It’s one of the big questions I get asked when I talk about photographing dogs – why wont my dog look at the camera? It might sound silly to say, but your dog has no concept of what you are asking them to do, so just holding something in front of them (ie your phone) might make them a little anxious!

Tips for helping your dog enjoy looking at the camera

 

Become a noise machine

26th July – Celebrating the love of photographing our dogs

Back in 2018 I created a national awareness day “National Dog Photography Day” and I had no idea how much it would take off! We all love taking photo’s of our dogs don’t we? This day not only celebrates that, but it’s a chance to legitimately flood the internet with dog photos and revel in our national obsession with dogs.

There are so many photo’s shared on National Dog Photography Day that it makes sense to try and make yours stand out! Westminster Abbey, The Queen, Toyota and Andrew Lloyd Webber sharing their images – if you want to get your photo noticed, I have a few tips for you.

How to take part on National Dog Photography Day

• Use the official National Dog Photography Day stickers – new for 2026!! Pop over to download them here: NDPD Graphics
• Make sure the actual image of your dog is clear – no cluttered backgrounds which can be distracting, the simpler the better!
• Use an instantly recognisable landmark – Have you got any photographs of your dog next to a distinguishing landmark like the London Eye or Angel of the North. Or anything that’s a bit more local to you, you can then tag your local newspapers to see if they will feature it.
• Use props – Do you have any cute props like a stuffed camera toy, or an actual camera which you can pose your dog next to, anything to make your image a little different from all the rest (maybe you can set it up so your dog looks like it’s taking the photo!)
• Use graphics on your image – I’m creating stickers for 2026, or just simply overlay the #nationaldogphotographyday hashtag to make it stand out (still use the hashtag in the post too though so it can be found when people search it).
• Tag local relevant businesses – see if they will share and collaborate –  if you get your dog groomed, tag your local groomers or vets!
• For businesses – make sure that you mention your product or service too, you never know when your post will go viral. Tag brands who you love and/or who you have collaborated with before. (Make sure they are relevant though, and don’t spam them!).
• Make it FUN! Have a funny caption that people can relate to, or a funny story or quote.
• Behind the scenes – Do a behind the scenes shot and then the finished product too, show the chaos and reality of creating an image.
• Does your dog do a cool trick? Try and get a shot of the doing that! Who doesn’t love to see a photo of a dog doing a high five?
• Help out others – Reshare other posts from the hashtag, they may be kind enough to share yours back!

Most of all, make sure you use the #NationalDogPhotographyDay tag!

If you’d like to get a copy of my free PDF of top tips, just click here!

If you have ever wondered about creating an awareness day for your own business you can check out my blog post with tips and how to make it work here: How to create your own awareness day

I know recommendations are really important for small brands, as well as the people buying from them so I’ve decided to do series on the brands I know, like and trust. I have either bought from these small brands, worked with them or both for many many years so I hope this will help you if you are looking for something specific for your dog.

An enrichment toy with an infinite possibilities!

As a dog owner, I’d seen a fair few individual toys which you could stuff with food, the issue was that they never lasted very long regardless of what I stuffed them with. So when I came across K9 Connectables many years ago, I was instantly curious. I really liked the fact that you could connect a few of them together – in my head I thought, what a perfect thing to take with me when I go to the pub with the dogs!

Great for keeping a dog entertained for longer!

Different levels to build confidence

One of the things I loved the most about these toys is that there were so many different levels from easy to expert it meant that just a couple of the toys would keep the dogs entertained for longer – you can start easy and as their confidence grows you can make it harder by doing an extra ‘click’ but then, joy of joys, you can add more, and more to make them super difficult and really make your dogs brain work!

Keeping it interesting

I’ve been using different K9 Connectables for a fair few years so I’ve tried lots of fillings! Everything from cream cheese to mashed potato. The things I have found which keep my dogs entertained for the longest is actually roast chicken and blocks of cheese – I think it’s because you can squish it right in and both become quite compact so rather than bits falling out, the dogs actually have to lick to get at it, sometimes taking 20 minutes – times that by however many you want to attach and you have yourself some quiet time and mentally tired dogs afterwards! 

