Conversations with Dawn McBride

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dawn McBride. 

Hi Dawn, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
My dad was a professional wedding photographer for four decades so there was constantly a camera around growing up. He was always trying to get us kids interested in photography and at one point we converted the laundry room into a dark room to develop our own film. Mom wasn’t super on board with this, (meaning it lasted exactly one day) but it was magical seeing the images appear right in front of us. 

I absolutely loved the idea of being a photographer. Keyword being” idea”. Upon realizing it was so much more than pointing a camera and clicking, I quickly lost my drive. I had zero interest in aspect ratios or bracketing. Chromatic aberration, RAW vs. JPEG’s, ISO, white balance, metadata…I simply did. Not. Care. 

Fast forward through more years than I care to mention and I’ve adopted a little border collie/husky mutt and am completely smitten with him. I had decided I wanted some really beautiful photos of him so I went on the ol’ googlywebs to find a pet photographer. 

This was nearly 9 years ago and I couldn’t find a single person who specialized in the genre. 

I didn’t want family photos with the dog thrown in. I wanted someone who was familiar with dog behavior and how to get their personality to really shine through in the images. I wanted someone who was as obsessed with dogs as I was. 

At that time, there just wasn’t anyone. I had a little Nikon D3400 that I’d never bothered to learn how to use so I figured, “Whatever, I’ll just do it myself”. 

So, I did. And the photos were garbage. Learning photography hadn’t gotten any less complicated over the years. The one thing that HAD changed, was that I was now passionate about a subject I really WANTED to photograph. 

About four years later, I’d gotten a little better and I discovered how much I absolutely loved photographing my dog. Out of the blue, the thought came to me that I should start a pet photography business. Once that thought wormed its way into my brain, it refused to leave. During this time, I read a quote somewhere that for the life of me I can’t find now but to paraphrase, it was something along the lines of if you go to bed thinking about this thing, and you wake up thinking about it, you need to do it. If you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working for it. 

I wanted to start this business because of my dog, Milo so I wanted to pay tribute to him somehow. When I’m harassing him and snuggling him, I call him my little fuzzy love. Thus, Fuzzy Love Photography began and was named after the OG fuzzy love himself, Milo. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have been a massive amount of hurdles to overcome and an overwhelming amount of learning I have yet to do but I think, for me, the biggest one was and still is, dealing with Imposter Syndrome. 

I’ve won multiple awards for my photography and people seek me out to invest a decent sum of money to have me photograph their pets. And yet, there’s still this nagging little voice that has taken up residence in the folds of my brain that oftentimes will not shut the hell up. 

Imposter Syndrome is just another way of me saying, “I’m scared”. 

I think though, that anyone who has poured their heart and soul into a venture and puts it out into the world, opens themselves up to a vulnerability that is hard to ignore. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Pet photography is a pretty specific niche and even now, there’s only a handful of us in Utah who specialize in it. 

One of the best compliments I love hearing is when a client tells me how well I captured their pet’s personality or the special bond they have together. When a client comes to their viewing session and the tears start flowing while watching their slideshow, I know I’ve done my job. 

A favorite, unexpected bonus of this career is how many of my clients have become friends. I love when they keep in touch and we get to meet up for coffee or drinks and they share updates about the pet I’ve photographed or new additions that have been added to the family. It’s a really special thing. 

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned along the way is to run my business with integrity. I do what I say I’m going to do and if that means staying up until 2:00 am because I promised someone their photos the next day, that’s what is going to happen. (And has) Staying true to myself and to my clients is of the utmost importance to me. 

Contact Info:

• Email: Dawn@fuzzylovephoto.com
• Website: https://www.fuzzylovephoto.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fuzzy_love_photography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FuzzyLovePhotography

Image Credits
Vanessa LaVey – for the headshot