You don’t know the value of a photo until it’s all you have left.

I’m a pet photographer, I know this. But it rings truer to me as a dog mom than I ever could have imagined.

I’ve photographed a lot of dogs over the years from puppies with boundless energy to senior dogs who have slowed down and move through life slowly and simply. And I’ve shared the experience of a studio portrait session with so many dog parents and the thing I’ve learned that rings true to me as a dog photographer: nobody ever regrets taking photos of their dog. But almost everyone regrets not taking them sooner.

A couple of months ago, I photographed a senior dog and his family. His human sister booked a senior session at the studio. The senior session was for her, a high school senior, but it was also for her dog, a senior boy who is the center of his family's world. She told me how much a part of her family he is and that she wanted photos of her boy. To her, this wasn’t her senior session, it was his.  She recognized that they had taken lots of photos on their phones over the years, but not one professional photo and that’s what she wanted. She could feel time reminding her it moves forward whether we want it to or not.

When she reached out to book her session, she said: “I really want to incorporate my dog because I love him so much.”  And here’s the thing that hit me, this high school senior recognized the importance of her boy in her whole family’s life. She cared about capturing photos that would give her family the gift of a tangible memory. She knew how important professional photos were even though she has millions on her phone.

She wanted to remember the way he looked at her but even more, she wanted to remember the way she looked at him.

Photographs freeze the moments we never want to end. They capture the details, the personality, the way we look our dogs.  They capture a moment in our lives that we can’t get back. We never think we’re close to “lasts.” We just keep living life. Until one day, we realize we’re wishing for the photo we don’t have.

I can’t count how many times someone has reached out because they lost their dog and they wanted something, anything, that showed the years of love they shared. A moment. A memory. A photograph that feels like their dog. And every single time, it’s the same sentiment:

I wish I had booked a professional photo session with my dog. or I wish I had booked a session sooner.

Not because they weren’t ready before or hadn’t thought of booking a session a million times. Not because they didn’t care. But because life was busy, routines took over, and it didn’t feel urgent until it suddenly was.

If you have a dog who leans into you, follows you room to room, sits at the top of the stairs waiting for you to come back… I want you to think about this question:

If you could only keep one photo of your dog forever, which one would it be?

I’m not trying to make you emotional (okay, maybe I am because these emotions are ones I’ve felt as a dog mom). What I want you to really know is that you won’t regret having that photograph. You will only regret not doing it when you could.

If you’ve been thinking about booking a portrait session but keep putting it off, this is your sign. Reach out. Ask questions. Tell me about your dog. We’ll make it easy and comfortable and I will do everything I can to capture who your dog really is.

Because the photo you’ll wish you had is the one you take before you ever need it.