Since I first discovered K9 Connectables, they have brought out several new variations, like the stick on ones which you can connect to any of the others, and a fabulous kibble wobble ball which can also be connected and ones for tough chewers.  The sticky version is great for popping on the end of the bath if your dog isn’t particularly happy having a shower, or for distracting your dog while you clip their nails. But wait, there’s more!

Oh yes, your eyes aren’t deceiving you – when you buy a K9 Connectable, you aren’t just buying an interactive food dispenser, they bounce really well, and they float! It’s one of the many reasons I think K9 Connectables are well worth the money. I’ve got ones that have lasted about 6 years (the ones I haven’t lost) – I take them stuffed and connect to the pub garden to settle the dogs down, I use them if I haven’t been able to do a big walk, and then I take individual ones to the beach as a toy and unlike a tennis ball, they wont wear down your dogs teeth.

Have you already tried K9 Connectables? Let me know in the comments!

You can follow K9 Connectables on: Instagram | Facebook | Website 

A Magical Hike in Coniston

If you have ever been to the Lake District, you know that you can never rely on the weather – it can be very different at the bottom of the fell to the top!

I recently stayed in Coniston with my good friends Rachel & Patch (Rachel helps pet businesses get their own PR so if you are a pet brand, check her out!! Patch is chief supervising officer). We hiked up Holmes Fell on a unseasonably warm day – the chance of rain being small (which means it’ll likely still happen at some point!). Holmes Fell is a lovely but steep little hike, and not as touristy as some of the other fells so we didn’t see very many people at all!

Magic in Nature

Now I’m not afraid to admit, I still have a childlike curiosity about nature, from mushroom spotting to insect hunting – so when we were greeted by the most incredible rainbow display, I was beside myself! They were closer than I had ever seen them, and we saw the full arc, although because I had lugged my camera with my 70-200 lens on, I couldn’t get the full arc in most of the shots, but my Samsung phone picked up some great ones.

The Love of Nature

I know the science behind how rainbows happen, to me, that doesn’t make it any less magical – seeing this amazing display of colours in the sky, especially with the backdrop of the fells, was a pretty special moment.

I think that’s why I’m drawn to nature when I come to photographing dogs. Both of them are a constant surprise and bring me so much joy!

The only real purpose of this blog post was to showcase this magical moment, so I hope you have enjoyed it!! I have a feeling that a lot of you feel the same about being outdoors that I do. 

And if you ever fancy a hiking photoshoot with your dogs in the Lake District, you know where I am.

Kerry x

Taken on a Samsung phone

Lake District & Cumbria Dog Photographer

REDFININING MY STYLE

A fair few people have said to me that they instantly know an image has been taken by me, which honestly blows my mind, especially with so many more dog photographers out there now.

So I found myself feeling a bit creatively lost when I moved to Cumbria, which will probably sound surprising because the landscapes here are incredible! The reason being is that I got to know my locations so well in Surrey and Sussex that I intrinsically knew where the best light would be at certain times of day, when the best time of year was for bluebells or ferns and where to find the best autumn leaves. I got used to the ‘closeness’ of the landscapes, there were very few wide open vista’s where I shot.

Which is why, I recently realised, I was struggling a little. I’ve always loved shooting landscape photography, but when it comes to photographing dogs, I’ve tended to always shoot tighter in.

Changing the perspective

This may not seem like a huge shift when it comes to changing location, but actually, because I have trained to work like this for so long, that it’s almost become instinctive. And it’s possibly why I have, as people have told me, a signature style.

I’ve found lots of places to shoot in Cumbria now where I can shoot in my usual way, but it would be a crying shame not to also include the beautiful fells if you are having a shoot in this magical place!

So I hope you enjoy this slight change of style, and come along with me on a new journey of learning what works best for photographing gorgeous dogs in the Lake District.

If you are thinking of visiting the Lake District on holiday and would like a photoshoot for your dog, or even if you want to chat about the best places to eat and walk, feel free to drop me an email at kerry@furandfables.com.

