Soul Touched by Dogs

Welcome to the Soul Touched by Dogs
Podcast, the show for dog lovers who

see dogs not as toys or tools, but
wise souls worth our respect and care.

I'm an Herrmann, and I'm your host.

I talk to poor some humans, people who
do great work for dogs and their people.

So come and join us for
today's conversation.

Anke: Hello and welcome, Chris.

I'm super excited to have you here today.

Chris: Thank you, Anke, and I'm
really pleased to be with you as well.

Anke: Awesome.

Before we dive into the topic, and if
people are watching, you can already see

the photos behind, behind Chris there, so
you get a sense of where this is going.

But before we go there, why don't you
give people like a two minute bird's eye

overview, you know, where you're based?

What's,

Chris: what's the story?

What's the dog story?

Yes, thank you, Anke.

Well, people can probably tell from the
accent, I'm based in the UK, or at least

I'm from the UK, but I'm based in the UK.

Nice.

Uh, we live between Windsor and Ascot,
um, so if you know the UK, uh, well,

Heathrow Airport just, uh, to the west
of London and, and Windsor Castle, uh,

is where that area with the Windsor
Great Park, we take a lot of photographs.

Um, for those looking and watching the,
uh, this podcast, you will see some

of those photographs on the screen.

Uh, the country looking ones,
the forest looking ones.

We have so many forests near us.

Uh, as you can tell,
I'm a dog photographer.

Um, we are called Mill Pet Photography,
but we exclusively focus on dogs, and

maybe I can share a little bit about
why that, uh, why that is in a moment.

Um, but I have spent 40 years in
the tech industry, uh, and then,

uh, at the beginning of last year,
switched to be 100 percent full

time focused on photographing dogs.

I love

Anke: it.

I love it.

And I remember, actually, I remember
when we connected on LinkedIn, it

was just when you'd made the leap,
you know, and so it was just awesome

to see where you've taken it.

So, so yeah, why don't we start there?

You know, what, what's the
story behind the focus on dogs?

Chris: Yeah, well, if I go all the way
back, I mean, I've always had a passion

for photography, um, and like many people
always had a passion, not just for dogs,

for all animals, to be fair, um, cats and
dogs, um, but the very first dog that I

had was, uh, when I was two years old.

Uh, and obviously I don't remember
the dog coming home, but it was a

one year old, uh, greyhound rescue.

And, uh, my granddad at the time,
uh, used to, uh, work with greyhounds

and actually test them before they
raced, uh, back in those days.

And that's how we got Jenny,
uh, a beautiful grey greyhound

with little white paws.

Um, but the sad story, I mean, I
grew up with her, which is fantastic.

Uh, she lasted almost 12 years.

But I knew no other dog in all my life.

And even now when I speak with
my father, we only have between

us one photograph of Jenny.

And that is a photograph of Jenny and me.

And it's always made me sad,
and even now I'm thinking of it.

But it, it started to become quite
important to me a few years ago.

When around 2018, I was starting
to think, what do I want to do when

I eventually retire, if that's the
phrase, from the tech industry?

Um, and I did consider non executive
type roles, though there's more

natural route that people in
senior leadership roles would move

into, and that was my background.

But I don't always like to
just follow the norm, I like to

do something a bit different.

So, I decided then,
what's the hardest thing?

It's working with...

Children and animals.

So how about if I photograph,
well at least, animals.

And so in 2018 I started on that journey
and I took training with a number of the

leading dog photographers still today.

In the UK, Nick Ridley, who does
a lot of gundogs and working

dogs, I started with him.

Um, Maria, Michael
helped me a lot as well.

Uh, she still photographs.

Nick doesn't, but, uh, Maria does still
photograph and her work is excellent.

She does, uh, equine as well.

Um, and then remotely.

Charlotte Reeves in Australia
was just absolutely a superstar

in helping me focus and just get
outdoors, just focus outdoors.

Um, and then as the journey's
progressed, a whole, whole

load of other people, including
Claudia, uh, Claudia Oli in Italy.

who really taught me dogs in action,
um, so that I can get dogs in flight.

And, and I think it's for that
more locally that I've become

reasonably, um, uh, well known.

And people always want pictures
of their dogs flying if

their dogs will run at speed.

So, That's how I sort of got there.

And I started, I think, 2018 through
2021, as much as I could in my spare

time, just train and train and train.

And then, yeah, took the
step early last year.

I love

Anke: it.

I love it.

And if so, if you can see the
photos, you can see all the

images, they're all out in nature.

And so what's the,
what's the hardest part?

about getting like, you know,
because your, your photos on sort

of staged in a, in a studio, right?

So they kind of capture the dog in
movement in their natural, like literally

just kind of like a snap, like in
motion and, you know, where you can

really feel the essence of the dog.

