New beginnings for a new decade. Canvas Collection of a Rottweiler and an American Staffy

New beginnings for a new decade

New beginnings for a new decade – Adding studio photography to the Farm Photography Experience

It’s 2021. Not only a brand new year. A brand new decade. New beginnings for a new decade as I don’t think anyone in our world would be missing the last year, at all. I haven’t blogged in a while so this week was the perfect opportunity to jump back in.

10 Years as a pet photographer

This year marks my 10th year of being a dog and animal photographer. I began with very humble beginnings way back in September 2011 in an effort to help animals on death row have a better chance of being noticed through photography. Learn more about that here.

A New Horizon

We have a chance now to start again. To reach out for new horizons, hopes and dreams. Stretch goals are on my mind in particular and I have a big one for this year. The first six months of this year in fact!

We’re Building a Studio!

So we are in the early stages of planning to build a studio on the farm! That’s my stretch goal for this year and we (my husband Neal and I) are about to start on that journey. Our studio will include a photographic studio, a consulting room and an office for Neal. We will also be adding a delicious verandah across all three rooms which will take in the incredible views of our farm and beyond.

Nice weather for ducks

The weather has been wet. Really wet. We’ve had about triple the rainfall in 2020 that we had in 2019 and lately it has been raining heavily almost every day for at least a couple of weeks. My last two sessions of 2020 had to be postponed to early January and even now it’s not looking too promising for dry, sunny weather!

Having a studio will provide many benefits not only for my clients, but for me too. New beginnings for a new decade for us will provide the ability to offer a combined outdoor and studio experience in the one session. The elimination of the uncertainty of seasonality by having an indoor space to ensure the experience goes ahead on the scheduled date. A lovely space for clients to relax and take in the views with their dog before, during and after the session. The ability for the reveal and purchasing appointment to be held after the session rather than waiting a week.

It’s been bucketing down all day here on the farm, on this very first day of the year. I was planning to take photos outside at the location where the shed will be built, but the weather put an end to that.

Temporary “Rustic Farm Shed” Studio

For now I’ve set up a rustic little makeshift studio in our farm shed, so at least I can get started on creating images in a studio environment. Here I am with our kids hanging out in the farm shed.

I had my first client shoot in there earlier in December, with these boys – Luther and Ralphy. We popped down to the studio for about 20 minutes towards the end of the session. It was quite a hot day so it was a nice change in tempo and the boys did so well considering it was a whole new experience for them.

New beginnings for a new decade – A Special Offer for those who have read this far!

To celebrate the new year, and our new beginnings for a new decade, I’m giving away 3 farm photography sessions! This offer is exclusively to readers of this blog post. That’s you if you would love to come and visit us on the farm. Just email  by 8 January 2021 and tell me in one paragraph why your dog would like one! This offer includes a planning consultation, a photo session on our farm for up to two dogs, a sneak peek on my Facebook page, and a purchasing appointment via Zoom a week after the session where you will have the opportunity to purchase stunning artwork of your dog for your home from the images you love. Sessions can be booked any time in 2021.

Thank you for reading!  Please head on over to check out Kylee Doyle Photography, serving pet parents in the greater Sacramento area, for Kylee’s take on this topic, and continue clicking the link at the bottom of each post until you end up right back here.

Artboard 1 copy

5 Comments

  1. Nicole Hrustyk on 2 January, 2021 at 2:31 am

    Congratulations on building your new studio, it sounds amazing! I can’t wait to see photos of it completed and the view from the veranda!

  2. Terri on 2 January, 2021 at 4:29 am

    Lovely photos Jo and good luck with the studio!

  3. Sharon on 2 January, 2021 at 8:17 am

    Awesome Jo. Alfie will be up to inspect the studio as soon as it’s finished ?

  4. Darlene on 3 January, 2021 at 11:52 pm

    Jo, this is so exciting!!! How fun! I can ‘t wait to see the studio when it’s done.
    And congrats on 10 years with pet photography – woohoo!!!

  5. Tracy Allard on 5 January, 2021 at 6:14 am

    Good to have you back! Great news on your studio, i can’t wait to see more images from there – Ralphy and Luther are adorable and the portraits look great, I’m sure their humans were thrilled! Happy New Year!

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