Hello Northumberland!
I moved to Cobourg 3 years ago and it's been one of the BEST decisions I have ever had the pleasure of making. This area is filled with friendly people and adorable floofy friends.
I believe it takes more than having a great eye and photography knowledge to make great images of dogs. Understanding them is key! I belong to a number of educational platforms such as Hair of the Dog Academy and Unleashed Education. I am an associate member of the Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers and Certified in Canine First Aid.
My Story
When I was in my 30's and thinking I still had time to have children, I found out I couldn't. There is something about finding out that you can't have children that makes you go out and rescue a bunch of cats (or dogs)! Yes, I was the crazy cat lady with 4 of them. They were my everything.
Unfortunately, like most, 2020 happened and my whole world changed! Of course, Covid, where I was forced to give up on a dream of being a fashion and beauty photographer (even though that dream never quite felt right) but in January 2020, my eldest cat, Joey (17) passed. Then May 2020, a younger cat Chico (11) died of cancer in my arms and that completely broke me.
The grief was unbearable, and my support system (my parents) lived in the beautiful town of Cobourg. I started to stay with them, since it was covid and I was allowed to work from home, but I would never have considered living outside of Toronto if it wasn't for Covid. Without much resistance I sold my condo and moved to Toronto with the excitement that I would finally be able to get a dog!
That's when Skittles chose me to be her pawrent. Yes, she choose me. I went to see a litter of 13 Labrador Retriever puppies (all 3 colours) in November of 2020 and she was the only one that came straight up to me and put her paw on my leg.
I had no idea what I was in for other than I would protect her and love her at all cost. She sparked my interest in photography again because she was so darn cute.
Then I found Bentley! Someone was looking to re-home him and I just couldn't say no. Thankfully Cobourg has a by-law that if you live in a townhome you can only have 2 dogs.
I couldn't stop taking photos of Bentley and Skittles and I wanted to take better and better ones. So I decided to invest in myself and I joined to 2 amazing groups, Hair of the Dog Academy and Unleashed Education. These 2 groups keep me engaged and learning new techniques and I can keep up to date with changes in the industry (and believe me there are daily changes in just photo editing alone). It's been an exciting journey back to the world of photography and I finally feel at peace that I'm on the right path.
If you consider your dog(s) your furbabies, then I get you and we need to be friends! Get in Touch!