Something I enjoy doing is wandering around with a film camera and taking pictures of scenes and people who catch my eye. Having a camera on hand in the street is a bit of an all-access pass when it comes to interacting with strangers, and for whatever reason it also manages to shake away the shy.

The image above took place in downtown L.A. I had arrived early to an event so to kill some time I took a couple laps around a few blocks. The dog and human were doing the same thing; except they were both at work— meeting cars in the middle of the street and handing them boxes of goods. The two were an extension of each other. Not having any pets growing up it was this moment where I first noticed the human-pet relationship out in the urban wild.

Months later, a friend showed me something they found on Pintrest; a studio portrait of a human interacting with their fluffy friend, and asked if I would be up for recreating it. It genuinely ended up being some of the most fun I’ve had in the studio.

Pets are members of the family. All too often stories come up that start with, "I had a dog who would..." or "our childhood cat had this habit of..." It's important to create portraits that capture the spirit of our furry companions.