Ask Lennah Anything

  Why is a photography blog writing about this? Because more and more our web hosts are sending you automatic download links and AOL thinks we are sending you viruses or spam. :-) We have run into this MORE on AOL. That does not mean it does not happen on other mail servers. Just so you know MANY but not all dog show photographers use this same web host so this will help you get ALL of our download links!  Whitelist an Email Sender in AOL You must add the email address or corporate domain of the sender to your address book or custom sender list to make sure email gets delivered to your AOL inbox.  First, click on the " Spam Controls " link on the lower right side of your inbox screen. A " Mail and Spam Controls " box will appear. Now click on the " Customer Sender " list link and choose the " Allow email from ... " option. Enter no-reply@shootproof.com, then click " add " and " save ."  In more recent versions of AOL, you can

Announcements at the end of the blog. We are getting ready for our busy season and will be seeing you at shows soon! Please feel free to give us questions for the blog at shows, but due to time constraints please write them down, we are literally answering everything asked in this format BECAUSE it gives us time to do so without being rude! Email and Facebook are always a great way to get in touch! Favorite dog show moment? Hmm 🤔 So many, watching my family do well, going Winners Dog at the national last year. PHOTOS?  Being asked to shoot shows and hired to come back, always nice!  Being hired for portrait sessions outside of a dog show weekend "back in the day" before candid photographers were a thing.  The cover shots I have had,  I have had over 30 cover shots in breed and all breed magazines, always nice. Biggest misconception people outside of the business have about what you do? That dog show photographers only work on the weekends! I cannot

Announcements at the end of the blog. We are getting ready for our busy season and will be seeing you at shows soon! Please feel free to give us questions for the blog at shows, but due to time constraints please write them down, we are literally answering everything asked in this format BECAUSE it gives us time to do so without being rude! Email and Facebook are always a great way to get in touch! If you could change one thing about dog shows what would it be? What about just dog show photography? If I could change one thing?  I would make it about the dogs again. It currently is not. It is about the ego, about the person and it is sad. If I could change one thing about dog show photography?  Harder, but probably again that it be about the dog. If I hear one more person say, gee that is the best I have ever seen on my dog, but I look like crap. Uhm...it truly is not about you! If I could change two things? I would want the respect back. The lack of respect for each oth

Announcements at the end of the blog. We are getting ready for our busy season and will be seeing you at shows soon! Please feel free to give us questions for the blog at shows, but due to time constraints please write them down, we are literally answering everything asked in this format BECAUSE it gives us time to do so without being rude! Email and Facebook are always a great way to get in touch! If a photographer is rude or consistently not taking quality photos what can I, as an exhibitor, do? Like so many things, there are many reasons for any situation. IF the photographer is consistently rude or just bad at their job then contact the show chair period!  We all have bad days, frustrating times, judges that make our life more difficult than it needs to be but, to continually be rude? It might be time to change it up! We have found that notifying the show chair on any given weekend, can be very informative. Some of us, use multiple year contracts , some pay (throu

Not all dog shows do the same thing when it comes to photographers...and a lot of that is regional...find out more below! Announcements at the end of the blog. We are getting ready for our busy season and will be seeing you at shows soon! Please feel free to give us questions for the blog at shows, but due to time constraints please write them down, we are literally answering everything asked in this format BECAUSE it gives us time to do so without being rude! Email and Facebook are always a great way to get in touch! Why do some shows have multiple photographers listed and what does this mean for an exhibitor? It depends on the area. The west coast is it's own entity. I have no idea why they work the way they do. Nor do I know how the photographers actually make a living. Many probably have more than one job or photograph more than one type of event. If you notice a couple different photographers listed in areas other than the west coast. Then, more than likely, t

This week we are covering a variety of questions. We are in need of more questions to answer! Please contact us at our email or on Facebook with yours! I’m curious what lens do you recommend and best all around settings for camera? Also any tips for photos of smaller dogs on the ground...so dang hard!   This depends heavily on the brand of camera you use, and what type of shot you are trying to get. A win shot or a candid? Inside or out? The number one thing I can tell you is that digital cameras chose light over focus. This is not the choice a dog person wants. To avoid this, especially indoors, a lens with an f-stop of 2.8 is your best bet. For small dogs always try to be on their level. If they are on a table stand up, if they are on the ground, get down. It isn't always easy for those of us with dog show knees but that is what it takes! What is the largest barrier in getting started as a photographer? The dog knowledge needed. Not the cost, but the har

This is the last of a group of posts of questions that didn't require longer answers. I am sure there will be more in the future! I am limiting these to three questions so there isn't as much information to take in! I would like to thank Kim and Odebt for these questions.  Please, without questions there is no blog so ask, ask, ask!   Can digital images be rushed for ad deadlines? Yes. However, in this day of digital images, most of us are set up so that you are able to get images almost instantly. It is no longer like the days of film. I have images online within 48 hours of a show (normally much faster, but sometimes driving/weather happens) and digital orders go out within 48 hours, if there are no special requests, of being placed. Very little rushing is actually needed now a days. If you need it faster that that or if your photographer edits images prior to placing them online (which I don't which is how they get online so quickly), then most have a fee and c

We are in the middle of posts that are multiple questions that don't require longer answers. I am limiting these to three questions so there isn't as much information to take in! I would like to thank Kim and Odebt for these questions.  Please, without questions there is no blog so ask, ask, ask! Is it okay for the exhibitor to ask for help from the photographer? I would love to pretend this one confuses me. It is my job to help you, you shouldn't have to ask. However, I know that what is expected from photos and photographers has changed so much, that people are not longer looking for a nice photo to record their dogs win. they are now looking for the "perfect portrait" of their dog and themselves. I also know, that many photographers do not, never have, or no longer tell exhibitors what to fix, or what looks "off." This baffles me, as I grew up with photographers in our sport that ALWAYS told you what to fix, or what needed doing. I was TRAINE