Photography Adventure: Doggy Style

If you are a photography amature like I am, you need to take pictures of a dog to hone your skills.  Preferably a hyperactive one. 

Meet my subject Frank.  Isn't he cute?  He is also very energetic.

In order to successfully photograph a dog you have to have more patience than you ever probably will with a child.  Dogs are constantly moving, on the go, and don't give a &#@$ if you want to get a good shot or not.  Babies are engaged by someone smiling, talking, cooing, etc.  In short they have some sort of attention span. Dogs are engaged by squirrels and food and can look 80 different ways in a matter of seconds.  It's hard to keep their attention because they always have an agenda that doesn’t include posing pretty for you.

A couple things I learned was I needed to take lots and lots of pictures.  It was important for me to get on Frank's level or be lower than Frank and shoot up.  At first I tried to engage him but as soon as I broke eye contact to focus my camera that sweet look he JUST HAD disappeared.  I then resorted to following him around and just shooting a bunch of everything. 

And as a result I got pictures of Frank just being Frank.  My thought, is that if you can shoot a dog, a kid is going to be a piece of cake.