19: Pet art with Belinda Richards, best cameras and kit of 2024 with Angela Nicholson

The Photography & Video Show Podcast, Season 2 Episode 7
Published on Thursday, 12 December 2024
 
 In this month’s show: David speaks with three-time Australian Pet Photographer of the Year, Belinda Richards about turning portraits of pooches into works of art; and SheClicks’ Angela Nicholson joins us to round up some camera and kit highlights from 2024. Remember, listeners to this podcast can use the exclusive discount code PODTPS25 to get a 20% discount on tickets for the Photography & Video Show in London 2025!

• Nikon Z6 III
• Nikon Z50 II
• Canon EOS R5 II
• Canon EOS R1
• Panasonic Lumix S9
• Fujifilm X100VI
• Fujifilm X-T50
• Fujifilm GFX100S II
• Fujifilm X-M5
• Sony A1 II
• Sony A9 III
• Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L
• SheClicks: https://www.sheclicks.net 
• Frog Dog Studios: https://www.frogdogstudios.com.au
• Belinda Richards: https://www.belindarichards.com/

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The Photography & Video Show returns to the London Excel from 13-16 March 2027.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hello and welcome to the Photography and Video Show Podcast for December 2024. I'm David McClelland, and coming up on today's show, we have some Tales of the Unexpected with award-winning pet photographer Belinda Richards.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

What I wanted to create was something that you would hang on your wall even if it wasn't your dog. I wanted people to be able to connect with the artwork even if it wasn't their dog that they were looking at. And I wanted people to be thinking that yes, I'm putting artwork on my wall. I'm not hanging a family photograph. I wanted to make it that sort of separation from that. And I think that comes from having done my fine art degree. I've had so many people say German Shepherd owners would put that on their wall. It doesn't matter. Not their job.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

A reminder that we have an exclusive offer code for 20% off your tickets to the in-person photography and video show. More detail on that later on.

Best cameras and gear of 2024

SPEAKER_00 1:17

But first, here to take us on a wistful retrospective of 2024 in photography is SheClick's founder and friend of the show, Angela Nicholson. Hello, Anj, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Hi. I'm very well, thank you. Really good. It's been a great year. It's been lots of exciting things going on. Very, very busy. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

And you have been all over the place really covering those great things that have been going on. You have with SheClix, uh, your community. You've been putting a lot of reviews on there this year, which means that looking back on 2024 and the major camera stories from the last 12 months or so, you've been hands-on with pretty much all of the major releases over that time, haven't you?

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Yeah, and there's been some fantastic cameras this year. I think it's a very exciting time. I think I say this every year, but it's been it's a very exciting time to be in photography and interested in kit.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Well, it's been an Olympic year, which sometimes can yield interesting new cameras. It certainly has this year. Uh we can't cover all of the cameras. We can't cover everything that's happened. But let's see what we can visit from some of the headlines and maybe eke out one or two surprises. Now, what I suggest we do, Ange, is that we look maybe at the at the camera brands themselves, brand by brand, the main ones that we can anyway, and see if there are any releases that fall into the 2024 category, because I know it's not always cut and dried there. Um, pick out some maybe highlights from each one. So maybe our friends at Nikon, first of all, they've uh had two or three uh interesting cameras come out this year, haven't they? Uh we I guess maybe squeezing, squeezing through from late last year would be the Nikon Z8. But then there's also the Z50 and the Z6. What what have you made, I guess, if it were a menu at a restaurant? What would you make of what Nikon's had to offer to consumers this year and professionals, of course?

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Well, um, I mean the Z8 is a very attractive camera, but it was a little bit, you know, 2023 and 24, so perhaps we should focus on the Z63, which is very exciting. And it's got an interesting combination of, you know, partially stacked sensor. So you get a lot of the technology that's in the Z8, and it's you know, it's a very responsive autofocus system, full frame camera. I was gonna say nice and affordable, relatively affordable compared to the let the cameras above, and a really attractive option, I think.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Talk to me about the stacked and partially stacked sensors there, because I know that's something that we do pull out on cameras, particularly on high-end cameras. So what does that really mean? What is it actually biased when we do have a a camera with a with a stacked, whether it's partially or fully stacked sensor?

