My inspiration

I started taking pet portraits as a hobby shortly after the death of my beloved cat, Colby.

Colby spent the last year of his life fighting a fungal infection in his brain. The infection caused him to lose motor control and eventually to go blind. My partner and I made the heartbreaking decision to put Colby down after several treatments failed to improve his condition.

Days after his death, I went searching through my photo albums for pictures of Colby. I found a few blurry snapshots, but I couldn't find a single photo that captured Colby the way I remembered him.

Then, a few weeks later, I discovered a sleeve of negatives that I had taken while messing around with an old manual camera. I held the negatives up to the light, and tears formed in my eyes. There were two beautiful, graceful photos of Colby — powerful reminders of his time with us.

I think of those photos every time I take a pet portrait. It is my goal to help pet owners keep their beloved companions' memories alive the way that Colby's memory lives with me.