How I got into
dog agility photography

About four years ago, my friend Gary started taking Zorro, our Australian Shepherd, to agility lessons, just for fun. After about a year of training, Gary thought Zorro was ready for competition and took Zorro to an agility trial. We got hooked immediately. Now Gary is running a second dog, Calypso, a female Aussie who belongs to a friend.

I've always enjoyed photography as a hobby, so of course I brought my camera to the competitions. It occurred to me early on that maybe I could sell my photos. (I must qualify, though, that I realize I am just one of many capable photographers, now that digital cameras have made it so easy to take a good photo.)

So I got a business license, business cards, more photo equipment and a good printer. I created a bad web site (it had tables) just to get something up quickly, because I didn't know CSS well then and I knew I'd never get it going if I wanted to do it right. I thought I could fix it later when I had time to learn CSS (it's a lot better now, though it still needs work).

I don't make much money and I work very hard, but it's gratifying work (as opposed to what I do at my job) and it involves two of my greatest passions in life: photography and animals. I've learned a lot about photography, web design, and running a business (paltry as it is) too.

The competition

At first I naively thought that, since it's a free country, I could take photos whenever and wherever I wanted. After I was kicked out of one trial and almost kicked out of another because the club had already hired a photographer (not a pleasant experience), I started asking permission to take photos. There are about four other local agility photographers. I strive to be better than them.

The dogs

Zorro

Zorro, the handsome, loyal and intelligent Australian Shepherd who started it all.

Calypso

Calypso, the affectionate, butt-wiggling, female Aussie, whose mother also does agility