Diana Lundin, Pet Photographer -- The Origin Story

This is more of a post about my pet photography beginnings, just sliced in a different way. And hey, it's fun to write "origin story!"

There are several tributaries, sure, but this is how I ended down the main one to become a pet photographer here in Los Angeles who has actually won awards in several international competitions.

I only say that because this is the story of how my crap photography became the thing of beauty it is today. Lol. 😂 And I say that tongue-in-cheek but I if I'm honest, I do believe my photography captures the beauty of the canine, feline, and human spirit.

But here's the point! There's something you like a lot. Love. Right? I always loved photography. And I always loved animals.

Pet photography became the intersection of both but... I started taking really crappy photos of my black cat in the shade on film. All you saw were chartreuse eyes and some black blur. I took photos of my Siamese with flash and her crystalline blue eyes are red, like I caught her doing something unholy.

So I just had a bunch of junky photos. But then my cats died and all I had were these terrible pictures because I couldn't take good ones. I could take okay headshots and portraits on the side, nothing spectacular, but I couldn't do animals. Don't get me wrong, I have my bad pet pictures in frames but really wish I had done something better while they were still on this earthly plane.

TIME TO FIND THE NEW HUSTLE

After I was laid off in 2011, I started searching for Act III or IV, who knows by now, and picked photography because it was already my headshot side hustle. But what genre? Children? No. Babies. Hell no. Food. Oh, too persnickety, what with tweezers and all that. Weddings. What if the bride haaatttteeees meeeee and I miss the kiss? And guess what I found? Oh yes. Pet photography! Cue angelic choir. Mama found her calling. She landed on her passion intersection!

I practiced on the neighborhood pets. Got barely good enough. Thought I was better than I was, yes, classic Dunning-Kruger effect, but started doing it anyway (yay me!) and over the years got pretty good at it.

But here's the thing for beginners. It takes time to build up skills. It really does, I always point to Ira Glass's The Gap speech. It takes practice. A lot of practice.

And it takes an investment, not only in equipment and tools you need to master but education on the basics to learning more advanced skills. There are some tricky little shortcuts and there are ways you can leapfrog by a mentorship, someone who has been down the path you need to go down and can help light the trail.

By the way, I am not selling an amazing mentorship! I'm just saying if you're starting from the bottom, you can build it brick by brick or plank by plank on many different roads. You can end up with a hut or skyscraper and everything in between.

Some people are so much better at the business side of things, right? They have business acumen, marketing knowledge, and the idea they want to run a successful business and photography is one entry. We're all different. Until we aren't. And then we need to differentiate.

MY BOOMBASTIC NEW STYLE

What really eventually clicked for me was finding my true voice, my true style. Oooh, dark and stormy. Editorial style. Or classic Old Masters. Jazz Improv.  Minimal props. That really appeals to my quest to learn exquisite lighting and painterly techniques from the masters but create for today.

Sometimes I like a lot of props. Let's have fun because I have a wicked sense of humor and everything makes me laugh when I'm photographing animals. Or just the special creative shoots where we are really reaching beyond, like the film noir-esque shoot Dog Noir or my upcoming Old Hollywood, Hurrell-style dog shoot.

And I got some outside validation. Certification by the Professional Photographers of America and the Animal Image Makers and a masters of photography through PPA. And other organizations, too, and no need to mention them. If you want to see those, they're here.

There are other iterations of achievement I'm looking for. I think now it's more of an internal thing. No awards necessary. It comes from within. And there is more education I need, although I never want to process an image so much it takes away any meaning. Oh right, sometimes I do want to do that.

LITERALLY STOPPING TIME... OR IS IT FIGURATIVELY?

But I really love what I'm creating with my clients now, beautiful, emotional, both posed and unposed sessions, that show that little sliver of time in an artistic way. It's time you never get back and time you'll never forget.

Yeah, you can have a ton of images on your phone. But can you get these? And don't you owe it yourself to have this done once in your life? Oh, veered on pushy there, but I just think everyone should have a professional pet photography session with whichever photographer they want to go with at the price point that works for them. And there are plenty of price points and styles and skill levels.

My clients know -- or can anticipate -- what a print looks like, how beautiful and just how different they really can be, especially when printed with the best of the best -- the best printer with the best materials.

Now I just need to find my audience to show them this. And I know you're out there.