excitement and absolute joy he greets me with makes everything else go away. For so many of us, our pets are our children, our confidantes, and our very best friends.

I am grateful to have found my calling in a career that’s not only fun, but rewarding on so many levels. Custom pet photography is just starting to become “normal,” as more and more people put off having children to further their education and dive into careers during their 20’s and early 30’s. I have been finding that most of my clients become great friends, as we are like-minded young professionals whose children have four legs 🙂 I still get the occasional head tilt or raised eyebrow when I proudly state, “I’m a portrait photographer; I specialize in pets.” Overall though, the pet industry is rapidly growing, and the demand for custom pet portraits is no exception.

One service that I offer is lesser known, though, and I’m on a mission to make sure that word spreads. Devoted Hearts sessions are custom portrait sessions for elderly or terminally ill pets. The session fee is discounted, as are prints and products from these sessions, and they also receive scheduling priority (I’ve even booked a same-day Devoted Hearts session before).

I really encourage my clients to be in the portraits with their pets, as the relationship between you and your best friend is exactly what I’m looking to highlight. As self-conscious as we can be as humans, we may not always like photos of ourselves, but our furry best friends give unconditional love, regardless of those ten extra pounds. Although photos of my dog make me smile on a daily basis, it’s images like this one that fill my heart. Our relationship isn’t something I could ever describe in words; he is my very best friend, my heart and soul. This photo captured that, and that is what I set out to do with every session – especially so for Devoted Hearts.

(Photo of myself and Emmet courtesy of Doodlie Bop Pet Photography)

The following images are some of my favorites from Devoted Hearts sessions. I encourage  you to share this post with a friend or family member who has a sick or elderly pet; I hear so often that people regret not having professional quality images of their best friends – their time with us is simply too short.

I’d also like to point out an option in the event that your pet has a cosmetic issue due to his or her illness/condition. I recently photographed Smidgen, an adorable little girl with swelling in the face and eye due to an internal growth or tumor. In order to make Smidgen look more like the pup her Momma will always want to remember her as, I was able to retouch her eye to return it to its normal size and shape. The image below is the final photo, and under that is a close-up before and after to show the difference the editing made, while leaving the image looking completely natural.

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”

The quote above is the reason I do what I do – it’s both the reason I dedicate my life to being the very best Momma I can be to my Emmet, and the reason that my passion for dogs pulled me to specialize in pet portraiture. Dogs give us their unwavering love, their lifelong loyalty, and they are the best friends most of us could ever ask for. We owe it to them to memorialize them with a custom photography session.

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