Kerry
Lake District Dog Photographer
07810 541 685

It seems quite serendipitous that I’m sitting down to write this today, as a year to the date I made a decision that drastically changed the course of my life and as a dog photographer, the last 2 years have been difficult enough anyway! This last year has made me question a lot, given me times when I wasn’t sure if I could cope, but I have also came with some incredible memories. 

So lets start at the beginning!

January 2021

A year ago  I decided to leave my husband, we had been together nearly 22 years. It came as a shock to a lot of people, but I think I’d known for a while and it was incredibly tough, but also the right thing to do. It’ll come as no surprise that due to intermittent lockdowns and this, I didn’t really get out to photograph much as usual. In January, I did however have the pleasure of meeting someone who I had followed on Instagram without realising he lived just a few minutes down the road! That ‘person’ was Jasper (and his lovely human of course).

February 2021

Looking through the limited photo’s from the first couple of months, it’s funny to see that the only shots I took were of Jasper, and then Jasper’s new sibling Sunday! All the days were merging into one at this point, I’d had vague ideas of getting away for a while to either France or South Africa but of course travel was out of the question!

March 2021

I was finally able to get out and start shooting again and had the it was so much fun shooting for two brands, Reg & Bob who create hard wearing but beautifully colourful collars for dogs who love to get mucky! The other one was my good friend the Slumbering Hound who makes a heap of gorgeous things for dogs and who I’ve worked with for a few years now.

The pandemic made me realise just how fragile my dog photography business could be, so in March I launched a separate business for pet brands – mostly helping with content creation and social media engagement but I have also been doing website updates and proof reading. A couple of decades as a PA in the city has come in use for this! The website is www.kerryjordan.co.uk if  you want to check it out.

The year had already been pretty tough, I had moved out of my home, had moved in with one friend, and then my circumstances changed again so moved in with a second. I’m always going to be supremely grateful for the kindness I was shown in this period.

And then, the one thing you dread as a dog owner happened, and I had to say goodbye to my dear sweet Jasper. (As I’m writing this, that bloody Adele song ‘go easy on me’ is playing and not helping with the tears.) Jasper was 16 and had gone from a scared, barky, nervous dog to a happy little wiggle monster who was adored by everyone who met him. I had the honour of him being in my life for 10 years, but it didn’t seem long enough. I miss him, and I don’t think that will change, but sometimes I think he’s still around, I just can’t see him.

April 2021

April was a busy one and it’s the start of one of my favourite times, bluebell season! So lots of fabulous client shoots as well as brand shoots for my friend Debbie at Redhound for Dogs Whippet Attire, K9 Connectables interactive toys & The Lounging Hound and their beautiful beds.

May 2021

Well, May, what I can I say? Well, I think I said most things in the post Solo Van Tour but very briefly, as I wasn’t able to travel abroad, so I did something that was scary, but also amazing, and hired a van for a month to travel round the UK. I learned how to drive a massive van, I learned how to live in a tiny space, I had tantrums, I explored, and I found out a lot about myself and had the.best.time. I knew that it was unlikely that I’d get this kind of opportunity again for a while, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

June 2021

With more of the restrictions lifted, I was super excited to go and see my dear friend Debbie at Redhound for another little shoot. I also had some beautiful new headshots done by Joanna Cleeve which I adore; to me they show a new person emerging, someone who is gaining confidence, who is yet to go through more hardships but knows her internal strength will carry her through (sounds a bit woo woo, but that’s how I feel when I look at them now!).

But the biggest thing was returning to a place which stole my heart, the Lake District, to look at properties! I found one that needed a lot of renovating, but was a good location in west Cumbria, close to the Lakes and the coast, and put in an offer. Little did I know just what I had let myself in for! 😂

July 2021

I don’t think I realised just how many brand shoots I had in 2021! I did my second shoot for the fantastic Nash Dog who make bamboo drying coats, which I’m reliably informed, even dry spaniel ears! As well as wading into a lake to get some cracking action shots for a client shoot and yet another visit to my friend and rock, Debbie.

On the 26th of July I celebrated another year of the day I created – National Dog Photography Day, which I started as a way to celebrate our love of photographing dogs back in 2018. This year it trended #2 on Twitter despite stiff competition from the Olympics! It’s talked about in national and worldwide press, and celebrities join in too so it’s pretty incredible to me to watch the day unfold.

