I always like photographing people and their pets. I actually call it Creatures and Their People. And I like learning, especially with a group of talented pet photographers and that's exactly what I got when I signed up for Kristie Lee's Pets and People Workshop in downtown Los Angeles. Well, not only DTLA but in portrait photographer extraordinaire Sue Bryce's studio. Sue was off doing her own workshop in Italy and Kristie ran the workshop from the temporarily vacated studio. What Sue left behind, though, besides a loft filled with gorgeous natural light, was her precious dog Cookie Bryce.

If you're familiar with Sue Bryce, you're familiar Cookie, too. Cookie is Sue's black pug and she is quite famous in her own right. And it was seeing Kristie's portraits of Sue and Cookie that I learned of Kristie. So it all makes sense, if you're playing at home.

Our first shooting day, we had quite a few people and dogs to photograph. I took a lovely photo of a bejeweled Cookie. Tarra, who assisted Kristie, brought her Frenchie all the way from Vancouver. Lincoln was his name and he was quite handsome. But I did find Anita Wilson, who is a photographer and has been gorgeously photographed by Sue, and her rescue dog Bella to be a quite exceptional duo. What I loved was Anita's black and white blouse over a black skirt while beautiful Bella was a little black and white terrier that Anita had adopted about nine years ago when Bella was turned in to a shelter as an owner surrender. Fortunately, Anita rescued her on just her first day in the shelter and the two have been inseparable since. They make a striking pair.

Now, not to give away all the secrets, but the key to working with pets and their people is rather formulaic. Person looks at pet, person and pet look at camera, person and pet look in the same direction. It's kind of what I've been doing anyway but not so consistently as actually having a formula and I'm actually quite happy to have that in my pocket.

Kristie photographed cats the second day and it was a bit challenging. I always think cats are best photographed in their own environment but I've had some luck with shooting show cats where cat shows are being held. I think they might be a little more familiar with traveling.

Anyway, I got to meet a great group of people who were really a joy to be around for the weekend and I got some nice new shots. Take a look!

Ready to be photographed with your pet? Give me a call at 818.481.5214 or just fill out my contact form. I'll be right back atcha.