Going into this week's 52-week pet photography challenge, I was unsure whether I wanted to be extra creative, or stick with the classics. What's the theme this week, you ask? Monochromatic. For those of you who are unfamiliar with art terms, this simply means the entire photograph needs to be done in a single color. The most popular form of monochromatic photography is black and white, and this is what I decided to focus on. Between the busy season and an unfortunate hard drive crash this week, my brain wasn't equipped to try to make something of a bolder color.
Luckily, I also had the opportunity to check out a new venue this week with my sister, her boyfriend, and their two dogs. If you're in the Sacramento area, I highly recommend you check out Bywater Hollow Lavender Farm. They are only open to the public in the summer, during lavender season, but they are open year-round to photographers. So if you're looking for a gorgeous setting for portraits with your dogs, this is the perfect place. They are a 13-acre working lavender farm, with incredible fall colors this time of year and a very cute pond with a boat that can be used as a prop.
That being said, the intent of this session was definitely to capture the fall colors. However, I also wanted to make sure I captured some simple images that showed the bond between owner and pet. One of the great things about monochromatic photography is it allows the photographer to more easily place the focus on certain aspects of the photograph as there are fewer colors and therefore potential distractions.
For this image, I wanted to eliminate those brilliant fall colors and golden setting sunlight so the viewer would be drawn in to the expression on the dog's face, and the quiet bond between him and my sister. I normally don't present very many of my portraits in black and white as color is a huge part of my style. However, I appreciated that this week's challenge pushed me to think about my photography differently while I was shooting to ensure I was creating images that would still look gorgeous in monochrome.
Follow the rest of the Project 52 group blog circle to see their "monochromatic" masterpieces this week. Next up is Elaine Tweedy of I Got the Shot Photography, serving pets and their people in Northeastern PA and surrounding areas. Keep following the links at the end of each blog post until you make it back here to see all of this week's photos!
