How Did You Become a Pet Photographer? – Stefan Glazer

How did I become a Pet Photographer? Well, that is an easy question to answer. Philomena the Pug is my pug, the joy I had photographing her and now her sister Penelope have given me endless joy.

But, did you know I was a regular photographer before? Some of you do, but, here is something you may not have know:

I was a Commercial Photographer first.

That seems like a crazy jump, to do photography of construction sites, before and after remodels, real estate, and architecture to pugs, pugs and more pugs (and other pets too).

I’m not talking about, “Oh I went out with my camera and took pictures of buildings and claim to be a commercial photographer”.

I had a knack for small snippets of their designs

Some wanted me to take photos of their Christmas Lights

I was actually paid by contractors to head out to their job sites and take before, during, and after shots of their work. I would work with independent realtors to take photos of homes they were selling. I worked with municipalities to take photos of their towns for online and brochure work.

It was a fulfilling job in the sense that I was able to do something I loved, photography, and get paid for it.

Some, were just photos done for towns and people who worked in these towns

It was about the same time that we had gotten our first puppy, Philomena. I started using my camera to take photos and use for her social media, namely on instagram https://www.instagram.com/philomenathepug/ .

People were loving that little pug face and the photos I had been taking. We only seemed it was fair to run a pug account, since we were following hundreds of other pugs on Instagram.

I shot with my friend, my first portrait session with a friend that I learned so much from.

At this time, Philomena started taking off, from just a few hundred followers, to thousands, to tens of thousands of followers. We had decided on moving to Atlanta for my wife’s work, and I left behind the commercial photography world and started to look into doing more creative and interesting outlets.

I started working with people in the Atlanta Area, doing headshots and portraits.

Eventually I would continue to feed my need to get creative with photography and had gone into photographing people. Doing headshots, portraits, and some model shoots. This started scratching an itch I had, to get creative with photography and have fun doing it. It was hard to get into the groove of getting paying clients, but I blame myself for that, however, the shoots I did have were really fun.

I also loved doing more fine art projects, but they were more for me as an outlet and less for me to be selling my “art”

And then, last year, it finally clicked.

“What are you really good at? What empire have you built on your photos? Your dog. You take professional dog headshots and portraits.”, I said to myself.

And thus, I started to drop off from taking photos of people, though I’m still open to work with some people, and do headshots and such. And focus on what makes me happy and can sustain a source of income. Pet photography.