SPEAKER_01 3:57

It basically means that all of the electronics are arranged in a way that it's much more efficient and you can also get more light onto the pixels. It tends to be about speed of response, actually. I mean, t technically it should also improve image quality, but it can be very hard to discern that. But with cameras now, you know, when we've got all the AI subject detection, little speed increases have a huge impact. Uh, and it's not just about you know how quickly you can shoot frames off, it's about how quickly the camera will recognise a subject. So it's really useful to have that technology. And I think in the the Z63, it didn't go into a great deal of detail, but I think that the central area is stacked and the surroundings aren't.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

So that's the Z63. The Z the Z52, though, that's not a full frame. That that fit fits very much more at the kind of entry level for Nikon, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Yeah, I mean I've actually just got that in for testing, and I haven't had chance to actually even charge the battery up yet. But I did like the Z50, and I think the Z52 is going to be a marked improvement. I like the fact that um the Z50 had a flip-down screen, which seemed quite odd. Now it's got um a proper sort of very angle screen that you can flip out to the side, so it's a bit more practical to use. The odd thing though with the Z52, it's actually got the same sensor as the Z50, so that's what, four or five years old? Which does seem a little odd.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Particularly for the uh entry-level market, I think you're right, that very angle screen, being able to, you know, do the selfie, whether you are self uh selfieing, self-videoing or putting it on a tripod and so on, but just having that ability now to look at yourself, make sure that you are fully framed up, I think that's that feels to me kind of table stakes now for many creators.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Yeah, and also, I'm you know, not to make too big a point, it's probably worth reminding ourselves it has got a viewfinder as well. And whilst I think most of the specifications of the viewfinder are the same as we've seen before, apart from the brightness, and Nikon makes quite a big thing about having very bright electronic viewfinders, and and you kind of think, well, what's that? And it it's it's good in bright light because it means it's not so much that you can see it, it's it's more comfortable from going, looking outs, you know, around without the camera and then looking in the viewfinder.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Now, the last time you and I spoke on the podcast, we were reflecting on how Canon had done a kind of pre-announcement of a new flagship camera that very shortly after did come to pass, and that was the EOS R1, but that wasn't the only camera that it announced around that time. There was the R1 and the R5 Mark II. So they were that they were two very welcome announcements ahead of the Olympics. I mentioned that 2024 was an Olympic year, and it it seemed to me at least that these two cameras were very well received. What did you make of them?

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Well, I think they're very exciting. I mean, a lot of people have been waiting for the R5 Mark II in particular, and it you know, it takes some significant steps up. It is a lot of refinement, I think, going on there. The R1 is very much the professional, you know, news gatherers, sports photographers type camera. And actually, I mean, that only really came to market around November. So that was it was strange that you know, we normally think about these things being associated with the big football tournaments and the Olympic Games, as you say, but they actually really didn't come to pass until afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

The EOS R5, of course, that was one of the launch cameras, I think, or pretty much the launch when the EOS R mirrorless system was announced back in 2018, or or did it come a little bit later on?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

It was a bit later, but actually I think it's quite forgivable that you think that because like the EOS R came out and then and the RP, but it was really the R5 and the R6 that tuned everybody into, oh, you know, this is a serious system now, and suddenly it was much more responsive and just, you know, the camera that people really wanted.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah, of course, of course. And well, the R1, it really is that that flagship. It's got a bit of everything. It's certainly that that big size, like that, like the 1DX that that we've seen over the years. But the R5 is that or the R52, that is so versatile, so compact, and so powerful as well. I think that's why it's uh going to be very popular at at sports tournaments going forward, certainly. And we've got uh it's not Olympic year next year, but there is the Club World Cup taking place in the United States in 2025, so I'm sure Canon will be all over that. Um let's have a look at what Panasonic did this year. And the the Lumix S9 was a camera that sort of divided opinion in many ways. I know you and I spoke about this one as well, but it it didn't come without its flaws, again, particularly if you were looking at it for a for a content creator's market, did it?

SPEAKER_01 8:37

That's right. You know, I think it was builders the smallest full-frame camera, and it is really small and and compact, it's and it's very attractive looking thing, but it's another one without a viewfinder. So it kind of for me that kind of makes it not so useful for for stills. You know, it just doesn't seem quite right. It's got a tilting screen, it's you know, it it's it produces, certainly produces some great results, but I wasn't too happy about the grip on it. I didn't I didn't find it was a comfortable camera to hold and and you know, feel s feel safe with it in my hand.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Yes, and I remember at the time there was also a pancake lens, wasn't there, that had a it had a fixed aperture, didn't it? Which was again an interesting choice. It was a good price point, and I remember you saying the quality from the quality of images was was very, very good. But that combination of the S9 and that fixed aperture pancake lens made particularly shooting outdoors a little bit oh to make sure that you've got some good focus.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Yeah, because it is manual focus as well, that lens, which seems quite at odds with what that camera is about in many respects, because you know, if you're putting it into content creators' hands, they usually want something that's going to follow subjects around and and and stay with it. So to have that lens just seems quite strange. And of course, if you're just looking on the back of the camera trying to focus, okay, you've got things like you know, focus peaking and you can magnify the view, but you're looking if it's a bright sunny day and you're looking at the screen, it's not as helpful as looking in a viewfinder. So it just seemed like a strange pairing to me.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

One pairing that went very well was the X100 range from Fujifilm and also new earlier in 2024 was the X100 6. Now, this has been a kind of TikTok favourite camera for a little while, and at the photography show back uh earlier this year, uh this was quite the hot ticket, wasn't it? Why is this camera so popular among content creators, do you think?

