Commercial Project: UKBKC Dog Shows
Working with the UKBKC (UK Bully Kennel Club) came about in a funny way. The owner - Mikki had been following me on social media and approached me to see if I would like to have a trade stand at one of his dog shows. Unfortunately his events were a bit out of my catchment area so wouldn’t have been worth it for me to promote my photography. I did however ask him if he would like me to cover an event for him. He said he really liked my work and after some discussion he agreed and asked me to cover the next show.
During our discussion I took the time to find out more about the shows and his organisation and find out what sort of images he would like me to deliver.
He had some large graffiti backdrops made for the events featuring his branding and said that he would like me to set up studio lights and shoot portraits of attendees (dogs & owners). Towards the end of the day I was also required to capture all of the prize winners with their rosettes and trophies in front of this backdrop as well.
I still recall our conversation when I delivered him 250 images and he was surprised that in every one I managed to get the dog looking directly in to the camera!
Ever the perfectionist I feel that I haven’t achieved what I need to unless I have the dogs and the owners attention in my images. I achieve this with patience, a few tricks and lots of funny noises. Im sure some people think im bonkers when they see me working but they are always happy with the images once they see them.
Needless to say that the owner was delighted with the images I delivered and I have now covered every event over the past 2 years. In more recent events we have shifted the focus away from the graffiti walls where I am now moving around the whole event shooting portraits of attendees, images inside the rings, general lifestyle and of course capturing portraits of all the winners with their trophies.
The images are then used for social media, their website and show guides, posters and banners for the future events.
I even offered them a solution of how to monetise the images of each event and generate additional income for the both of us and the charity that they set up called - Barking Mad Bull Breed Rescue. This is done by me hosting an automated platform where the attendees can view and buy digital downloads of their images.
