Honey’s Portrait Session
Honey, the Hungarian Viszla
Last year, I learned about South East Dog Rescue, a brilliant rescue that not only rehomes dogs but also offers permanent homes to those whose temperaments make them currently unsuitable for rehoming with the public. These are known as their “Sanctuary Dogs”. SEDR accepts stray dogs picked up by council dog wardens across Kent and offers space to dogs from other shelters that would otherwise be euthanised. The founder, Kymm, and her volunteers are available 24/7 to take in any stray dogs picked up that need a place to go. Sadly, SEDR received the bad news that the landlord had put their current site up for sale to make room for development properties, leaving them urgently in need of funding to either find a new home for the rescue to rent or, ideally, to buy. They have invested significant effort in fundraising through various events, and many supporters have contributed. After hearing about their situation and meeting the incredible volunteers, I filmed a video interviewing Kymm and her fundraising manager, Victoria, which you can watch here:
To raise funds for the rescue, I also set up a Calendar Contest. The contest worked like this: owners submitted a photo of their dog, and friends and family donated to vote for the dogs that would win a Portrait Session with me and have their photos featured in the calendar, which then went on sale to raise more funds. I am proud to have raised over £3500 and was delighted to hear that the landlord has renewed the lease for another year, however SEDR still needs to find a permanent site in another year’s time, and so I will be repeating the calendar contest again for a second time in the coming months. You can sign up for my mailing list or follow me on social media to be among the first to learn when the contest opens so that you can enter your dog for a chance to win a free portrait and be featured in the 2027 Save Our Rescue Calendar.
I can hold On-Location Sessions anywhere that is special to you and your dog, such as parks, woodlands, or the beach. For the winners of the 2026 Calendar Contest who chose a woodland setting for their free session, I selected East Hoath Woods in Wigmore, as it is a favourite location of mine. These woods are largely unmanaged, meaning ground-covering plants and fallen trees are left in place, creating interesting backdrops for photographs. Most of the trees are sycamores, which give a lovely colour in autumn, so the woods provide a beautiful and changing range of hues throughout the year. There are also a number of trees there with multiple trunks sprouting from the same base, creating a lovely moss-covered "seat" in the middle which provides some lovely framing for pet portraits, as well as some very mature trees with trunks a couple of feet across, great for "peep" shots, one of my favourite types of portrait where your dog sneaks a glance at the camera from behind a tree. Despite being unmanaged, the woodland is well-worn and well cared for by the many dog walkers who use it daily. This means there are level paths around the edge of the woods and dog bins available for use, making it as convenient as it is scenic.
Honey upon a fallen tree in East Hoath Woods, Kent
One of the lucky contest winners who came to meet me at East Hoath Woods was Honey (@honeytheexploringviszla), whose name perfectly fits her beautiful honey-toned coat. She came in third place overall in the contest, raising an outstanding £200 towards South East Dog Rescue. Honey's owner let me know at the start that Honey can be anxious around men, which is not an issue for me, as I am happy to give any dog as much space as they need to feel comfortable. In fact, a dog that likes their space can be easier to photograph, as friendlier dogs like to come for cuddles and end up on the wrong side of the camera! That being said, it didn’t take honey long to warm up to me. As a Hungarian Viszla, she is a working breed that thrives on structured interactions. Once I started giving her and her owner clear, decisive instructions with plenty of rewards for a job well done, she settled into the session and was more than happy to pose for the camera.
I strive to make every session as enjoyable as possible for the dogs I work with, and by extension, their owners, as this will emanate through in the final image when your dog's true, joyful self is captured. I initially like to give your pet 10-15 minutes to walk and sniff around, giving them plenty of time to simply "be a dog" and settle into the environment before we ask them to perform or pose for photographs. At this time, I might take a couple of candid photos of them as they relax and explore their surroundings before starting to ask them to work.
Honey is clearly a very intelligent dog whose owner works brilliantly with her. She quickly grasped that she was being asked to stand or sit in different places, look towards the camera or in a specific direction, and stay still for a moment before being rewarded. You might think that sitting and standing a few times on a walk around the woods doesn't sound like much work for a dog, but being asked to learn and play the new game of posing for photographs is mentally challenging, and I promise that your dog will be tired afterwards. I usually hear from clients that their dogs go straight to sleep as soon as they get home; even an intelligent working breed like Honey was no exception. This is why I generally ask owners not to walk their dogs before a session. I will also only keep the dog working for as long as they are happy to. This is where my training in animal body language and behaviour comes into play, as it’s imperative that I consistently interpret the signals your pet is giving me. When the dog has had enough, we finish up because while you may be my client, your dog is always my boss. Of course, every dog is an individual, and for a high-energy working dog like Honey, they can just keep on going tirelessly, and once they learn the rules of posing for the camera, they will start putting their paws up on different logs and looking at me as if to ask if we can keep playing this new game.
