Julie Birkemeier Captures Our Pets.
St. Louis Craft Mafia member Julie Birkemeier is a talented photographer. We recently spoke to her about her newest endeavor, pet photography.
Q: What’s the focus of your business?
A: The main focus of my business is pet photography. I love, love, love, love, love it. I adore animals and working with them. A lot of my personal work in the past has been macro nature work, because I thrive on focusing on the little details of life that often go unnoticed. I think I’ve brought an element of that to this part of my work. I want to capture the soul of each animal in my work. I continue doing fine art personal work, and I’m still shooting weddings and portraits, as well.
Q: Tell us about your photos, what made you decide to start taking photos of pets?
A: It’s difficult for me to describe my own photographs because I see them as so simple, which is the point. I don’t have this huge process for my photography. There’s no hype in my photography–it’s all about the subject. And have an absolute adoration for animals, and because I love focusing on little things that go unappreciated or unnoticed every day, I think photographing people’s pets was a very natural step for me. Everyone loves the greeting they receive from their dogs when they come home from work, and to capture that energy in a photograph to look at forever is something special. When I started volunteering for Stray Rescue in November of 2008 things started to click. I wanted to photograph the personality of each dog I met. I’ve taken a few of them to the park and snapped some photos, loved it, and that’s how I got started.
Q: What do you like best about taking pet photos?
A: Several things. I love interacting with animals in general, so getting to meet a new furry friend is always fun for me. I love listening to pet owners gush over their animal companions. The more pets I photograph the clearer it becomes that each and every animal has their own personalities, and I love he challenge of trying to translate that personality into a photograph. When an owner tells me I have captured their pet’s personality to a T it makes me incredibly happy.
Q: What is it like to get pets to “pose” for photos? Are they cooperative? Do you need to bribe them with treats?
A: I definitely don’t take the Sears photo approach to photographing animals. Sure I’d love for them to sit still and pose for me, but what if a dog is known for running around like a maniac while she tries to kill her stuffed squirrel? I want to photograph that, too. My approach is to let whatever animal I’m photographing do his thing, and if he sits, great. If he doesn’t sit I’m still going to get the pictures I want because they’ll reflect who that dog is. Every animal is different.
Q: What is one of your favorite pet photo session experiences/stories?
A: My favorite photo session was actually very recently. I was photographing a 14-year-old Shar Pei. He was very slow moving, and his appearance was a bit crusty, but to witness the deep love his owner has for him was moving. The connection between them was amazing, and I was so happy that I could help preserve that love with some photographs.
Q: Do you have any animals?
A: Two cats: Francis and Sherman. They are best friends.
Q: What’s on the horizon for 2010?
A: Mutton Chops. I want to incorporate pet photography in with my dog walking and pet sitting business, so 2010 is all about launching this business. I’m also continuing photo work with a local program called Loosen the Leash, in which shelter dogs get trained by troubled teens. It’s a lot of fun to photograph, but I also want to help bring exposure to the program.
Q: Do you take the photos just for friends or do you take commissions from anyone? If you do take commissions from anyone, what is the best way for someone to contact you to get more information?
A: I do both! I’ll take as many animal photographs as I can handle! If anyone wants to contact me for a session they can email me at jbirkemeierphoto@gmail.com for a price quote. In the meantime, they can visit jbirkemeierphoto.blogspot.com to view more of my work.