August 2021

With the offer on the house being accepted, August was a bit of a whirlwind sorting out the logistics of moving over 350 miles away, as well as getting in some of my favourite walks and trying to see as many friends as I could. I managed to get some shoots in though thankfully as it was another of my favourite times to shoot, heather season!

September 2021

September saw me packing up a massive van and driving half way across the country on my birthday, what a way to celebrate! I moved into a house which needed completely stripping, was filthy and had some fairly big issues to deal with. But it was mine. September was also about taking a bit of time to breathe. The emotions of the year had been intense and sometimes overwhelming so I took time to walk in nature, and wonder where the heck I was going to start on the house. I hardly took my camera out in September, but just appreciated the moment….also, it rained a lot!

October 2021

This month there was a mini shoot for the lovely ladies at Country & Twee, a foraging day and a walk with someone who I can call a friend even though until October, we had only met briefly, the fabulous Rachel Spencer and Patch! Rachel (who helps pet businesses with PR) and I met at a conference, became business accountability buddies and the rest is history. I love the fact that I’m still meeting amazing people in my 40’s!

I travelled back to Sussex for a couple of shoots and caught up with friends which was fantastic but I felt drained for days afterwards! I think the toll of the year was starting to get to me a little.

November 2021

My trip down south was at the end of October, so at the start November I popped in to see Debbie again and photographed some of her gorgeous new products in beautiful light. The rest of November was buckling down doing things on the house and exploring.

It was also the month that my divorce was finalised, a very strange feeling.

December 2021

December saw a mini “Petrepeneur” Christmas party with the lovely Rachel which consisted of much hilarity as we turned up to a ‘pod’ with no bedding, cutlery or plates! We hadn’t thought to check! So after a quick stop at B&M, we drank too much champagne from £1 mugs while we ate our microwave meals and sandwiches with a £3 cuttlery set. It was an absolutely brilliant night!

It also saw me back in Surrey for shoots and catching up  with friends, revelling in the practically balmy southern weather – the hounds were even coatless at one point! Unfortunately, it also saw me having to self isolate over Christmas, a pretty sorry affair and I saw the old year out with one of my best friends over Zoom.

There are things I wish hadn’t happened last year, and situations I would have liked to avoid, but mostly I tried to do what I thought was best knowing I don’t want to look back with regret. The positives are, I have still managed to make some incredible memories, I unexpectedly met someone who I really rather like, I’ve learned a lot about forgiveness and not holding on to negativity, and that you can’t always do what’s right for everyone.

I’m starting 2022 happy, healthy, healing and motivated. I’ve got some pawesome plans for the business which I can’t wait to share with you. If you have got this far, congratulations, and THANK YOU!

I sincerely hope that you are starting 2022 happy and healthy too!

Kerry x

Yesterday we went on our first beach walk since lockdown, and on the way out of the car park, on the road leading out of the beach, I noticed a little dog close to the edge of the pavement coming out of a side road – it took a few seconds to see the owner as he was several meters behind and the dog was on a retractable lead.

Why I don’t think you should own a retractable lead.

I have pretty strong feelings about retractable leads – I don’t think any dog owner should have one, and here’s why:

When we first adopted Boo, her recall was non existent so I thought a retractable lead would be a good idea so she could roam around a little. I was on a walk with a friend when Boo took off and because she was able to build up speed because of the length of the lead, the handle snapped out of my hand and went with her. Thankfully, a few seconds later she was stopped by the fact that the handle got caught round a fallen tree branch. What terrifies me though is if that would have happened further out into the woods where I wouldn’t have been able to see her – she would have been stuck and unable to get back to me.

Dented pride.

Did I learn my lesson? Oh no! When Shadow had an small injury and needed to be walked on lead, I decided to dig out the retractable lead again. The same thing happened as I bent down to pick up poop, Shadow spotted a dog he wanted to say hello to and because my attention was on cleaning up after him, he got to the end of the lead before I knew it, and because he built up speed, pulled me right off my feet, knocking the wind out of me and denting my knees and my pride.