SPEAKER_01 10:34

I think it's a combination of factors. I mean, firstly, it's got a well-proven sensor, you know, that 40 million pixel sensor, so you know that it's gonna get bags of detail, really good quality results, you've got a nice viewfinder built in, it's a compact camera with a fixed lens, which some people sort of think, oh, hang on a minute, you know, that's a bit strange. But actually, everything's paired really nicely. And I always say that, you know, if you pick a camera up and it makes you want to take photographs, then that's probably the perfect camera for you. And there's something about that camera that makes me want to take photographs. You know, it's I love the aperture control, I love the the um the traditional exposure controls, and then it's got Fujifilms film simulation modes, and there just always seems to be one to match every situation or mood or you know, whatever you're trying to create. So, yeah, it's just a really nice combination.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

It's a nice camera to pick up for sure. It's a nice camera to look at as well, a beautiful look looking camera, as well as the images that it creates, but also the price point is very reasonable as well. Uh, you know, that kind of one and what one and a half grand sort of range as well means that people are more likely to pick it up in the first place and then fall in love with it. So that's been a a big success for Fujifilm this year, but they've not stopped there, they've released uh other cameras up and down from full frame down to well, the crop sensors that are are particularly popular. And I know that the She Clix community has uh developed a particular affinity with uh some of the XT range of Fujifilms this year.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Oh yes. I mean the XT5 has proved extremely popular in She Klicks. So the XT50, which is like its baby brother, or perhaps I should say baby sister, is you know, a a a nice attractive same same sensor, similar sort of controls, smaller package, perhaps better suited to the smaller lenses than the than the the X-T5 is, but such a great camera for travel, for street photography, you know, just when you want to be out and about with a camera, maybe when you can maybe a big jacket pocket, or you know, you put it in your bag just to use it anytime. Really nice.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

And finally on Fujifilm, the GFX 100S Mark II, in your write-up of this, uh you asked you asked the question, the pertinent question that I'm uh gonna ask if you have an answer for, perhaps, is whether you think that this could be the camera that convinces people to upgrade to medium format. So it is it is a medium format camera. I think you went out shooting wildlife with this one, and the intent being there, yes, you can shoot faster moving subjects even with a medium format camera. And it it doesn't feel too bulky, certainly. So the question that I'll ask you is the one that you're asking everyone else. You know, do you get the sense that people are considering this camera for maybe where they wouldn't have beforehand?

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Definitely, yeah. And it's not just, you know, that you can do wildlife and you can shoot sport, it's that much better when you're doing the social photography or portrait photography, you know, where you want to track somebody's eyes and make sure they're perfectly in focus, and then you've got that beautiful background blur because you get more background blur with the bigger sensor. So it's I think the thing is that we traditionally think about medium format cameras, big, heavy, slow, clunky. I mean, I I used to shoot with a Mamia RB67 Pro SD, and that was you couldn't get a clunkier camera if you tried, you know. Whereas now they're so slick and you've got all of the features that you get pretty much in an XT5 in terms of like menu layout and everything, and more, you know, so you're not really taking a significant step down in autofocus capability or any of that sort of stuff, which traditionally you would. I mean, there's somewhere you think, oh, oh, back to the one autofocus point. Great. Whereas you've you've got you know you've got the AI subject detection, you've got all of the you know, relatively fast shooting modes. It's it feels like a you know, it's a really enjoyable camera again to use, and it's it's nice and solid, robust, good size grip.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Um a camera that I missed over the last few weeks of 2024 is the XM5. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

So that's kind of like the other end of the scale from the GFX series, because it's it's I think it's Fujifilm's smallest, lightest current interchangeable lens camera. It's aimed at content creators. It's another one without a viewfinder, but it's got a very angle screen, the same sensor as the XS20. So, you know, it's really capable and it's it's a great one for people who are wanting to step up from using a phone to start taking more video and shooting shooting stills as well. And it's got some really useful modes. So, for example, if you want to shoot, you mentioned TikTok earlier, if you want to shoot upright 16-9, or 9x16, I should say, you don't need to rotate the camera. You know, it crops it for you. You see the red outline, that's really nice. And it's also got the film simulation mode dial, which I find that it's a really nice to have that so accessible because it makes it part of your creative decision. So suddenly you're thinking about what colours you want. And I think that's particularly important if you're stepping into video for the first time, but you want to have a kind of a bit of a personal look to it. You can use, you know, classic chrome if you want.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Let's cover off some Sony news this year as well. Uh and on my little list here, I'm looking at uh more iterations, which is absolutely fine. The A12 and the A93. Which of those caught your eye?

