I hate having my photo taken

An ironic story by yours truly.

I needed to have new photos taken for my business pages, as the ones I have are now a couple of years old. Love Tails is just me, so by default, I am the face of the business. So I reached out to my friend Isaac who is also a photographer. Cristal: Ugh! I need a portrait of me for my business, can you help? Isaac: Sure, happy to help Cristal: Marvin needs to be in the photos too and he has a tiny attention span, so bring your patience. Also and I'm a terrible model, I have resting grumpy face (a phenomenon some of us suffer from where our 'normal' face looks grumpy) Isaac: Marvin and I are good mates. It sounds like you're going to be more trouble than him. Cristal: Most definitely, see you Tuesday? Isaac: I'll see you then, she'll be right, we got this. Cristal: Thanks for doing this. OMG. I was DREADING it.

What ensued was hilarious. Directing people and dogs is my day to day so I'm used to it, but this was Isaacs first experience working with pets. Marvin was having a great time tearing around the studio with the toy donut, jumping off the seat, wiggling out of my arms and trying to steal treats at any given opportunity, everything except for the one thing he was supposed to do - pose for the camera. I assured Isaac that this is totally normal. "Welcome to my life!" I said and we pressed on.

I'm usually on the other side of the lens and this day, the shoe was on the other foot. I was getting a taste of my own medicine. I felt awkward, I didn't know what to do with my hands, I was doing my best not to have resting grumpy face, but I felt like I was failing. Usually, I tell my subjects, it feels awkward, but you'll love these photos and I ask them to trust me and they do, or at least, they pretend to. So I took a deep breath, my own advice and Isaacs instruction and we got through the shoot. What resulted were some sweet photos of me and my new adoptive son, Marvin the rescue Chihuahua. Now, I'm no model, but just like I always promise you guys, I now have some portraits I will always treasure.

I don't think Isaac will ever photograph a pet again.