When you book your session with me, I will send out our welcome packet - it has tips and tricks to help your session go smoothly.

Here are some of the more important ones.

Walk or play with your dogs right before your session

While they'll still be amped up when they get to me, burning off some of that extra energy beforehand will be help. A tired dog is a good dog.

Don't feed them

I always use treats as motivators, so I want them good & hungry! Even if they aren't usually food motivated, I bring some REALLY good smelling stuff, so I at least want to try it. Even if I don't give it to them, it is a good trick to make them look at my camera.

Let me know of any issues

Does your pet have any allergies, sensitivities, or behavior triggers?  Let me know before your session so I can prepare.  This includes letting me know if something is either good or bad - if they are food aggressive, if they will ALWAYS look when you say "squirrel", if they can't have chicken products, etc.  These are all things I want to know before your session.

Groom them a couple of days before

If your dog requires grooming or a bath, please do this at least the day before your session, if not earlier. Bad haircuts happen and we want to avoid that last minute mess, but also grooming usually gets on the dogs' nerves and I want them as calm as we can when they reach me. PLEASE do not book grooming or give baths the same day as your shoot.

Be calm & quiet

Depending on the dog, I may need your help during the session, but it's usually just by holding the leash out of the way. If you talk to your dog, they will look at you, and unless it's for a specific shot, I want them looking at me. Don't make clicking noises or tell them to look at me. I've got some annoying tricks that will definitely make them watch me.

And please stay calm, even when you think your dog is misbehaving. I promise, I'm still getting great photos. If you are anxious and upset, your dog will be able to sense that and things will just get worse. Breathe, baby. I gotchu. :)

Leave distractions at home

Unless we're doing a full family session, please leave babies and children at home. They are full of chaotic energy and will hype up the dogs.

Likewise, unless we need them, please don't bring additional people or pets. Even small things are distractions for dogs and I want all that focus on me. Even if others leave the area, the dogs will look for them, so if you can, just bring who is essential to the session.

You don't need to have your session planned out before you book. I can help you decide the best place to take photos and what all we can do. But if you have ideas for the session, feel free to let me know! We can shoot anywhere around the Tulsa area, including my studio or your home. There are tons of options!

And if you're in Oklahoma or the surrounding states but can't make it to Tulsa, please reach out and we can discuss travel options. 

Have you thought about what you want to do with the images we create from your pet portrait session yet?

While I do sell digital files, I like my clients to walk away from their session with something they can see without opening their phone. My work is shot to be artwork, whether that's something you sit on your desk or something you hang on your walls.

I want everyone to have not only images that they can share at work, but also pieces that enhance their homes.

Here are a couple of my favorite options. 

My favorite product is the keepsake box.

It is a custom-designed box that holds 5x7 prints and, if you choose to purchase digital files, it holds your USB mounted on the inside as well.

The number of prints depends on the package you get, but at minimum, you'll get 15 prints with a digital matting. You can frame these or keep them in the box to display.

I love these because you can keep more images in one place, it is a unique conversation piece, and you can keep other items in the box as well (tags, nose prints, certificates, ribbons, etc).

Of COURSE I love the wall pieces.

I have huge images of my pets in my home and it always makes me smile. I have portraits I took of my pets that have since passed away and I'm so glad I got the images of them that I did before they were gone.

I have several options for wall art, including canvases, acrylic prints, and storyboards. 

I personally love a large collection of canvases together that you can build on over the years, adding in images of your family, your pets, your travels - the story of your life as artwork.

The storyboards are popular with my clients. It's one large canvas piece (up to 30x30) with a few of the favorite images on it. I custom design these to however best fits the vibe of the photos.

Please note the dog by the sushi sign....his name was Sushi so we had to find a great sign to shoot in front of.  (Thanks, In the Raw Sushi on Brookside in Tulsa!)

Another favorite with my clients is the hardcover album.  I have two sizes of albums to fit your needs, a smaller one at 6x9 and the big daddy 8x12. 

You already KNOW which one I like best because I love to see the huge photos of my pets when I'm looking at them. :)

You get to choose your favorite image for the cover and I'll design it to best fit on the book.

This is my girl, Tig.  I just wanted to post this photo here too because I have a 30x40 canvas of this image up in my entryway and it gets SO many compliments. I have had it up for a few years and am never tired of looking at it. 

Our pets are our children (and in my case, my only children) and deserve to be made into artwork. 