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Well, both. And very quickly. The A93, I mean, that won the She Click's Innovation of the Year Award for 2024, because that has actually got uh the the world's first sort of consumer camera to have the global shutter. And that means like instead of readout line by line, it everything's read out at once. So that means you can shoot using flash any shutter speed, which is brilliant. You know, if you're in bright light and you want to use flash um and wide apertures, you've got full control. It also means it's things like, well, um, what do you call it, jello effect, rolling shutter effect. That's that's a thing in the past, you don't need to worry about that. So that's great. So I I was lucky enough to use it in Ireland photographing birds of prey. And these things are flying towards me, you know, looking straight down the barrel of the lens, and the camera is just latched on to their eyes all the way, you know. So that's fantastic. So that's all about sort of speed and agility. And then the A1 Mark II is speed, agility and resolution, because it's a 50 million pixel sensor. Now the thing there is it's using the same sensor as the original A1, but it's been tuned to you know, for yes, tuned, they so I'm told. So it you know, it's got um the step up with the the autofocus capability and the more uh subject detection modes and all that sort of stuff. And I was I was lucky enough to be able to use that to photograph some dancers, some ballet dancers, and it's it you know, it's really, really useful. A lot of the features are the same, I have to say, as the A1, so you've still got the 400th of a second flash sync and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

So not that much of an upgrade necessarily if you were an A1 Mark I owner. There's not necessarily enough unless there was a particular feature that you were after that would get you rushing to buy an A1 Mark II, perhaps?

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Things like the I can't remember what Sony calls it now, but the you know the pre-capture mode. Yeah, pre-capture mode when you put you, you know, it starts buffering. So it and that's particularly useful for wildlife photographers. And I think the classic example is a bird on a branch, so you can start shooting, and then when it takes off, you press it, and so you you record those images just before it takes off. So you know you've got that moment of it going into flight. Things like that, you know, there's there's been a lot of they're not necessarily the headline specifications, but there's been a lot of those sort of things which have have come along since the A1 was around that which are now in the A1 too.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Sony's always been big on the autofocus and it's AI. I mean, even before AI became the um popular term that it has over the last couple of years that we've been talking about, generative AI in particular, but it's the precision and the speed of its autofocus there, and given the examples of birds of prey flying towards you so very quickly, I guess that's a way in which we are seeing AI manif manifest itself in camera right now. And that and that's very exciting and very tangible as well, particularly when you've got cameras with so rapid burst speeds shooting full frame as well. It's very exciting. Yeah. AOB, is there we've covered some of the big brands there. We've not been able to cover everything, but have there been any other highlights for you this year, whether it's a camera from another brand or any bits of kits or any other lenses or any accessories that you think are worth a mention here, get get an honourable mention in our 2024 retrospective?

SPEAKER_01 19:23

I'm a big fan of of peak design. I think the stuff a lot of the products they produce are really well made. They look great, they feel great. They're not the most affordable, but you know, you it's it's a quality item. So they brought out a range of outdoor backpacks. So there's a 45-litre one and the 25-litre one. The 25-litre one is the one I've been using most recently, just as a daily bag, you know, and you can you have to add a camera cube to make it into a photographic bag. But you can take that out and have it as a normal bag as well. And it's just it's just really well put together, well thought through. It's comf you know, I'm I'm only five foot one and a bit, and it's comfortable for me, it's comfortable for my partner, he's six foot two. So, you know, it's it just works really well for a range of people.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

So so this is a new iteration of the bag because I have the Peak Design Everyday Backpack 25 litre. I've got it right by me, in fact, and it's had camera gear in it today.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

And I bet it looks exactly the same as the day you first got it, because they they wear really well.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

They do wear really well. It I mean, some of the material is like seat-built material on cars, for example. But I noticed that the version that you have uh been, well, hands-on with, back on with. I I don't know how you describe test driving a backpack, but that's got some new colourways and and a different design to it as well. That uh, for example, I don't need to get those camera cubes in order to use mine. I've got some of the Velcro shelves in there, if you like, that have got little foldable things uh that can flop up and flop down for lenses and so on. But this new version of the everyday backpack um looks a little bit different and it looks really interesting. I must admit, I was uh oh no, can I just because I like my bags, oh can I justify getting another one of those? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

