I bought my first professional grade camera in 2016. Since then I've bought 2 more full-frame cameras, upgrading to the latest technology, plus I purchased a bunch of top-of-the-line lenses and other photography accessories.
I didn't imagine spending this much on camera equipment when I started out, but I really enjoy taking photos, and I'm very fussy about the quality of the shots. It's been a long journey of self-education with learning how to use the cameras and most especially how to use Photoshop for editing, which is crucial.
In 2019, The Franklin Mint Credit Union held a free “dog photography with Santa” event at their Media location. I decided to photograph the action, as an experiment. The turnout was huge! And photographing the dogs was fun.
This led to me doing volunteer dog photography for Rags 2 Riches Animal Rescue. I enjoyed that as well. Then the pandemic struck while I was on vacation in Florida. I decided to just stay there while everything was closed down.
I returned to Media 3 months later and ended up visiting area dog parks and having photography fun there. I transitioned to just walking around Media looking for dogs to photograph. At some point, somebody suggested that I start his own Facebook group. Today, my "Dogs Of Media" Facebook group has over 800 members.
Important tools of the trade are squeaky toys! I have 3 of them attached to my camera strap. I often get a very good reaction when I make a squeaky noise, then I snap the shot! I'm having a ball when I'm doing this. It's fun. And going through the imagery at home and seeing that I nailed the shot is also great fun. I really love dogs.
