On a recent Sunday morning, Amanda Jones arranged lights, set out snacks and erected a stark white backdrop in a rented photography studio in Chelsea as she awaited her clients. Briscoe, her 11 o'clock, bounded in with so much excitement that his companion looked worried.
"He totally went on the way but sometimes when he gets excited ...." explained Jessica Pell, hurrying in after him.
"Don't worry, it happens all the time," Jones said.
Pell quickly passed a check to Jones. Her mother would be arriving soon, and Pell did not want her to know that she was spending US$850 to have her dog photographed. Jones, 38, got to work, setting off the flash to get the 11-month-old Brussels griffon accustomed to the light and feeding him Pup-Peroni.
"If you get a dog who doesn't care about food, you're sunk," she said as she waved a treat. She moved it to the left and Briscoe looked to the left. Click. She held her hand over her head and Briscoe looked up. Click. She meowed and his ears perked up. Click. She squeezed a squeaky toy and he cocked his head. Click.
"I had to learn how to shoot with one hand," Jones said. Click. "I set the focus where I want it, and then I move the camera until it's in focus." Click. "Oh, man, that's a cute dog." Click. Click. Click.
Jones is one of the alphas in the rapidly growing specialty of pet portraiture. In a country where consumers can purchase Chewy Vuitton squeaky toys, diamond-studded dog collars and wrought iron canopy beds for dogs, there is no shortage of pet owners willing to pay her fee because they believe she is the only person who can truly capture the essence of Sparky.
Using the type of seamless background generally reserved for fashion shoots, she probes for pets' idiosyncrasies, eschewing props, which she dismisses as "demeaning."
"Just like there are people who want to be the next Richard Avedon, there are photographers who would give their left arm to be the next Amanda Jones," said Cameron Woo, publisher of Bark magazine, which Time called "The New Yorker of pet magazines." He said so many pet photographers have emerged in the last few years that he has to turn much of their advertising away so they do not dominate the magazine.
Jones discovered her calling by accident. Eight years ago she was a freelance photographer in San Francisco, primarily shooting portraits for a business technology magazine.
"I would try to make them interesting in their cubicles, but it just wasn't my cup of tea," she said. Then, on a lark, Jones gathered seven of her friends' dogs and photographed them against a backdrop.
"Until then, the photos didn't mean much to the people I was doing them for," she said. "But their dog portraits really meant something to them in a heartfelt way, which had a big impact on me."
As Jones was finishing with Briscoe, Pell hovered. "I'm never going to be able to show these pictures to anyone," she said, "because they'll say, `You did what?"'
It is a typical comment. As blindly devoted as pet owners can be, most reach the point -- whether it is when they are reaching for the credit card at a doggie day spa or looking at a closet full of dog clothes -- where they suspect they have gone bonkers.
"The dogs are easy, but the hardest part is dealing with the owners," Jones said. "Especially when they're coming to the studio as a couple. Then there's your whole couple dynamic."
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