These hilarious photos are ‘poocher-perfect’ and prove man’s best friend just loves life in front of the camera.
Jason Checkla abandoned taking wedding photos and now has a money-spinning business snapping dogs and their owners.
He got the idea after getting his own pooch to strike a pose.
His work is now so popular that the New York-based snapper made more than £4,700 snapping nearly 100 canines in the space of just four hours.
The New York-based photographer started charging $60 for pet photography shoots after practicing on his German Shepherd-Rottweiler cross-breed, Red.
He said: “I photographed nearly 100 dogs in a four-hour time frame and everyone, dogs included, had a blast.
“It’s a tremendous amount of fun, but it takes a lot of patience and can be physically and mentally exhausting.
“I spend a lot of time rolling around on the ground to get the right perspective, running backwards and I’m typically covered in drool.”
He added: “It is not nearly as saturated a market for professional work as people-photography is.
“Photographing dogs is a whole different animal – pun intended – than people.
“Having the ability to communicate effectively with dogs and their owners, owning the right type of camera and lens and being able to operate the camera in such a way that you can best capture a dog’s personality in the best light, even when they’re running at full speed, are all challenges a pet photographer will encounter. ”
Mr Checkla, who owns Red and two cats, was a wedding portrait photographer for five years before he “fell in love” with capturing pooches’ personalities in his work.
After self-teaching with Red and pals’ dogs, he said: “I began to fall in love with the process of working with animals, best capturing their varied personalities and seeing the smiles on their owner’s faces when they saw the final product.
“I have always been a dog-person, despite having not grown up with one.
“It wasn’t until I adopted a dog of my own, Red, that I acknowledged just how much people can love their dogs.
“As I filled my portfolio with weddings, family portraits, engagement shoots and senior portraits, Red quickly learned to be cooperative in helping me practice my techniques for photographing dogs.”
He admitted getting dogs to sit still for a photo at his annual dog photo booth events in Glen Falls, New York, rather than play was “frustrating”.
But Mr Checkla said he has now snapped “hundreds and hundreds” of dogs and added: “As I have shifted my focus more and more towards being a dog photographer, I hope that I continue to improve my craft while having as much fun as I have thus far.”