And the eclipse, the colour eclipse, which is kind of like a burgundy colour, very nice indeed. Yeah, it looks great. But it's it's it's a light, more lightweight material. I mean it's it's rugged, but it's it's designed to sort of appeal to people who perhaps normally would go for like a berghouse bag or a backpack or something like that for for hiking. Um, but you can turn it into a c a very effective camera bag. And I think you know, sometimes these modular bags they can be neither one thing or the other, but this actually works very well in both ways.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Good stuff. Well, listen, we'll leave it there for now. But Ange, thank you very much indeed. I will see you at the photography and video show in London in March. I I hope.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

I'll be there. I'm looking forward to it very much. Yes, SheClicks has got a stand, we'll have an exhibition, and of course it's International Women's Day on the Saturday, so there's going to be some exciting stuff going on.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

I hadn't registered that, but that's that that's very exciting. Fantastic stuff. Before March, however. If people want to look back in more detail of what you made of the cameras that we did cover in 2024, those we didn't, or indeed see what you're making of 2025, where are they best going to follow you and your work?

SPEAKER_01 22:13

So if you just go to sheclicks.net, you'll find that's our website and it's got all the links to the social media channels, but you can also find a tab with our reviews.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Angela, as always, fantastic to chat. Look forward to seeing you in March.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Thanks very much. I look forward to seeing you.

Belinda Richard on pet photography

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Australian pet photographer of the year for three years running, Belinda Richards and her company Frog Dog Studios have been snapping quirky portraits of four-legged friends for almost 10 years. However, Belinda's images often extend beyond cute keepsakes and into creative works of art that stand very much on their own two or perhaps four feet.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

I think they are just so incredible. And so to actually be able to spend my days with them in such a happy environment and to be able to bring out their personalities and bring that joy not only to the animals themselves but to the the pet parents, I guess. Yeah, I really love that.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

So what's your origin story then? What's been your connection with pets and how did pet portraiture become a thing for you?

SPEAKER_02 23:40

I started working with animals pretty much straight out of school, but I started a business when I was 20 years old um grooming um animals. So I used to tow a trailer around and go to people's houses and you know, spruce up their pooches for them and you know, make them look and smell very lovely. So the that's sort of um where my actual hands-on experience with dogs came from. I guess my love of animals started when I was a kid, like most people, you know, the family pets, well that I bugged mum and dad for the one when I was younger for many, many years until my auntie finally purchased me uh a puppy, much to my mum's disgust. Um but yeah, yeah, like I said, after that, yeah, went into the mobile dog grooming. And I did that for about seven years um before I sold that, unsold that. Um it's the kind of career that's sort of short-lived due to the physical nature of it. So it's getting really sore, really sore back, that sort of thing, lifting dogs and that sort of thing. It was doing a lot of damage. So I did sell that and um working at our largest shelter here in Melbourne at the lost dogs home. So it's kind of like where all the dogs end up from the local council areas if they're lost or you know, hit by cars or or whatever. Um, so I did that for a very long time, worked the overnight shift. Um, so I'd be out on the road while everyone was sleeping, picking up stray dogs and you know, doing all sorts of stuff. So I did that and then I worked at the council as well as the animal management officer. Um, I don't know what they call them there in the UK, but just like, you know, the ranger basically.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

The dog catcher, the old school dog catcher. Um, but um during that time I decided to go back to university and get an art degree because I was always really, really interested in art. Um, always wanted to be an artist, but I grew up in a generation, I guess, where that kind of wasn't really encouraged um to be an artist. It was more, you know, get a real job and I was 30, I think, when I went back to uni and did that. And took me about five years and still worked all the way through that. But once I finished that, I decided to put the two together, bring the dogs together with the art and yeah, work on the happier side of um working with animals, I guess, because you know, the sort of uh welfare work can be a bit taxing at times emotionally. So it's been nice to be able to bring my artistic skills and and my fine art degree together.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

So you've had a connection with animals professionally and personally for a very long time, and I feel as though, particularly working in the shelter that you worked in as well, if every dog could tell a story, and unfortunately they can't always tell their stories, but there's a lot of empathy that goes on when you're rescuing dogs and you're trying to understand where they've come from, how they got there, and caring for them so that you can work on better outcomes for wherever they go next. You you're going on a journey, you're connecting with that animal, and that you are investing in it in many ways so that it has a happier outcome. That doesn't go away, does it? That that that's that stays within you, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:01

