This challenge is is all about recharging and refocusing, and invites you to step back and reconnect with why you love pet photography.
📌 Your challenge:
Capture a single image that represents your “why.” Why did you start photographing dogs? What fuels your passion?
For some of us, this “why” might be deeply emotional—a special bond, a beloved dog who is no longer with us, a moment frozen in time. For others, it could be about the joy of capturing personality, adventure, or the magic of storytelling.
This challenge isn’t just about technique—it’s about finding meaning in your work and expressing it through an image.
Ideas & Inspiration
Here are some ways you could approach the theme:
1. Honoring the Past
- Maybe you started photography because of a dog who is no longer with us. How can you capture that connection with your current dog, a client’s dog, or even through a symbolic image?
2. Pure Joy & Playfulness
- Maybe your why is fun and laughter—you love capturing those silly, energetic, zoomy moments.
- How can you express pure, unfiltered happiness in a photo?
3. The Power of Connection
- Is your photography about the bond between dogs and their people?
- Show a quiet, intimate moment that tells that story.
4. Exploration & Adventure
- Do you love documenting dogs in vast landscapes, wild places, or urban adventures?
- How can you capture the freedom and spirit of your why?
5. A Single Symbolic Detail
- Instead of a full scene, maybe a close-up of something meaningful—a collar, a nose, a pawprint—tells the whole story.
Challenge Rules
- Your photo should be new—taken specifically for this challenge. Post it in the “Challenges” topic of the Community. IF you’re completing the challenge during February (or you want inspiration to see what others did), you can find the February challenge post here.
- We’d love to hear the story behind your image—why it represents your passion, as well as any challenges, wins, or things you learned while creating the photo
- Leave a comment on 1-2 other challenge entries
This challenge isn’t just about taking a great photo. It’s about reconnecting with what drives you, what inspires you, and what makes pet photography meaningful for you.
We can’t wait to see what you create. ❤️

My why began pretty simply: I travelled for 18 months with Loki and wanted to document all the amazing places we went through photos. Later, I sort of fell in to pet photography, as something I was already reasonably good at. But the why shifted a little – I wanted people to have photos like I had, of their own dogs. Something magical and wonderful, something artistic and beautiful. I wanted them to see something magical in that photo of their dog, the way I could in the thousands of photos I had of my boys. So if I were to complete this challenge, I would either take a photo somewhere on an adventure…. or create something magical.