Suffice to say, we now have long bungy leads (by Ruffwear) if one of the dogs ever needs to be on lead as it gives a little spring rather than a hard stop, and when we were training Boo, we used a long training line instead.

As well as my personal experience – I have had to swerve from dogs running into the middle of the road when the owners couldn’t stop the lead quick enough, seen people get tangled off and pulled over and a multitude of other accidents. I’ve also heard horrific things about burns on hands when the ‘brake’ fails on the handle, not to mention that if the dog is on a collar rather than a harness and they are able to build up speed only to be stopped suddenly as it reaches the end of the line. 

What do you think?

What are your thoughts on this? Have you only had positive experiences with retractable leads? Or have you had a similar experience to me? Do you have other options you are think are better?

Kerry x

Professional dog photographer covering Surrey, Sussex & Hampshire.
kerry@furandfables.com

Sometimes, having to reschedule a shoot can be the best thing that can happen, just like this London Whippet shoot.

Meet gorgeous Ezra

It’s not often that I have to reschedule shoots, it’s usually weather related, so its even more rare to have to reschedule twice! Ezra’s humans were super relaxed about it though, wanting to make sure we got the best images from the shoot.

A Perfect Day

We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect November day! Lovely golden light, and the gardens at Chiswick House offered such an amazing array of colours so late in the year! It was also fairly empty, we didn’t see very many people at all! This location is walking distance for Ezra and his humans, so it is a very special place for them.

Ezra is very much attached to his humans, and not really fussed about anyone else, so I felt very privileged that he was happy for me to give him a good neck scratch.

On Lead but that’s okay!

You may not realise it, but most of these images were actually taken with Ezra on lead. As long as the lead is positioned in a certain way, then it’s quite easy to edit out afterwards.  But enough of that, look at his ears, aren’t they just amazing! He so reminded me of my own hound, Scout, when his ears did this.

Here’s what Ezra’s humans had to say about the shoot (I felt super comfortable chatting with them both, so I was quite surprised when I got this!)

“We’ve had the most amazing shoot with Kerry, with truly magical photos of our whippet boy – Ezra to keep. We’ve been following Kerry’s work for years and we knew if we ever have a photo shoot it must be with her, but as we’re both shy and a bit socially awkward – the idea made us nervous. When we finally decided to do it I was anxiously waiting for the big day, but Kerry made everything so easy. We hit it off right away, she was so nice, brilliant with our dog and she made us feel relaxed and safe. She chose beautiful locations and set ups and turned Ezra into a supermodel – she clearly has a way with dogs!

Overall it was a fantastic and uplifting experience and we’re truly grateful for the wonderful pictures we now have on our walls capturing the sweet personality of Ezra.”

Meet Monty. Monty is a coated Xolo – a breed I hadn’t come across before! Monty is smart, funny, has a plethora of gorgeous expressions. Monty is also anxious and a little skittish. He is pretty wary of new people and definitely doesn’t want to be touched if he doesn’t know you. He’s also very food motivated.

I learned all this on my initial call with Monty’s mum, so I knew to go into our shoot with some yummy roast chicken and a calm attitude (very difficult for me when all I wanted to do was cuddle this gorgeous boy). Before long, Monty was clambering on me to get to the chicken, and I knew we were going to be okay!

During the shoot, I kept my distance and kept calm, eventually though he was readily running up to ‘the roast chicken lady’ and even let me scratch his chin. The best feeling in the world though was when we moved location to a few minutes down the road to capture Monty in the red ivy in one of the gorgeous streets of Midhurst. When he saw me walking down the street, he almost pulled his human off her feet to come and say hello (I’m under no illusion that the chicken was the main event for him! 😉

Isn’t it amazing that dogs can make us feel so loved just by wanting to say hello!?

So if you are worried about how your dog would respond to a photoshoot, it will honestly be fine! I have had owners who think their dogs are too ‘naughty’, too nervous, are anxious of other dogs. By talking to you, we figure out the best way for the shoot to happen to make sure you are both completely relaxed.

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or drop me an email! You can find full details of the packages I offer here: www.furandfables.com/shoot-overview/dog-photography

I’m based just near Haslemere, Surrey, which borders West Sussex & Hampshire.

Kerry x