It doesn't it definitely stays within you. Um it's you're something you you hold on to and you do sort of there's definitely some really horrific stuff that I've seen either working with the council or in shelter that that will be with me forever. But it's made me who I am today and the empathetic person I am, I think. Um, and it and it's definitely helped me become a way better pet photographer because I because I have dealt with animals now in all sorts of capacities, especially dogs. I mean, 90% of what I do is dogs, and it was also when I was doing shelter work. It's given me a really good foundation of understanding dogs, not just when they're in their home and they're happy and you know well looked after, but how they behave when they're outside of their comfort zone or where they're not comfortable, I can see these things and rectify it before it becomes an issue in the studio, which then helps me be able to sort of extract that personality into the portraits that I do.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Let's go into that because having an understanding of the subjects that you work with, whether you are a uh a portrait photographer, whether you work with wildlife, or even whether you work with landscape, for example, you know, you need to understand the characters, you need you need to understand the environment. And speaking with human portrait photographers, they often talk about the relationship that they have with their subjects for that session, and sometimes they try to create that connection, or sometimes there might be an antagonistic relationship to get a particular feel to that session, particularly more dramatic poses. So talk to me about the relationship that you try to create with your subjects and how you nurture that in the short time really that that you have with them. Is it all about the food treats, or is there more to it?

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Well, there is definitely more to it. I mean, food definitely helps. I mean, we see a lot of dogs in the studio, obviously, that are very well loved, you know. This is not a cheap service. So the kind of people that are attracted to my service, the dogs are very well loved. There's a lot of training gone into it, that sort of thing. And yes, treats are definitely a huge part of it, but it's about you know, we have a lot of dogs that come in who are anxious, who have behavioural problems, especially after COVID, because they've been they're puppies during a time when they weren't able to be socialized. So leaving the house can cause a lot of anxiety. Um, and then they come in here and they, you know, they might be scared of the lights like I use strobes, so that can be um very daunting. And it's it's train it part of it is just understanding why they are feeling the way that they're feeling. And I mean, there's a there's a lot of things I see people do wrong when they approach dogs, and usually the first thing is that they stick their hand in their face to give them a smell. Don't stick your hand in front of a dog's nose if you don't want to be bitten. Um, it's just it's it's a really antiquated way of getting to know a dog. Let the dog approach you, you know, just sit down, calm, ignore the dog for a while, let the dog stiff around. If when they're ready, they will come to you. It's it's a patience thing. Um it can't be forced. So it's about allowing that time. Um my sessions are not uh run and go kind of, you know, get come in, get it, get it done, get it out, kind of thing. I don't back-to-back them. Um I only do a couple of sessions a week. And I make sure that I've got the time to take with dogs because you know, you do get dogs that come in and they're confident as anything. They'll sit, they'll stay, they'll pose, they'll back in your floors for you, they're so good. Um but then you you know, a lot of the time they are scared and you need to take that time. And I think that's something that a lot of photographers miss um when they move into the pet world is that a lot of it's so much of it is that relationship building, that trust building. Yeah, you know, what learning how to acclimatize them slowly to use for the strobes in the studio, that if you just dive straight in, you know, the strobes on full power and you're flash, flash, flash, flash, flash, and the dog is scared, you're never going to get that dog back. But if you learn how to use positive reinforcement because you recognize that that's gonna be a problem before it even happens, and then you just start positively reinforcing that dog, start on the lowest power. You might not take a shot for half an hour. That's fine. Because when you do get to take the shot, if you've taken that time, the shooting part of it's actually really fast.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

And in terms of that building, you you have a process as well, don't you? Uh I I think you you call it like a three-stage process in order to get the animal used to the space before you even um embark on the session. As it were again, bark tales to tell. All of all of these unintended puns do come in here for which I make no apologies.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

You shouldn't, you shouldn't, they're the best. When I first started um I opened from Dog Studios like eight years ago, I wasn't doing a consultation first. And I was finding the dogs coming in and then nervous, and it's it was not an overall pleasant experience. So very quickly I re-jigged that to um include a consultation first. So people come in for a consultation, they'll stay for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, um, depending on how long we need. And it's all about getting the dog in here to get used to us. Um, me and my animal handler, who also happens to be my husband, um, we're both here. We, you know, we're letting we're getting a feel for the dog. The dog's getting a feel for us. There's all that, you know, they can sniff the studio, they get on the furniture. We'll talk with the owners, you know, for a while, find out what their animals like, find out what the pet what they love about their pet, you know, what it is they're looking for in their session. All and all while we're doing this, we're getting to know the people as well. But we do the consult, the pre-consult for the pet. And we've found that doing that, we know then that when that dog comes back, what we need to do to make it feel comfortable straight away. And are we going to need to allow extra time for that session and so on and so forth. And you know, a lot of dogs, the only time they get in the car is to go to the vet. And so they're terrified thinking that they're going to the vet. They need to understand that this is not the vet and that this is a fun place. And I've just had a much better success rate with dogs in the studio being a lot more calm and getting better portraits out of them, really. Um, as for cats, that doesn't work. Cats are cats, they're they're either awesome or they're not.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

