MEMBER MONDAY FEATURING TRAVIS PATENAUDE 

We’re talking dog photography with Travis Patenaude in this week’s Member Monday feature. Take a look at his imagery below and get the details on how he creates images like these and who inspired him!

ABOUT THE PHOTOS

These four images were taken in my garage during the summer for adoption photos to help find these dogs homes. I have been practicing lighting all summer, and finally got it to start to click. I started out with a single light and slowly added more lights and finally doing five lights. Yes five lights for a single dog. I also had several Black Dogs that we were fostering so I really got to practice Black on Black. I used two 36”x48” black foam core as the background. I was also trying to show how little space is needed to do these photos. The photo of the Galgo wearing the Rabbit Mask took 4 different sessions. Between getting the lighting correct, the mask to stay in place, yes she is actually wearing the mask, and getting the pose I was looking for. This photo was created to show the connection between the Hunting Dogs of Spain and the Hare they hunt. At the end of hunting season 50,000 – 100,000 Galgos are abandoned or killed each year in Spain.

 
GEAR AND SOFTWARE
I used Godox AD600 as Main light and two Godox AD200’s for my rim lights and finally I used to speed lights, one as a fill light with no modifier and second was the background light. I used lightroom to catalog the images and Photoshop to edit the images. I also used Nix ColorFX to add contrast.



 

PHOTOGRAPHY PREFERENCES

I purchased my first camera 4.5 years ago to try and tell the story of the Hunting Dogs of Spain (Galgo Espanol). I have traveled to Spain several times to photograph the dogs in the shelters and during rescues. I also photograph the Galgos that we transport to the Chicago area. I continue to study and learn as much as I can to improve my photography and to become a better story teller with my photos.

PHOTOGRAPHY INSPIRATION 

Kaylee and Sam Hendrix do an amazing job. She captures the dogs personality so well and she puts her personality into ever photo. The class that helped inspire me is Dog Photography: Overcoming Challenging Situations. Most of the dogs I photography are very traumatized and fearful. I always look for new ways to keep the session as stress-free as I can.

FAVORITE KELBYONE CLASS

Unmesh Dinda’s Jaw-Dropping Photoshop Effects. Unmesh is a fantastic instructor. He is great at explaining each step and he keeps it very upbeat. I picked up more tips from this class then I have in any other class or workshop.

Check out more of Travis Patenaude’s dog photography on his website and follow Travis on Instagram.