Happy dogs in the wild

My little Cairn terrier rescue, Piña, on Lion’s Den trail, just behind our house on Fogo Island

Like many people, I got through the pandemic by taking up a creative hobby. In spring 2021, after COVID had us under house arrest for a year in Toronto, I escaped by travelling halfway across the country, with my kids and dogs in tow, to take a job on Fogo Island, in Newfoundland.

The wild landscapes on the island make you lose all sense of space and time. My city-slicker dogs lost their minds with joy. They played tug of war with seaweed, ran amok with crab shells in their mouths, and dove into the frigid North Atlantic to swim among floating chunks of ice.

I loved life on Fogo Island too. There is so much beauty and there are so few distractions there that you have both the inspiration and the opportunity to dive deep into creative projects. Long afraid that my brain cells couldn’t cope with manual-settings math, I finally committed to giving myself the time I needed and learning how to use my camera properly.

I didn’t just want to photograph the landscapes—I wanted to capture the effect they had on my dogs—how alive they became, belting around on the beaches, hills and trails.

I joined the Unleashed Education community and took courses in dog photography with Charlotte Reeves and Craig Turner-Bullock, respectively from Australia and New Zealand. Next, I proceeded to roll around on the ground at dog level with my camera at every opportunity, doling out treats for tricks, squeaking squeakers for cute head tilts, and shielding my lenses from slobber as the doggos ran toward me with wild abandon.

Looking back at photos from this chapter in our lives, I’m grateful to have captured such special memories of my furry duo in a place that was deeply meaningful to us.

Eventually we moved back to Ontario, but I’ve since had the opportunity to photograph dogs high on nature in Scotland, Spain, Portugal, France and many parts of Canada. Last year, I spoke with host W. Scott Olsen on the Frames magazine podcast about my adventures in dog photography.

We talked tips for eliciting good facial expressions, reading canine body language and posing hyperactive subjects. We also chatted about my new project in Prince Edward County. And we got a bit choked up discussing what it’s like to photograph an ailing dog in the final days of its life.

If you’d like to hear the episode, just click the button below. I hope it inspires you to capture the magic of your own dogs going bananas in the wild. Your future self will thank you.