So you say that about 90% of your work is with dogs. So I I've certainly seen the cats in your body of work as well. I've you've done rabbits and and rodents as well. Are there any unusual pets that you've been challenged to work with, or any unusual breeds perhaps that have that you've found particularly, if not challenging to work with? I I'm curious if that there is a big difference between different breeds of dog that you work with, if there's if there's a spectrum of a great uh pet to portrait, or those that are just a a bit fidgety or a bit nervous or a bit grumpy.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Absolutely. So as far as um strange um pets go, I don't get a lot of that here where I am. Um I'm in the inner city here, and it's not very often that I'll get asked to do something out of the ordinary. Um, I think the most out of the ordinary animals that I've photographed are ferrets, which is really not that out of the ordinary. I've got a friend who's further out in Melbourne, she's got a pet photography studio and she does reptiles all the time. So I think it's just it's an area thing. Um but as far as breeds go, look, I love to do the crazy dogs. I love the the ones who are just go, go, go. French little dogs, they're insane and they're so much fun to photograph. They're very active and expressive, and any dog with a personality like that, I love to photograph. But there are different breeds that'll give you different characteristics, you know. Like your greyhounds, they don't ever sit down. So they're just most of them don't sit. So you're very limited to what you can do. They also don't play very often, where especially outside of their own home. So you you're sort of you've got a few different poses that you can do for these dogs. And I mean they're beautiful, but it's not the same sort of session as I would be doing with, say, a border collie or something like that, who is going to be ball crazy, and and that's what they're gonna focus on. So, yeah, different breeds can definitely have their own quirks.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

And you are a dog owner yourself, of course.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

Of course, I've got a bull terrier and a French bulldog, um, and a cat. Of course, I've got a menagerie here.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

So I I'm curious as to whether you've received any criticism about your work, and and not, oh, I don't like the uh, you know, how you how you touch up or uh about the colour work that you do or anything like that, but in terms of whether it's uh ethics or uh animal welfare kind of criticism, or has that not really been a thing for you because of the effort that you put into the animal welfare because of your background?

SPEAKER_02 36:25

Yeah, I've been really lucky. Well, not quite not lucky. I think, like I said, I've put the work in and it is part of my background and education to do the best for the animals and have their interests at heart the entire time. So no, I haven't ever had any criticism in regards to people say getting on social media or sending me emails or something saying that what I do is cruel or I should be doing it this way, not that way. I've never had a client complain about how I've treated their dog or anything like that. I think that does come down to, like you said, it it's just it's my background. It's I've got this innate connection with dogs after working with them, you know, it's 25 years now, so their interests are at the the forefront of everything I do. And I think that's probably why I I have so many clients, and you know, word gets around when you hear good with things, so repeat business is good business, as I say.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Do you do they get do you tend to get repeat uh client work?

SPEAKER_02 37:25

I do, yeah. So look, it's probably not as much as say a portrait photographer who does kids and stuff like that who come back, you know, parents tend to come back every year and things like that. Family portraiture and that sort of stuff, but I do get clients coming back, um, especially I've been in business now for eight years, so I'm starting to see dogs that I photographed when they were really young coming back with their grey faces. Um, I'm also seeing dogs that have passed away, and the owners are bringing their new um family members to me.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

So um I noticed on some of your project work, and I want to come on to your project work in just a moment, but in terms of that repeat work, there was one sequence of images where I don't know if it was an Alsatian uh or another breed, but or German Shepherd maybe, but where you saw the progression over age through the ears on the top of their head that was so telling, uh obviously totally endearing, but also told a story which I absolutely love.

SPEAKER_02 38:24

Yeah, thanks, thanks. Yeah, it's actually one of the things that I've been concentrating on more, on moving my business more into that sort of space where I want to really create artwork for people that tell stories. And so the growing up sessions is something that I'm really pushing at the moment and getting a lot of traction with. And I've done that quite a few now, but yeah, basically we're just photographing them over the year. It takes a big commitment from the owners to be able because you know, especially in that beginning phase, they change so fast. So we're photographing them every week for that first, you know, oh gosh, four weeks or six weeks, depending on what breed it is, and then as they start to the growing starts to slow down, we slow down the sessions. But um, yeah, I've done a few of those.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

There's uh a couple of fair-coated characters that I've done, and a woman and a beagle and and tell me practically, uh, what is the challenge like of getting the same position headshot for uh of the top of the head so that you do see that progression, or is it not as hard as you think.

SPEAKER_02 39:28

So we're working, especially with these pups, right? We're working with them from eight weeks of age, so so young. We're training them while we're doing what we're doing. By the time they leave here, they've done eight or nine sessions by the end of the 12 month, they know what they're gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

You talk about in some of your strap lines on your socials about because your best friend is a work of art. So just talk to me about in in your mind, when does a portrait become a work of art?

