Spotlight
on an
Artist
who Photographs
Companion Animals
By LARKIN SCHMIEDL
Tanya Epp
expresses her passion for pets in an unusual way – the veteran dog trainer and horse owner takes pictures for a living. “I've got lots of experience with animals, so I just felt that it was natural to transition into pet photography,” she said. “I can see ahead of time what the animals are going to do and how I can work with them. Within five or 10 minutes I can get animals doing things, and the owners ask 'How'd you get them to do that?” Optical Delusions Photography was founded on Epp's practice of photo editing, but has grown to encompass photography of her own.
Seventy-five per cent of the pictures she takes are of pets. The 33-year-old says she always loved photography, but had a difficult time working on film. “Once I was exposed to digital photography, I saw that it was a lot easier.” She soon graduated to SLR photography. “My dogs are quite fast, and I found with a regular digital camera, that I couldn't keep up with the speed. So that's when I got a digital SLR camera.” There are some tricks to taking pictures of pets. “Sometimes pets, when they see the focus on them, they get nervous so they can be shy. Or they can be quickmoving, so you have to really be fast.” WINTER 2013 l KIBBLE
S17