THE EXPERIENCE
Choose your adventure!
Start with the very first step. Choose your session!
Will it be an About Your Dog Session (aka the Classic)?
Or a series of sessions to capture the growth of your newly home puppy?
Or a limited edition session like a Short & Sweet Session? (Offered typically in the fall and only available to VIPs!)
Once you’ve decided on the perfect session head to the next choose your adventure choice!
Learn more about each session:
• About Your Dog Session
• Short & Sweet Session
You can get to know me too while you look into sessions! Head over to the ABOUT page for all the good bits!
Next:
Make Contact!
EEEEEEEEEK! You’ve picked the session that will be perfect for capturing your dog’s personality & the bond you share! Now it is time to make contact!
EMAIL!
Drop me a hello or a HECK YES I NEED A SESSION TO IMMORTALIZE MY DOG and we’ll get the process started!
– Email:
TEXT / CALL
– 320.309.2893
After contact is made: the Consultation Call!
A new addition to your session adventure is the Consultation Call (available with About Your Dog & Puppy Sessions)! Once you’ve made contact via email, I’ll email to sort out a good time for a phone call. If you call or text, I’ll give you a quick call back. Don’t worry, the Consultation Call isn’t scary! Talk about your dog!
The Consultation Call: About Your Dog!
You’ve picked the perfect session, made contact to get and now… time to add details to your adventure!
During the consultation call we will talk about your dog!
- What is his or her name? Or their name?
- What breeds make up your pup?
- If your family has 2 or more dogs, who’s who?
- How meet & fall in love?
- Any neat tricks?
- Skill level with sit, lay etc?
- And many more questions to get to know your dog & you!
Tips for picking the most EPIC location for your dog's session!
The location of your session is a MEGA important detail we will set after your session is on the schedule.
We aren’t limited by anything more than our ability to navigate sheer rock walls and coarsely pebbled trails at a near 90 degree slant. Which means we can go pretty much anywhere you want to go!
First start with season. (Get the details here!)
Fall is the fan favorite with the colors arriving in October. There are also less bugs and milder temps without being too hot or too cold.
Spring & summer are great because we can be out & about and not lose feeling in our toes & fingers. Spring will carry more mud with milder temps, while summer carries more bugs, heat, humidity and flowers.
Winter can be rather cold, but man is it pretty! This season is great for those dogs with double coats of fur or those pups with epic snowsuits. These sessions do tend to run a little shorter so we all stay comfortable!
Fall sessions will book quickly! There will be a window of up to 3 weeks when the leaves will be bold & colorful. Start thinking about booking your session in August at the latest!
Then pick your location!
Things to think of when choosing a location:
- Urban or park background? Urban will give you tons of texture from brick to concrete while a park setting is going to give you more organic texture in leaves, grass and trees. If you can’t choose, why don’t we do two locations during your session?
- Diversity! Lots of unique backdrops in a shorter walking distance is ideal as it means we won’t be spending a ton of time walking from spot to spot. The more diversity the more varied your images will be in the end – perfect for an album!
- Size! Though a small park is cute, but we may be able to make it from end to end in the span of 30 mins, photography included, especially if there isn’t a ton of diversity in backgrounds. Conversely, if we’re in a ginormous park that means we’ll be walking a ton to get to a few areas. Or we will need to pick only a small area of the park to visit. (Hidden Falls in St. Paul is this way – the beach is a good distance from the falls area. We can do it, but there is lots of walking!)
- Permits! Minneapolis parks are notorious for needing permits, while other parks may also need day passes or parks passes for entry. We will make sure to have the proper passes in place so our session goes seamlessly!
- Time of day! Our online calendar & schedule are set up to have sessions 1.5 hours prior to sunset. This ensures we will get the best, prettiest light for your dog’s session. Alternately we can tap into the morning golden hour which is within 2 hours after sunrise. (Note: if we’re going into the woods for a session, we may want to start a smidge sooner as the woods will grow darker vs the prairie as the sun begins to set. )
Need some inspiration? Check out my favorite places in the St. Cloud area and my favorite places in the Twin Cities area
Adding to Your Adventure:
The Bits & Pieces
What parts of your dog do you want immortalized in your dog’s images aside from classic sit, lay & stand images?
Details: eyes, ears, butt swirls, tail & paws
Action: your dog as he chases a ball, runs & jumps
Personality: head tilts, snaggle tooth, & goofy tricks
Family: the bond with you & your dog
Anything else you can think of? Let me know and I’ll make sure to capture it during your dog’s session!
** Gander at pieces of artwork you can turn your dog’s images into: Prints & Products
Yes, we will talk about all of these things during your Consultation Call! We will also decide on date, lock down a location, sort out an email (for sending the Welcome Packet), banter about how you’d like to bring your dog’s images to life and work out the other little details to get your session on my calendar, payment included. Feel free to ask any questions you have and get to know me!
The Adventure Begins:
Your Session
The date arrives! Eeek! I’m excited to meet you and your dog!
We’ll first exchange smells & hellos, with the pace set by your dog. Acquaintances made, we’ll begin the session adventure.
We’ll stroll and chat, with multiple pauses as my eyes catch sight of perfect backgrounds to position your dog in. We’ll ask for sits, lays & stands, all while doling out ample treats, silly sounds and praise.
Remember your session is about FUN!
We’ll let your dog be themselves with gentle direction if needed and you’ll end up with EPIC keepsake images of him or her.
The stroll will continue with us moving into sunset or however long your dog wants to continue the adventure. And when that happens, we’ll wrap up, head back our cars & depart.
I have quite an arsenal of sounds including I will howls, meows, barks, buzzes, hums, zips, zoots, turkey gobbles, eeks and tons more. Feel free to be impressed or giggle at me haha!
If sounds don’t work, or wear off, then we’ll turn to catchphrases like ride, car, walk, hungry, grandma, squirrel, treats or any other word your dog knows and responds to with great zest! Let me know these during the Consult Call so I’m solidly with the perfect attention grabbers!
PS – I will have samples in my car. You can touch, feel and experience them in hand before or after your session!
The Adventure Ends:
What Happens Next!
Roughly two weeks after your dog’s session I’ll touch base with you to set up your gallery viewing via Skype (in person available upon request).
The day of your gallery viewing I’ll send a link to your dog’s online gallery. Don’t peek before we meet on Skype!
EEEEEEEEK! Be prepared to squeal with glee at how much of a superstar your dog was! And how MEGA adorable he or she is!
We will look through your gallery together, I’ll make notes of your favorite images and together we will decide how to bring your dog’s images to life. Wall art? Album? Acrylic Blocks? Digital images? All of the things!!!
After your pick your images, then the magic begins for the second time. Each image you choose will be fully edited to remove leashes, eye boogers, spare human parts and other distracting elements. If they are digital images they’ll land in your email via Dropbox, while physical prints will be sent out to the professional labs we use. The prints will land in our hands first for inspection then they will be bundled up and headed your way.
The Wait is Over!
EEEEEEEEEK! Check your mail! Within three weeks of ordering your prints will be arriving all bundled in a package. Open carefully and SWOON! You saw samples but these are pieces of EPIC artwork featuring your dog!!! EEEEEEK!
Hang them, display them and enjoy them for years to come! (Show me pictures of them in your house or with your dog! I love seeing finished artwork in clients’ homes!)