End of Life Photo Session Is A Time To Celebrate Everything You Love About Your Pet
I’ve been in your position. You just hung up the phone with your veterinarian after receiving the worst news possible about your dog or cat. You only have days or weeks left with your pet. Your world is turned upside down and you can’t imagine your life without them. There’s a thousand thoughts running through your mind and I suspect scheduling an end-of-life pet portrait session may not be one of them, but it should be.
They are known by many names; Joy Session, Rainbow Session, Honor Session, Memory Session, Silver Session etc. A lot of people don’t even know that and end-of-life pet portrait is “a thing”. I didn’t when we lost our Penny on January 3rd, 2011. She was listless, off her food and generally not herself over the weekend so we were at our vet clinic first thing Monday morning. Within thirty minutes we learned that Penny’s kidneys were failing and that unless we let her go, she would experience pain and discomfort in her final days. We made the appointment for later that day.
I don’t regret much, but I do regret that we never had professional portraits made of Miss Penny (this was five years before I became a pet photographer). I have snapshots. That’s it. I’m lucky that an artist friend of mine gave us a beautiful portrait of Penny based on a Christmas card picture and that’s what hangs on our wall. I vowed that day, never again. Never again would we not have beautiful portraits of our pets to always remind us of everything we loved about them. Family portraits with our Dingo brought us so much comfort after losing him last year. We found ourselves repeatedly looking at them in the weeks after we said goodbye.
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Keeping Your Elderly Or Ill Pet Comfortable During Their Portrait Session Is My Top Priority
So now that you know about end-of-life pet photography, you might be wondering what you can expect from an end-of-life pet portrait session. It’s whatever you want it to be. It can be at your home, inside or out, or at a local park that your pet loved to frequent in their younger days.
The first step is to look for a pet photographer that has experience with end-of-life sessions and prioritizes their schedule to accommodate the sometimes-urgent nature of such sessions. I have cancelled personal plans and rescheduled standard portrait sessions to photograph an animal that will be crossing the Rainbow Bridge the next day.
Because time is of the essence, I often get a phone call from the client who, through tears, gives me a summary of what’s just rocked their world. I try to be a calming influence, ensuring them that I will make the schedule work and we can keep their pet happy and comfortable during the session.
I’ll ask about any possible limitations your pet may have to identify where the session should take place. This is where your pet’s comfort is of paramount importance. You may want the botanical gardens thirty miles away from your home, but if your dog dislikes car rides, I’m going to talk you out of it. This is not what I want your final memories of your pet to be; making them do something you know they hated.
I’ve done many Silver Sessions in small back yards, during winter, without any pretty flowers and still create gorgeous images of your pet because this is about your pet, not your backyard. You will never notice that you need to weed or that there were no leaves on the trees.
You don’t have to live in a large, professionally styled home to have beautiful pictures of your pet. End-of-life pet portrait sessions are about creating images of everything you love about your dog or cat, what they love to do, where they love to sleep, what they like to eat, etc. As you tell me about your pet, I take extensive notes to ensure that I capture all those details during the session.
The pictures here are of Nikko Marie, a much loved Husky mix who I met the day before she crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I had a number of conversations with her humans and we decided on photographing her at home, doing all the things she loved to do; looking out the window into the backyard, snacking on bananas with Dad, peeking around the corner in the kitchen and the adorable, sort of backwards way that she drank water.
Nikko Marie loved her walks and even though she wasn't feeling her best, just picking up her leash made her rally and we captured some neighborhood images as well. Nikko's humans wanted "all the things we love" captured so we spent a couple of hours together, letting her just be her. Nikko is not one to make new friends easily, so I kept my distance and just documented her life at home. She eventually became so comfortable with me being there that she fell asleep with me lying on the floor five feet in front of her.
This is what your session will be like. It will be pet-led, meaning that your pet will determine what we do and when we do it, we're just along for the ride. We're not going to force anything and we're only going to do what your pet is up for. We're going to talk about all the things you love about them, what drives you crazy, the day you brought them home, their favorite thing to do, most cherished toy and snack. We're going to laugh, because our pets make us laugh, and we'll shed some tears. When the session is over, I'll wish your pet Godspeed on his or her journey and you the strength to help them make it; the most loving, and difficult gift you could ever give them.
When choosing your pet photographer, make sure they’re educated in dog behavior and body language. Dogs can be very stoic. They can be in pain, yet we don’t know because they just shoulder it. An experienced dog photographer will pick up on subtle signs of discomfort and ensure that your pet is kept comfortable and at ease during the session.
Discomfort may be physical, but also emotional. While I’d love to love on every dog I meet, the dog trainer in me notices signs of “I’d really rather not” and so I keep my distance with some and simply document the love and bond you both have.
Make sure your pet photographer isn't going to limit your session by time. You can't rush animals, they don't operate on our timelines. After nearly ten years both training dogs and photographing dogs, cats, horses, bunnies, etc., this I can say with absolute certainty. I don't schedule anything after an end-of-life session. It will take as long as it takes and your price doesn't change.
I always let clients decide when they'd like to come back to the studio to view their images. Most elect to do so right away, wanting to have a piece of their pet back with them sooner versus later. Tears are shed as we all view a video of all the images, me included. Kleenex are always at hand and we end up talking about how certain images really captured something unique and special about your pet. Albums are by far the most popular choice for end-of-life sessions as they contain anywhere from 20-50 of your favorite images and story prints are the number one choice for the wall so you don't have to settle on just one photo, you can enjoy 4-8 in a single piece of wall art.
All Around The Pet Photography Blog Circle
This week in the pet photographer blog circle will need a Kleenex alert for sure, but there isn't a more important topic for each of us to write about, nor likely on that is more near-and-dear to our hearts as giving the gift of end-of-life pet portraits to a grieving family. Let's start with Nicole Hrustyk of Pawtraits by Nicole, in Las Vegas, Nevada, shares about Rainbow Sessions and then continue clicking on the link at the bottom of each post until you land right back here and then you will have completed the entire blog circle this week.
Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography is a Certified Professional Photographer with the organization Professional Photographers of America; a designation held by fewer than 2,000 photographers nationwide and a hallmark of consistency, technical skill, artistry and professionalism. Tracy has often written about a single regret she has, that she never had professional portraits made of her and her husband's first dog, Penny (and the namesake of Penny Whistle Photography), something she vowed would never happen again. When Tracy and her husband Wayne lost their fourteen year-old dog Dingo in 2021, the portraits she had made of him alone, and with their entire pack, brought them much comfort.
Penny Whistle specializes in both on-location and studio photography providing pet, equine, family, couples & engagement and high school senior portraits as well as corporate headshots and commercial photography services in her studio located in historic downtown Carrollton as well as on location in Coppell, Grapevine, Southlake, Flower Mound and surrounding communities in Dallas – Fort Worth, Texas.