Lawrence Ripsher's Photo Journal

The Family Photographer

Once in a while, friends of mine ask me to photograph their family / dogs / childen/ etc.

The conversation is not always an easy one. In the early days when I was just starting out with photography, and I was asked mostly just due to the fact that I had a DSLR, it was easy to agree to and I’d just do it for free. These days, photography is much more than just a hobby to me and I’m cautious about taking on new projects for other people. With only a finite supply of energy and motivation, I’m careful to spend it wisely, so to speak.

One idea that has been offered - charging friends professional rates - hasn’t been the solution. While I think it’s fair (and people I know are comfortable with it), almost every paid-for shoot I do leaves me not feeling like picking up the camera for days due to the time / effort it consumes. My solution has been to come up with the following:

- I now agree to these shoots with friends but they are kept ultra short. They’re arranged during lunch, catch up’s or something similar. The expectation is set so that only 5 images are expected to be received, no more. Not dozens of processed images, not a CD of raw shots - but a handful of high quality images that they can expect to frame / keep.

- I do charge a nominal fee - equivalent to perhaps a moderately expensive lunch that might have normally been offered as the alternative form of payment :). The money is kept on the low side to reflect the very short time I spend shooting (< 20 minutes).

- All money collected goes to the dog charity I support here.

This idea was put to the test with friends of mine a couple of weekends ago who had been asking me for some time to photograph their beautiful baby boy. It was a big success for all of us. The results were that the parents got 11 photos they’re very happy with (it was a productive shoot - my expected 5 shots ended up being a round dozen), I found my enthusiasm / energy intact (to the contrary, I enjoyed myself fully) and a handful of lucky mutts ended up with a hundred bucks worth of doggie bones to chew on :).

The Shelter

This year has started well for another of my passtimes -  I’ve managed to get to my favourite dog shelters here in Singapore almost every weekend. For those who know me, I’m a huge dog lover and do a lot of training (and more recently rehoming). My intention is to make this more than just a hobby.

One of the reasons I actually got into photography in the first place was because of a dog calendar I produced for charity in 2005 - my first major project. Now I’m planning to once again combine my photography with dog charity work and will be starting several new projects in coming weeks.

I’ll also be starting a new blog dedicated to dog training and rehoming within the next two weeks. In the meantime, a couple of shots from the shelter last weekend.

Meet “tiger”. He is a great dane mix up for adoption. Much smaller than a purebred great dane - he is about a year old and nearly fully grown. About the same size as a pointer. Has cool markings on his body (hence “tiger”). Extremely friendly. He is a bit timid when meeting strangers but that quickly wears off. Wonderful temperment. Also loves to run, play, etc. Lots of fun. If I didn’t already have two dogs, I’d take him in a heartbeat.

The shelter I visit also has cats for adoption. This is just me flexing the 5D + 35mm L f/1.4 combo’s muscles a little.

Not all the dogs at the shelter are ready for rehoming. Ones like this boy need much more work and it’s only through time, patience and persistence that they’ll get the second chance they deserve.