5 Years of Fashion Forward Pet Photography

IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY! This week we celebrate FIVE YEARS of delivering fashion-forward pet photography around the world.

The adventure began in April 2014 in San Diego under the name RDP PhoDOGraphy, and this was the first image we ever shared…

Our first session – Victoria and her beloved Shadow, photographed at Balboa Park in San Diego – will always be near to our hearts. Victoria shepherded Shadow over the rainbow bridge last year, and we were blessed to know him.

We went on rescue missions with Frosted Faces Foundation in support of their mission to save senior dogs from the high kill shelters of Los Angeles and Southern California.

We opened our home and shared the rescues and addition of Hannah the St. Bernard….and then Ellie the Great Dane…to The Pope Pack…

As well as our rescue and foster of Hank from an abandoned garbage yard in Tijuana.

And then of course, we rescued Hudson the double merle Great Dane.

Inspired by the runways of London and Paris, we rebranded to Haute Dog Pet Photography in October 2015 with an emphasis on creating fashion-forward photos using bold colors, dynamic angles, and avant-garde lighting to capture each dog’s larger-than-life personality.

In spring 2016 we moved to Dallas, where we photographed our first session with The Stig, Fergus, and Daisy. This family went on to become one of our closest friends and Daisy still holds the honors of the only dog ever to bite me during a session.

Soon after we launched our Runway Sessions and headed to Chicago to meet Lottie!

We have shared in the smiles and tears with so many of our amazing clients, including Sam who was kind enough to share the unmatchable Darla upon her diagnosis with lymphoma. This session remains one that touched us at the core, and Sam too has become a beautiful friend.

We closed our first year in Texas by being voted Best Pet Photographer in Dallas, a title we’ve held each year since!

In early 2017, we released an innovative line of dog photographs – our Light-Stitched pet portraits. Created by layering dozens of images together, Haute Dog was the first to introduce this technique to pet photography.

We photographed Cooper the Goldendoodle in what would become our first loan print at the International Photographic Competition, bringing us a gold medal, and it is still one of my favorite images to date. If you’ve been to our studio, you’ve seen the amazing 40×60″ gallery wrapped canvas of this piece on display.

We shared our joy at the achievement of becoming a Certified Professional Photographer, then shared our crazy when we brought home Fletcher the Irish Wolfhound (if you’re counting along, baby made SIX).

We wrapped up the year by taking our brand international – serving private and commercial clients alike worldwide and offering an all-inclusive pet photography destination holiday with our EMBARK service. We are incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to photograph Memphis the black lab in front of the Cathedral de Notre Dame in light of the devastating fire, as well as Patch the Jack (or would it be Jacque?) Russell Terrier in front of the iconic Eiffel Tower.

In 2018 we were thrilled to be named Dog Photographer of the Year for our image of undeniably one of the cutest puppies of all time. We traveled to London to accept the award, where we also photographed Nelson at his EMBARK session.

We opened our one-of-a-kind 7-acre pet photography studio and portrait grounds – Fursailles, creating a unique space dedicated to the safety and creativity of our dog photography sessions.

We also introduced our haute couture session option – Vanity Fur – complete with hair, makeup, and Hollywood glamour.

Over the past five years, we have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of dogs all over the world, assisting numerous rescue groups with finding forever homes, and partnering with some of the coolest commercial clients to make their brands pop. We continue to lead the industry with innovative offerings that capture the larger than life personalities of each dog. Thank you for joining us on this journey, we can’t wait to share what’s in store next!