After each session, I will select the best images for retouching, adjusting the colours, lighting, and shadows to showcase your dog at its best, and I will remove your dog's lead if they were wearing one for the session. If a dog doesn't have the best recall and needs to be on a leash for their portraits, that's no problem. As I like to say to clients, it's a lot easier to edit a lead out of a photograph than to edit a dog back into one. Given that Honey had a complimentary mini session, her owner was only promised a gallery of 3 images. However, because Honey was such a standout and gave me so much to work with, I fully retouched 8 portraits for the Reveal Session.
About 2 weeks after the Portrait Session, I will host the Reveal Session, either via Zoom or, ideally, in the client's home, as I did for Honey's owner. I connect my laptop to their TV to play a slideshow of the final images and provide digital mockups of how different image arrangements could look on my clients’ walls. We then create the bespoke artwork together as the clients review the images one by one and select which to print and which frames would work best in their homes for their new wall art. I can also make tweaks to photographs if requested, such as cropping a landscape image to a portrait ratio, ensuring at the Reveal Session that everything meets the client's exact specifications before sending the images to my print lab for final artwork production.
Honey’s three Acrylic Prints
There are practical benefits to doing this in person at the client's home: they can see how different print sizes look in their space, they can hold sample prints in their hands and view them up close, and they can use my sample frame chevrons to find the best match for their interior design scheme. PersonallyI just love seeing people's genuine emotional reactions when they see the artwork I have created for them for the first time. Plus, getting to see their dog again is always a bonus!
When I saw Honey again, she was a little wary of me coming into her space at first, similar to when we first met in East Hoath Woods. This was exacerbated by a fellow doggy friend of hers being over at the time, as when one dog is agitated or emotionally stimulated, those vibes tend to spread to the others. As always, I let them be and made sure not to add any excitement to the situation. They were free to sniff and investigate me at their leisure, and as I know Honey can have issues with men, I made myself smaller and spoke more softly to appear less of a threat. Often, dogs don’t actually dislike men; it just so happens that the way men hold themselves and communicate is in a way that a dog can perceive as threatening. It didn’t take long for them both to settle down, and we were friends again by the end of the Reveal Session.
Her owner chose a set of three 16x12 acrylic prints that look beautiful together and fit perfectly in her home. She didn’t have much wall space in her new home, so we opted for a collection of smaller prints. I pride myself on not upselling clients. It is my goal to find the right option for your home and budget, whilst making those choices as simple as possible. I want to work with clients again and again, watching their dogs grow over the years, and pushing hard to line my pockets from a single sale won’t help me achieve that dream. She opted to pay in instalments, which I offer to give clients flexibility when investing in portraits of their beloved pets. This also allowed her to delay opening her new artwork until Christmas Day, a wonderful gift to herself that will go a long way toward decorating her newly purchased home.
We selected a striking image to feature on the May page of the calendar, with Honey standing proudly on a fallen tree, framed by branches behind her. Her golden eyes are fixed on the camera as she focuses on the task at hand, capturing her personality as a dog born to work and to lock into any task you ask of her. Although we’re already partway through 2026, you can still purchase a fundraising calendar to enjoy for the rest of this year at the following link, where you can also purchase gift certificates:
The image of Honey featured in the 2026 Save Our Rescue Calendar
After receiving her prints, Honey’s owner was kind enough to leave me this five-star review on Google:
“Couldn't recommend enough!!!! Conor was brilliant taking his time with my pup! Took his time to make sure she felt safe with him! The photos are amazing and now pride of place in my home! Able to pay in 3 also to help with budgets! Perfect Christmas present 🎁”
I was personally so happy with the results of Honey's session that I chose to use four of the images for one of my samples, which I take to events and to other clients' Reveal Sessions as an example of my work, which demonstrates the kind of aperture arrangements that I can provide, with multiple images arranged in one frame. This is a great option for displaying a mini gallery of photographs at the cost of just one print and frame.
36×24 Framed Print with aperture layouts
If you are considering adding professional portraits of your pets to your home, book your complimentary, no-obligation consultation call.
During the call, I will ask about your pet’s age, breed, and temperament. I will also ask what motivates them. Most of all, I want to understand their personality and what they mean to you. Our pets leave a lasting impact on our lives and imprint themselves on our hearts. I aim to capture more than just how your pet looks; I want to capture that feeling they give you every time they greet you after a hard day. Together, we can immortalise that feeling in beautiful artwork that can adorn your walls for a lifetime.