SPEAKER_02 39:59

When I first started doing this, um I was looking around at other pet photographers, and it the the niches kind of exploded over the last few years, but there wasn't a lot around, um, especially in my area in Melbourne. There was and the ones that were doing it were all shooting outdoors, producing very similar sorts of aesthetic. So I decided that I wanted to be a bit different, and what I wanted to create was something that you would hang on your wall even if it wasn't your dog. I wanted people to be able to connect with the artwork even if it wasn't their dog that they were looking at. And I wanted people to be thinking that yes, I'm putting artwork on my wall, I'm not hanging a family photograph. I wanted to make it that sort of separation from that. And I think that comes through having done my fine art degree. Like that um when you're talking about with the ears. I've had so many people say German Shepherd owners would put that on their wall. It doesn't matter, yes, not their dog. So yeah, and that's the aim.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

You mentioned the composites there, and as we move into the art side of this, I want to talk about as well as your client work, you embark on creative projects as well. Tell me where Be More Dog came from.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

Oh, that's a long time ago, that one. It started with my very first composite that I did, and that was of the great Dane holding a newspaper, wearing a top hat, and you hold it in your newspaper. Um, it says it's a catastrophe, and it the cats have taken over the world. They know what the dogs are no longer in charge. Um, and I was telling this sort of storytelling element um definitely comes from doing my fine art degree and and looking at a lot of work like that, and sort of just trying to pull things together. I mean, there's a subtle message in there about feminism and and using their dogs as the standing for males, cats are standing for females, that kind of dynamic. But it's also just a really fun image. Um, and if you don't need to see the political messages in it or that you know, the subtle social messages, it's it can just be fun, and that's kind of where that whole be more dog came from was that creating this imagery that yes, if you want to look into the to the the messaging, yes you can, but oh you could just enjoy the image and it's just as good that way as well. And I feel like be more dog, the title of that series is because that's our dogs, right? They're just simple creatures who just enjoy life, and if we could all just be more dog, we'd probably all get along a lot better, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Well, that's that that that's what I wanted to ask you. Uh be more dog. So, what is it to be dog in that case? And that's your message.

SPEAKER_02 42:45

No worries, yeah. Just it's a it's a no worries kind of lifestyle. I mean, they they're just like I said, they're these magical creatures that just they're intent on making you happy. They don't hold on to things, they don't hold on to the past, they look through the world at the world through rose-colored glasses, really.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Building on that slightly playful antagonism that you have between dog and cat there. There's another image too, which is that which is the corgi with the juiciest looking bone with a cat in the foreground. Uh I don't recall if it's salivating or not, but certainly looking on with envy. And then it's a corgi, and it's a picture of the queen behind the corgi as well. So, again, I guess there are as a viewer some statements that you could read into that, but whether or not you choose to do that, it's still a creative, playful uh representation of um uh a scene between and a relationship really between two animals.

SPEAKER_02 43:44

That's right, yeah, and that's um I mean that's the goal with with that particular series is that yeah, like we could we could really look at those undertones um and really focus in on them, or we could focus in on if this is a dog wearing a crown, eating a giant bone and the cat blump and he's jealous, you know, and that's just fun.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

Uh Belinda, you are going to be bringing some of this fun to the photography and video show in London in March, and I couldn't be more excited. Tell us about the session that you're going to be running there because I happen to know there's going to be some animals on stage.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

There will be. There's uh always animals when I'm around. Um, so we're going to be doing um, I actually think that there's two sessions that I'm doing, and we'll be and though I think they'll be pretty much the same session, they're just on different days. And we'll be doing, yeah, a live demonstration of how I shoot in the studio. I'll be talking about um obviously my lighting setup, my equipment, my gear, that sort of thing. Um, and how to actually work with the the subject to get the best out of them, um, some posing tricks, things like that.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

Belinda, we could not be more excited. Thank you so much for joining us here on the podcast today, and look forward to seeing you in London in March.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

Thanks so much for having me, David. It should be fun.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

As always,

Discount code for Photography & Video Show 2024

SPEAKER_00 45:08

you'll find links to Belinda's work and indeed to all of the stories we've covered today in the show notes in your podcast app. And that is almost all for today, and indeed for 2024. What a packed year it's been. And we're going to be doing it all over again in 2025. Yes, we'll be back aboard the Podcast Express at the beginning of January, and the in-person photography and video show will be back in person in March from Saturday the 8th till Tuesday the 11th at the XL in London. Details of speakers at the show, including Belinda, who we've heard from today, are appearing all the time on the website, which is photography show.com. And that's also where you can get your tickets from. And remember, as a listener of this podcast, you can get an exclusive 20% discount using the code pod tps25. That's P-O-DPS twenty five. But for now, until next year, bye-bye.