tomgogBack to the Roots: Pet Photography
A story about my photography journey and my plans for the future in the form of a short article
My photography journey began long ago when, at the age of 8, I embarked on a week-long school trip armed with a vintage Nikon film camera, given to me by my parents. Instead of capturing typical snapshots with friends, my eye gravitated towards landscapes and boats. Despite my parents' initial disappointment, those photos ignited my passion for photography, as I discovered the joy of capturing what intrigued me.
As I grew, so did my curiosity for photography. At 11 years old, I made my first steps into macro photography, winning a school contest and hosting a mini exhibition. Back then I never owned my own camera, and it was challenging to be consistent with my hobby. Eventually, I set aside photography in favor of drawing and painting.
My Experience as an Animal Shelter Volunteer
A friend of mine who was a volunteer asked me if I'd like to join her and help to look after dogs and cats at the local shelter. The idea sounded really interesting, and so at the age of 13, I began volunteering at an animal shelter in Spain.
I will never forget my first day of volunteering. They had an outdoor area where the dogs were being let out and on the day I started there was at least thirty of the biggest dogs there. Seeing them all jumping and barking at the gate got me truly petrified, but ultimately I got brave enough to open the gate and experience the joy of countless excited dogs welcoming me in. It was one of the happiest moments of my life and I've been hooked since then.
Photography in the Animal Shelter
Following my family's relocation to Poland due to the financial crisis, I found solace in volunteering at a local animal shelter. Someone brought the idea of helping with the shelter's website and refreshing the portraits of shelter's residents. Until then they were low quality portraits taken with a phone of what very often was a scared and confused animal. After months of work and through long walks and playful interactions we managed to replace outdated portraits with vibrant, joyful images.
The results were amazing! The website was filled with happy animal faces, it brought more attention to the residents of the shelter and more people interested in adoption. Soon Roni was brought to the shelter and after 6 months of looking after him and taking him for walks I decided to finally adopt him. My love for animals and photography stayed with me since then.
First Steps as a Professional Photographer
I moved to UK to start University in Graphic Design. I bought my first DSLR camera and with the guidance of my friend, who's a great oil painter and film photographer, I made my first steps into what I'd call serious photography. Starting with just a 50mm lens and shooting mostly black and white I would take the camera with me everywhere, and to photograph the world around me, became a part of me. Thousands of photos later I've had the opportunity to work as a sports photographer shooting football, rugby, gymnastics and martial arts. That's when I decided to dedicate my career to photography.
Back to the roots - Photographing Pets
When it comes to my freelance work I never wanted to limit myself to one genre of photography. My aim was to capture beautiful moments, and so I ended up working with a very wide range of subjects. At the same time I do work for various photography companies as a studio photographer covering the whole South West of England. As a result I ended up being too busy to give enough attention to all of the genres of photography I wanted to cover.
That's why this year I've decided to focus my work around one type of photography. It took me quite a while to decide which way to go, but then I thought, why not to go back to where it all started?
So there it is, Pet Photography, two of my favourite worlds combined together and I won't lie, I'm more excited than ever.
My plans for the future
Recently I've started to experiment with studio action photoshoots for dogs and I love the effects. I'd like to explore studio pet photography more and I'd love to photograph cats in my studio.
Apart from that I'm working on engaging myself with animal shelters in Bristol. Even though I'm not able to go back to volunteering I wish to help as much as I can and I have lots of ideas how to do it, so stay tuned!
So there it is, a short story of my photography journey. If you got to here you're amazing and thank you for your time reading this post!
