When you're a young dog that has lived on the streets in Greece most of its life and only recently come to cold and strange Denmark, coming into a new apartment with lightstands and big, white paper backgrounds is frightening. However, Nanna was a trooper and even though the tail was firmly stuck between her legs upon arrival and she didn't dare to step on the background, she grew slightly grew more confident. Confident enough to not give the background a second glance and to trust us unknown people enough to demand more headscratches by timidly pushing her nose in the hand (oh be still, my heart!).
If (adult) humans don't want to be photographed, it's often due to not liking to be the centre of attention and/or generally not liking pictures of oneself. As a photographer, you can reason with these people, reassure, talk to and distract them to make them relax.
A pet (or also child, for that matter) that is afraid can't logically be convinced there everything is going to be alright. So we took a lot of time talking, stroking and motivating Nanna to explore and relax. We like dogs and Nanna seems to be a very special dog that didn't make a sound and liked to be close to humans, so we really didn't mind. Obviously, we didn't want her to get really afraid and always checked with the owner.
She wasn't very interested in getting treats (apparently, because of her time as a stray dog she didn't really understand the concept of rewards), but sounds caught her attention. So the perky ears on these photos might either come from her squeaky toy or me lying on the floor and neighing like a horse.
If you live in Copenhagen and want your dog photographed, get in contact with us! We'd love to say hi!
It wasn't so bad now, was it, Nanna?
Oh well.