Different versions for photographers with specialties they are pursuing.

The assignment is for a new pet food or pet accessory – your choice depending on how you want to work this into YOUR book.

(Note: the use of an animal is, of course, optional, but suggested if possible. Find a friend, or choose a slow-moving beastie for your work. This is as much a mental / disciplinary assignment as it is a photographic one. LOTS of planning goes into this, and lots of creativity is expected.

Pet Food Assignment:

New food for longer life and more vigor in the pets. Pet of your choice, of course. If you have a dog or a cat or a white rhino that you want to include – that is of course fine. However, the image does not have to have an animal in it.

Food can be packaged, or ingredients shown. Perhaps there is a way to show a more healthy animal by way of a certain food or food group. Think compare and contrast. Think about texture and color.

Think surprise… this is, after all, a consumer pet magazine. Filled to the brim with the expected and usual shots of pets and happy animals, stacks of boxes or cans of pet food, and the obligatory food dishes being devoured by hungry beasties.

WHAT ELSE can work there? Lots of things – but it will take some thinking and preparing.

This is NOT what we want:

Think WAY out of the box for this shot. Find a fellow photographer on the Facebook site and work with each other to art direct this thing. Find some ideas on how to make a pet food shot that doesn’t look like this google page of boring shots of kibbles and bowls.

Pet Accessory Assignment:

If you are more inclined to still life, or product items, think about doing an accessory shoot. Leashes, collars, cool gear, even fuzzy sweaters for the next “polar vortex’ could all be something to look into as far as a subject.

Again… this sort of catalog shot is NOT what we want.  

We want something to surprise us, to take us to a place where we absolutely MUST have this accessory for our little darlings.

(My little darlings got into the trash the other day, spreading it all over the living room and my office. I will be reporting back to you on a simply delicious Chihuahua stew I am preparing…)

I have shown you examples of what we do not want. NOW we must find some examples of what we DO want.