BAM! Just like that we’ve entered into the New Year, complete with subzero cold and lack of snow! (The whole realm of Minne-SNOW-da doesn’t seem to exist lately…)
And I haven’t touched base with you since the weather has been hot and balmy. Egads!
What’s been happening:
Restructuring.
The restructuring applies to both About A Dog Photography & Atomic Collars. This is a wonderful update, and has lent to having me feel focused and productive. August 2024 was the beginnings of the refocusing and clarifying. My brain is in a much more alert, clear and positive.
Moving forward there will be a strong focus on Atomic Collars throughout the. This will include events, pop up boutiques (in my garage, in yours? etc) and crazy ass sewing from August until events end in early December. Hopefully wholesale will kick up too!
No, About A Dog Photography isn’t going anywhere, just getting a refocused. Select weekends will be available for sessions during the spring, summer and fall months. I was bat shit sewing this year (it legit started in August for Christmas stock of bandanas) and it didn’t leave me any time to plan for the monthly color reports, promoting fall sessions and offering a collection of mini sessions.
Going forward, I’m aiming to create a plan that gives the best to both Atomic Collars and About A Dog Photography which in turns gives you the best no matter which you interact with.
What I want to achieve with About A Dog Photography in the coming year:
- ONE BILLON DOGS PHOTOGRAPHED! Ok, I’m not sure there would be enough time in a year to photograph one billion dogs…. So as a better goal, I want to photograph 2 dogs a month, March – August, with more during the fall (Sept – Oct).
- Dog’s Guide to the North Shore! We are going to kick this into full gear this coming year. There is a solid list of places to visit, many with waterfalls or mega cool landscapes. We can aim for sessions for the guide as well as family sessions. If you want to be part of this epic adventure up and down the North Shore, shoot me an email at .
- Tying up some loose ends. I’ve been a putz. Due to a lack of structure and systems I’ve dropped the ball, found a bone, chased a squirrel, forgot about the ball, found it in the weeds, dropped it again and it seems I have buried it and recently dropped it. If you’ve been patiently waiting for galleries, prints or re-orders, I appreciate the patience. This month I’m aiming to have everything back into place. I owe you greatly.
- Strobes in the outdoors. I have them, I balk at lugging them (they really aren’t that heavy or cumbersome, unless wind) but they are one extra piece of gear that I need to bring with. If you have a spare set of hands and a pup who loves to model (or are even a fellow photographer) I’d love the assistance! Shoot me an email at
- Model sessions! I asked and then toodled around (note the above bit about the restructuring) and now we’ve lapsed into the New Year. Yes I’ll take more models! The images I want to create:
- strobes + outdoors during the day / Golden Hour
- night + strobe + city lights
- dogs + waterfalls
- dogs + star trails / Milky Way (March – October)
- strobes + sunset
- Atomic Collar collar models
- Back to the blogging. At least monthly to stay in touch, possibly more frequently, pending how bat shit sewing is going for Atomic Collars. I think I’m going to aim for photography tips, sharing what I learn with the strobes + dogs + outside, as well as other dog related things. If you think of any topics let me know.
- Possibly a podcast, though I may not have the time to budget for it at the moment with volunteering at Tri County Humane Society on Tuesdays, busy Wednesday & Friday evenings, sewing for Atomic Collars, upcoming events and busy to low key weekends. I have audio gear so I ought to be able to figure out how to make a podcast. Topics would be dog photography, similar to blog posts.
- The Manual Course. Sigh. This thing has been written for an eon but not put into availability. No videos done yet as I strongly DISLIKE editing videos. And the videos in my head are much more beautifully polished vs the ones I create (due to lack of practice). I’m thinking it needs to be reworked into something different. An ebook? An audio workshop? Email series? Needs more thinking.
- Location scouting & shooting videos. This one also has been burnered due to dislike of editing videos, but mostly because it requires at least one extra pair of hands that will man a camera to capture the video. Thus far I haven’t had spare hands that can join me on whim. Another thing that could possibly changed from video to audio or image based.
I still LOVE LOVE LOVE dog photography and love love love capturing images of your dogs. With this new transition started this past August, I’m now going to spend January wrapping up untidy ends, creating better systems and shifting into a better, epic version that SERVES you even better.
Which means I need to show up differently.
Be prepared for LOADS of information on how to set up studio lighting, off camera flash lighting, getting epic images no matter your gear, tips for getting your dog to give you the best during a session, yammerings on photography gear and all things dog and dog photography.
Here’s to making 2025 MEGA EPIC!