Bored Panda reached out to Amanda to learn more about her and her project. She shared her story of how she came up with the idea and what inspired her to create this project. “My Dog Years Project began with the passing of my beloved long-haired dachshund, Lily Jones. When she died at age 15, I realized that I had imagery of her from the time she was a puppy. As a professional dog photographer, I made sure to document her at the many stages of her life. I put a memorial card together with four of my favorite images of her during her lifetime and mailed it out to friends and family.
The card got an amazing response and seemed to have really touched the hearts of those who received it. It made me think of other dogs that I could create this for. So I began reaching out to my many clients whose dogs I had photographed years before.”
Amanda also explained how she selected dogs for her project. “I found them by going through my client database and searched for dogs I had worked with about 10 years earlier. I then reached out to the owners and asked the delicate question, 'Is your dog still alive?'.”
“After I had done about 12 of these ‘senior’ sessions, I put them together and submitted them as a book concept to Chronicle Books. They loved the idea and Dog Years came out in 2015. It quickly went viral after The Daily Mail published a series of images on their website. I was quite surprised at how many outlets shared the images. It was a wonderful feeling and I know the owners of the dogs featured loved the attention too.”
After being a witness of so many dogs’ lives, we were curious to know whether there was a dog that stood out in particular and moved Amanda. She shared: “One dog that really moved me was Cosmo, an Italian greyhound. Cosmo was a GORGEOUS dog when I first photographed him. When his owner brought him in for his senior portrait, I barely recognized him. He was missing an eye and had almost no teeth left. He was still a gorgeous dog, but he was so very, very old. I had fun imagining what he went through in his 16 years on earth!”
Amanda also added what she has learned from doing this project: “I learned the life lessons that aging is a wonderful thing and the more we get to do it, the luckier we are. I also learned to accept life as it comes to you and try to enjoy it the best you can. Don’t try and plan too much, just let it happen and do it with a wagging tail!”
When asked if Amanda intends on continuing the project, she with certainty replied: “I do plan on continuing this project. I love doing the senior portraits. They make people so happy! What could be better than that?”
As many of you cat lovers might be thinking, ‘Why dogs and not cats?’, Amanda explained her view: “I choose to work with dogs and not cats because their personalities lend them well to a photographic portrait. I feel like I am very good at capturing who these creatures are. When I photograph cats, I do not get that same magical feeling.”
And lastly, Amanda shared what we can expect from her soon. “After doing this for 27 years, I am counting down to the end of my shooting career. I began a 300 portrait session countdown clock in the fall of 2021 and am now at 133. Once those are done, so am I! After that, I will be using my vast database of dog images for licensing and commercial purposes.”