Like what's the hardest
part of capturing that?

Chris: It's a really good question, and
I'm glad you picked that up as well, Anke,

because, um, first of all, uh, with the,
the technology in most people's mobiles

today, everyone can get great photographs
of their dog, um, particularly, as

I would say, in a portrait style.

Uh, and, and do so.

Just keep taking those photos.

I encourage everyone.

In fact, if anyone wants to later come
across our website, sign up to our

newsletter, they will get, um, a free
guide, a PDF guide on, on taking better

photo, photographs with your phone.

Um, a bit of your dog.

But coming to the point that
you say, yeah, how do you do it?

I just like getting
pictures of dogs being dogs.

Um, and, and it's a phrase I use.

I know a lot of people, I know in
the industry now, say the same thing.

You've gotta little dog, be a dog.

Now, I do love cute
photographs taken in studios.

Uh, there's some amazing studio
photographers, um, in the UK as well.

Uh, you and Chain up
in, uh, in, in Scotland.

Uh, spent some time with him last month
and, uh, and his work is just stunning.

Um, but, and it's
beautiful and I love that.

And, and, and it is still a
dog, being dog, but for me,

it's not my, my personal style.

I, I will do some, some studio
work, but it's for projects.

I just like getting dogs in their natural
environment, letting them have fun, and

I studied canine behavior, um, just over
two years ago now, and, uh, got a diploma

in it as well, and that helps me really
understand the dog at the time, so I can

work with very anxious dogs, um, the dogs
don't need to be on, uh, off lead if they

want to stay on lead for the safety of
the dog or the environment we're in, we'll

always do that, and we'll do the magic of,
uh, of post processing in Photoshop later.

But for me, it is about trying to connect
with the dog, and Yeah, the one thing

I do that might be a little different
is when I meet the dog, I meet the dog.

I don't meet the owner.

So when I'm there, particularly with
Sue, because my wife does join me,

uh, she's a dog wrangler, but actually
she's often talking to the owner.

I will engage with the dog immediately,
unless it's an anxious one, in which

case I'll, I'll give it a lot of time.

Um, but I'll get to know the dog and
I'll get very friendly with the dog.

And what comes through hopefully in
the photography is that the dog's

just having fun and just wants to
carry on doing what we're doing.

I love

Anke: that.

I really love it.

I mean, I was just, I was just thinking,
well, I'm going to go get that guy because

I have one of my dogs is like all black
and it's so hard to get a decent shot of

Chris: him.

Dog photographers will all say
the same thing that an all black

dog is one of the hardest to...

Not to photograph, but to show
in its true representation.

And I know those watching on the
screen will see there is a black

dog there, and it's relatively
small in its image size there.

Um, but the reason behind it is
because, particularly if you're

out in the natural light, you've
got lots of other colours going on.

Um, and you will tend to get blues and
magentas coming through in a black.

Uh, which is natural, but unfortunately
the way our cameras work is that

they'll often accentuate that,
so you need to balance that and

correct that in the post processing.

Not to get the dog completely
black, because that's also

not natural, but to get it...

Back to the natural colour that you saw.

So yeah, they are, they are a challenge.

Um, and also dogs at speed
are a challenge as well.

I bet, I bet.

That's what obviously I've, you know, both
with the equipment and the technique is

what I've learned is to capture those.

So

Anke: I think, well, my imagination goes
like, well, you'll probably take a lot

of photos in really short procession
to sort of find that, that, that one.

You know, so what, what's the, what's the
funniest story you've ever had with a dog?

Chris: Well, actually, um, there's quite
a few, but if I think of, there's two

that spring into mind immediately, and
they both ended up with, uh, me and

the dog on top of me with my camera.

Um, there's one that's, uh, actually,
um, I put out on social media earlier

this week, which is of Harvey, a
wonderful, uh, chocolate Labrador.

Now, he's a dog that I've now been able
to photograph three times, uh, over the,

the five years, and, uh, in this one that
I posted, he was, we're in the forest,

um, I'm laying on the ground, he kind of
knows we're there, I've got Dad behind me,

calling him, so he's running towards Dad.

But he sees me lying on the ground
at a slightly odd angle and I

literally am laying almost in
a little dip, so I'm below him.

And he jumps to go towards Dad, sees
me and sort of changes direction

and the photograph is, is captured
as, you're absolutely right, there's

probably 25 images in that sequence.

Uh, but that one is just
before he, he hits me.

Um, and then after that, he's hit me,
he's on top of me, and he's having a

good old lick and a laugh and things.

Um, but, and a very similar one, I did
a dog agility earlier this year, uh,

just for one client who'd taken the, uh,
the entire agility circuit, and I was

at different points taking photographs.

