In 1996, I had taken our dog at the time, Budly, to Petsmart for one of his routine grooming sessions. It just so happened that on the day I took him they had a photographer there. So I had Budly’s picture taken, just for fun. Since they turned out great, I ordered an 8×10, a couple 5x7s, and four wallets.
When Wayne and I moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in 1999, we lived in an apartment complex. It was more like living in a resort, though, because there were monthly (if not weekly) resident activities. For instance, every afternoon they served fresh-baked cookies in the clubhouse, they had twice-monthly Sunday brunches by the pool, and also monthly resident appreciation buffet dinners, also served by the pool. (It sounds a lot fancier than it was. It was nice, yes, but simple.)
From time to time they would also offer other things, like dancing lessons. One time they had a photographer come in. I decided to sign us up for two reasons. One, it was very convenient. Right there at the clubhouse! Two, pets were not only allowed, but encouraged to come. I treasured Budly’s Petsmart pictures, and the thought of having a “family” portrait really appealed to me.
The session itself was painful. Apparently I hadn’t read the brochure closely enough. It said to wear coordinating outfits, but not white shirts because there would be a white background. What did we wear? (But we were coordinated! Wayne wore khaki shorts and a white button-up Oxford. I had on a black skirt with a khaki vest over my white top. Budly was a blond cocker, so he was the only one automatically good to go.)
Budly and Wayne were great models. Budly was a gem about letting himself get positioned whichever way they needed. (And staying like that.) Wayne understood the photographer’s posing instructions and also did as he was told. I was the problem child. The photographer’s assistant had to continually come over and move my arm this way, tilt my head that way, scooch me just a little more this way or that, etc. They were soon exasperated with me, but somehow we all managed to smile for the camera and make it through.
I was dreading having to face them again at the picture selecting meeting. But that turned out to be a lot more fun for me. We ended up spending only about $25, which was nothing. We easily could have spent into the hundreds, if we’d had hundreds to spare.
It was the best purchase I ever made. Budly ended up dying less than six months later. Our family portrait suddenly became one of the dearest mementos I had of him. My only regret was that I had not ordered a few other poses of us all together.
I have lots of photos of Budly that I took myself, and these days programs like Photoshop make it fun for the amateur photographer to enhance images. But there is something to be said for having a trained eye behind the camera. They understand lighting, composition, and scale, and know how to pull it all together to create a stunning end product.
I didn’t understand any of that at the time of the session though. But to this day I’m very grateful that photographer took the time to get it right. It warms my heart every time I look at our family portrait, and it’s something I’ll treasure until the day I die.
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