I first photographed dog yoga back in 2022, and I’ve been itching to give it another go ever since – this was the week to make it happen!! Toni and her mom are ALWAYS game for my shenanigans, so I reached out to see if they’d be able to help me out this week. And boy did they ever!! I location scouted and thought I had several (geographically clustered) viable spots to take a silhouette. Well, thinking you have the right spot and actually having the right spot are two different things – and often you can’t tell the difference until you’re actively taking photos. LOL. Thankfully, my models were willing to pop around to the handful of locations, and when I determined the spots weren’t exactly right, they were willing to go out a second night!! 🥰 And that’s when it all came together and we were able to create this:
“Moon Salutation”
The behind the scenes (BTS) look of how I created it:
And the behind the behind the scenes info… Our (first) session was held Monday evening at my pre-scouted location. I had used the Sunseeker app (so cool - check it out! 😎) earlier that morning to determine suitability. This is what the first spot looked like:
I thought I could position my models between those two trees, removing them from the composition. But, when I started photographing there I discovered I couldn’t get low enough to eliminate the house rooftops, and I really wanted to be able to see my models’ feet which I couldn’t, even from a super low angle. So we darted over to pre-scouted location number two. This is what the Sunseeker data looked like there:
Looks promising right?? While I captured some images that I really like at this location, I was bugged by the fact that I couldn’t see my models' feet, even with my camera flat on the ground pointing up at them. Here are some unedited images that I captured there.
So we frantically darted around to a couple of other nearby spots, hoping they would pan out, but we lost light FAST and gave it up. It was then they told me we could try again the following night. Yay!! But I still needed to find the RIGHT location. Remember how I said this is the second time I’m trying silhouette dog yoga? The next morning, I drove to the area where I had held the 2022 session hoping it would still prove useful. On my way there I passed the PERFECT spot… elevated, concrete, west-facing with nothing behind it. Boom! Queso helped me out with the Sunseeker data, LOL:
And this is what the scene looked like from the "summit” of the berm, nothing special, eh?
It just needed the right angle and a spectacular sky to make it shine. 🤩 Here are some of the other frames I captured there:
I think I’m going to have to drop a pin for this location, and possibly offer silhouette session there??? What do you think?
The whole point of me reaching out to Toni’s mom was to craft a silhouette, but some of you may know that I also participate in a weekly photography challenge called 52Frames. As I was chatting with Toni’s mom about the silhouette, I asked if they’d be willing to help me with my 52F prompt – something with a spoon. I didn’t have a fully formed vision, but I asked if Toni has a “hold” command, and if so, if I could try photographing her holding a spoon. Toni’s mom said we could absolutely give it a go, but Hold isn’t solid for her. Super – I can work with that! A couple of hours before the session I had the thought that it might be funny to include a chef’s hat as well. So I reached out to some of my foodie friends to see if they had one. (Side note: my friends no longer bat an eye at my very random prop requests, LOL. They just quickly respond letting me know yay or nay.) Sadly, I struck out, and when I’m told no, I tend to want that thing even more. 🙄🤣 So two hours before our session, I reached back out to Toni’s mom to see if she had a chef’s hat. She texted me this photo in response.
Whaaaaatttt?!?! I died. ☠️😂 Those little teeth!! And ginormous eyes. And the frinkles! 🥰
And with that we were set. We met at a local park, with the expectation of knocking out the Spoon image first, then moving on to Silhouette as it got darker. Toni wasn’t super excited to hold the spoon, but she was agreeable and I managed some frames of her with it. I brought a big soup pot to the session as I thought it could be an interesting addition, so I took some frames of it as well that I could composite into the final image, but I ended up not including it – it was very reflective, picking up all sorts of unwanted artifacts, and I was shooting at 15mm so it was quite distorted as well. While I was photographing the pot, Toni was playing with her mom – a much needed mental break. We decided to give it another go, and photograph her wearing the hat. She did well, so we decided to push our luck and try having her hold the spoon AND wear the hat. Whoa! She did amazing, and was given steak and chicken for her efforts!
“Soup’s On”
From Toni’s mom: “What she loves most is people laughing! She enjoys laughs and applause when we compete in Rally! She does that by being super silly!” and “I love the activity level and sense of humor boxers have, and also that they are “wash a wear” in terms of maintenance.”
Well, Toni, I think you ticked the boxes on that this week! 😁
The behind the scenes (BTS) look of how I created it:
Additional (unedited) images from the session:
More info about Toni, straight from her mom:
Her name: My pets have all been named after Green Bay Packer players. She is my first girl so I had to be creative. She is named after Tony Canadeo, a running back in the 40’s. Her registered name needed to start with a C so she is Candeo von Arktis.
Her favorite game: She LOVES tug - and will try to get you to tug with anything, even a tennis ball. Even better if she can get some punches in during the tug session.
On session prep: We had a few hours to practice with the wooden spoon and even with the hat. And I had a little time to try and stretch for the yoga poses. The most important thing is having a good relationship with your dog and having some fun tricks up your sleeve.
How she reacted to the session: She had fun! For “spoon” she was a little shy with her hold but she was ultimately a good sport and earned her steak! I loved getting to play during the silhouette sessions.
On the experience: I don’t have many pictures of both of us so that was really fun! I like that Toni was able to work through some feelings and trusted me. We love to be outside and sunset walks are definitely our “thing” so the silhouette is a great representation of how we love to spend time together. I think ALL dogs love you! And you are always ready for the quick capture and have great treats!
A plug: Ginger is wonderful with young dogs - the patience of a saint, so don’t pressure yourself to get things perfect right away. And she has an amazing eye and creative vision – so put your trust in her!
Ginger Wick Photography is an award-winning dog photographer specializing in creating beautiful custom artwork of dogs & their people. Based in Parker, CO serving the Denver area.
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