We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joan Walker a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

I literally cannot envision life without dogs; dogs ARE life. So, for me to be able to combine my two greatest loves – dogs and art – with a pet photography studio has been an amazing and rewarding journey for me.

How I got started in this whole dogcentric business is unique as I didn’t begin as pet photographer per se: I started my career as a freelance writer. Because of my extensive experience with dogs, dog handling and dog training, I was recognized by magazine editors and book publishers as a dog expert. In my first year writing, I realized I had a problem.

When writing for newspapers and magazines, I would be assigned photographers to work with on my assignments who didn’t “know” dogs. As a result, these photogs simply could not get the imagery I needed for my assignments.

So, I solved the problem. I started shooting my own imagery to accompany my articles and books. This was back in the film days when editors wanted transparencies. Translated: you better get the image right in camera and quickly, otherwise you were not going to make any money on your images. Needless to say, I honed my craft quickly. My dog images have been published in hundreds of newspapers and magazines, as well as more than 30 books.

I still photograph for magazines and book publishers, and photograph for stock imagery; however, I transitioned more towards a dog portrait studio in the past ten years to be able to create stunning imagery for pet owners. And from this I founded my pet photography studio, Joan H Walker PAWtography.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

What sets my dog photography apart from others is not only my skills as a photographer but my deep understanding of dog behavior. Because I’ve worked with and trained all kinds of dogs, I’m able to provide low-stress sessions for my clients (dogs and owners!) in a friendly and comfortable environment. When a dog is happy and comfortable, their body language and expressions show it. And these are the expressions I want to capture for my clients.

I’m also happy to work with untrained or barely trained pets. So, though it is really fun to work with a highly trained dog who sits and stays on command, most dogs are not trained to this level – especially in new or exciting locations. And that’s OK. I’ve trained a lot of dogs. And, when I have clients’ dogs coming for sessions, I work the same way I would with my own dogs: I shape the behaviors hands-free– whether that’s a sit, paws up on a stump, or “look at me” – using toys, treats, etc., to lure the pets into position. We also use a collection of unique soft sounds to gain their attention. And we always work “on-leash” – removing leashes afterwards in Photoshop.

My goal as a pet photographer is not only to capture amazing imagery of my clients’ dogs but to create extraordinary wall art to display in the home. My offerings include a stunning line of archival, museum-grade wall art products: framed museum-grade canvases, sleek artisan acrylics, framed high-gloss metals and, of course, traditionally matted and framed fine art prints. Also offered are matted archival fine art loose prints (5×7 and 8×10), custom walnut and leather collection boxes and stunning albums crafted in Italy.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

To be an internationally-awarded pet photographer, two very important skills are needed. First, an in-depth understanding of dog behavior and shaping behaviors to achieve the looks and expressions clients want is critical. Second, is mad photography skills – from in-camera capture to post-processing Photoshop magic.

With more than 300 awards for my pet photography, including multiple Imaging Excellence awards, platinum medals and more from International Print Competition (held by the Professional Photographers of America), as well as the penultimate in Photoshop wizardry awards – the 2022 PhotoshopWorld GURU Award for Photographic Artistry, my pet photography is recognized as some of the very best in the world.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

I compete internationally at the highest levels of photographic print competitions for one reason – to elevate my pet photography for my clients. The dogs and their people I work with are the heart of my business. I truly believe that if you want to understand what undying and unconditional love is, you need only look into your dog’s eyes. I’d like to capture that in a lasting and beautiful way. #BecauseLoveLooksLikeThis

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jhwpawtography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jhwpawtography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jhwPAWtography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jhwpawtography/

Image Credits
(c) Joan H Walker