But at the end, when we were
finished, uh, Kiva was encouraged,

uh, go on, go and see Chris.

And I had photographed
her once before already.

Uh, so this was the second time,
and so she kind of knew me, and she,

again, she was all over me, and this
time she's licking the camera and

stuff, so, yeah, that was, that was
a pretty heavy duty clean afterwards

that was needed, but that's fine,
let dogs be dogs, and, uh, you get

the best pictures as well that way.

Anke: Totally, totally, I think
especially when it goes a little off

Chris: plan, right?

It's good fun, it is good fun.

Anke: Love it.

So in the last couple of
minutes, why don't you share

about your amazing 60 project?

Chris: Yes, Anke, thank you.

So, um, yes, so I turned 60 in a
couple of weeks time, um, and Lots

of people have been saying, hey, what
are you going to do for your birthday?

And we're going to do a few
things for friends and family.

But, um, it was like, are
you going to celebrate?

Are you going to go off?

Are you going to have a super party?

Are you going to have a
super holiday or something?

And it was kind of like,
I want to celebrate this.

But actually, I want to
celebrate it with dogs.

And so, um, the project that I'm
creating, and I'll be announcing

it all fully soon, is, is 60 at 60,
a celebration of the life of dogs.

And what I'm considering is photographing,
you know, so I don't want to use

any, uh, photographs I've taken
before, I'm happy to use the same

dogs if they want to be part of it.

But I want 60 different, uh, dogs.

They could be similar breeds in some
cases, but as, as unique as possible.

And I want to celebrate the lives of dogs.

So I want a group of, of dogs
that are in their puppy phase.

I want a group of dogs that are
up their, uh, very senior phase

and then everything in between.

And I'm also thinking that I
might go for some groups of

dogs that are truly working.

Um, so they're service animals as well.

Um, and if I look back over the last
five years, I've photographed dogs in all

of those categories, and wouldn't it be
nice to maybe get 60 of them, get them,

and I'll probably put them into a book.

We published a book last year,
Tales of Windsor and Ascot, and that

had 45 dogs in, so we might self
publish another book to cover that.

It'll be a fundraiser, anyone that's
part of it will be raising money for a

local dog charity as well, but I have
this vision that doing that would be

great to celebrate the lives of dogs,
but then I want to take one photograph

from each of those sessions and bring
that into a piece of art that I create.

Um, and I, I still don't know what
that will be, but it will be titled

A Celebration of the Lives of Dogs,
and it might be 60 at 60 still,

I'm not sure if I'll put that with
it, but that's what I'm after.

Um, I took a course earlier this year
with a lady called Belinda Riches

in Australia, who's the absolute...

She's the master of composite photography
for dogs, and she's created, if anyone's

not checked out her work, just, if
you love dogs, just check her out, so

Belinda Richards, and she, she takes
photographs mostly in the studio,

and then composites the pictures and
creates amazing piece of works of art.

So she's already trained me, and she's
agreed to, uh, to be a bouncing ball for

me as I try and come up with this idea.

It has to be mine, I have to
create it, it's got to be unique.

But I've never done it, so I can't
quite say to anyone, wow, this is what

it's going to look like at the end.

But I'm thinking I'll spend most of
next year taking one image from each

of the sessions, putting them into a
60 at 60, and before I hit 61, make

sure I finish this piece of work.

So, uh, if you were to check in this
time next year, I need to be sure.

I will definitely.

I've

Anke: got you now, Neil.

Chris: There's accountability.

Oh, I

Anke: will, you know, I'm a mean
account of kind, but I'm there.

So I'm going to check in on you.

So where can people go find
out more about you, about the

project, about the books to book

Chris: you?

Yeah.

The best place, I mean we're all
over socials, but the best place to

go is the website, and that's www.

millersimage.

com.

Um, the M I L stands for Millers Image
Limited, so it's, but it's Miller's Image.

If they forget that, just search Mill
Pet Photography, we should be found.

Uh, there shouldn't be
a problem with that.

The project itself, I'm just waiting
on, um, a couple of charitable

commitments, or confirmations.

Once I get those, then I will, Start
to socialize that, but I'm probably

going to wait until I am actually 60.

So maybe a couple more weeks before that's
up there, but the website and if you want

to be able to get to that PDF guide of
getting great photos from your mobile,

just sign up to the newsletter that's
up there and you'll get a copy of that.

Anke: Sounds fantastic.

So the link will obviously
be in the show notes.

If you're listening below the video,
if you're, if you're reading it

in the, in the, in the newsletter.

So thank you so much.

This was so much fun and I can't
wait to get that going now.

Thanks so much for listening.

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And if you know a pawsome human
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Email me at Anke.

That's A N k E at Soul
touched by dogs.com.