You will never regret getting a professional image of your pet. If you're in Oklahoma and would like some photos of your dog and/or family, please check out the rest of the website and see if Snoots is a good fit for you. I would love to work with you and your furry babies. :)

One of the first things people say when I reveal I'm a pet photographer is, "Oh, my dog would NEVER sit still for photos."

And you're right. They don't sit still very often at all. Even for me.

But you know what? I work fast and I have ways of getting their attention JUST long enough to take a photo. That's all it takes. My camera's speed is usually set to around 1/200 of a second, so..... :)

Take this pair.  They were SUPER excited and a little nervous. The little brown one was still a puppy and he was EVERYWHERE. And it worked out just fine! As a matter of fact, he was pulling so hard on the leash at some points, he knocked over the background and I had to fix it. 

How about a comparison between what the photo actually looked like vs what I delivered to the client?

As you can see, I have to do a little work to make some images perfect.

In this one, I've removed the people, leashes, background wrinkles, and lots of missing background. I've also scooted over the little one to make it look like he was next to his brother. 

I have a few tricks in my bag in order to get the dogs in that split second to be camera ready. It involves treats (mostly QT hotdogs, if I'm being honest) and a ton of noise makers. It's loud and obnoxious in my sessions and it's so much fun. lol

And, by the way, your dogs don't have to know sit, stay, lay down, etc.  It's certainly helpful, but it's not required. They will usually sit on their own, treats help lead the way, and standing photos are adorable as well.

So all of that to say - if you're wondering if your dogs will be well-behaved in front of the camera, let me say that NO...they probably won't.  But it doesn't matter because I can fake it for ya.  

If you're in Oklahoma and you've always wanted to get professional photos of your dogs but were scared to do so, please put me up to the challenge. I promise about 85% of the dogs I work with are just regular ol' misbehaving, wild, excited, leash pulling pups. The beauty is in that 1/200 of a second.

Check out the other photos on my website, instagram, and facebook and see if you like my style. It just takes a little patience and a lot of hotdogs. :)

I sometimes photograph pets that are too anxious, old, or sick to leave their homes very often. And to that I say ABSOLUTELY FINE!  

Even when a pet is great outside of their home, I often will suggest doing the portrait session at home. There's absolutely nothing as comfortable and relaxing as being in your own space, and that goes for pets as well.

You don't have to have anything big or fancy in order for your home pet portraits to turn out great. I will always come in and scope out the spaces and see what may work best for the photos. Often I'll see something that you wouldn't normally notice that may make for a great backdrop.

We can also do photos in your yard - again it doesn't need to be perfectly manicured or cleaned up. I just need a few feet of space and I can make magic happen, I promise! :) But if you have something special or pretty that you do like about your home or yard, I can bring that out in your photos.

If you'd rather do your photos somewhere else, we definitely can! Home sessions are my favorite, but I also have a studio space we can shoot in, as well as any public place outdoors around the Tulsa area. We have a ton of options to choose from and we'll discuss the pros and cons of each when you book your session.

If you're looking for a dog photographer in Tulsa (or Broken Arrow, Owasso, Jenks, etc) check out the website and see if Snoots is the right fit for you and your pup. If the location is within 15 miles of Tulsa, there is no session fee, but I will gladly travel to Oklahoma City, Wichita, Kansas City, Dallas, etc!

I was contacted by the Tulsa International Airport and they wanted to know if I would like to have a gallery of my pet photography up in their hallways.

Um.....YES PLEASE!

So I took the month of December to create 20 pieces for them. We went to a lot of very "Tulsa" places so I could highlight some of our cool spots. The project is made up of all rescue or shelter animals, both cats and dogs, showing the wide range of beautiful, adoptable pets that are currently in need of homes.

The common thought with these animals is that they're unadoptable, mean, sick, or too old. I volunteer with these animals all the time and have found quite the opposite. (And, actually, my soul dog Tig was a messy little stray that a rescue picked up and I foster failed her so fast because I fell absolutely in love with her!)

This is just a few of the images I took for the project. If you'd like to see more, please visit the Tulsa airport sometime in the next year (they will be displayed until at least 2025). They will be displayed in the hallways that lead from the parking garages in both terminals.

Huge shout out to BARC Rescue and Sand Springs Animal Welfare. I borrowed their pets for most of these images. :) Please give them a visit if you're looking for a new furry bff.

If you can't adopt, foster. If you can't foster, volunteer. If you can't volunteer, donate. If you can't donate, share. 

Tulsa locations highlighted here:

Circle Cinema, Woodward Park conservatory, Philbrook Museum, the downtown skyline as seen from Boxyard, Golden Driller, and the BOK tower from Boston Ave.