I specialize in pictures of hunting retrievers and their handlers at hunt tests and field trials. There aren't any schools that teach you how to do what I do. There aren't any books or photographers, for that matter, that teach hunting dog photography. I am self-taught (another example of unskilled labor). In the process I have developed written rules that I follow. My bread-and-butter shot, a picture of the dog and handler at the starting line, was a natural. But I see the same dogs and handlers at various events through out the year. It soon became obvious that they weren't going to continue to buy the same shot week after week and month after month.
To come up with alternatives, I searched the web for a week looking at over 500 field portraits of retrievers. Most of them were downright terrible. I downloaded about 50 shots that had something about them I liked....the angle of the head or body, camera perspective, etc. I then sat down like a technical writer and wrote how to shoot four different poses with specific rules for each pose. The next day I enlisted a friend and two of his dogs to put my new rules in practice. After a day of testing and a couple of modifications I now have four more shots for clients to choose from. My written rules now have an added advantage. I have hired two more people to help me this year. Both will be photographer's assistants, but I hope to turn one of them into an assistant photorapher. I can't give her 40 years of experience working with dogs, but I can give her a mental checklist to go through for each basic shot. I see no reason to reinvent the wheel. Granted, I am a commercial photographer. My pictures will never hang in the Metropolitan, but they will record fond memories for my clients. I couldn't do it on a consistent basis without rules. -- Ken Archer Canine Photography San Antonio, Texas "Business Is Going To The Dogs"
