Pet portraits
Hold your head high
PHOTOGRAPHER
Maisie Hayman
CATEGORY
Pet portraits – Winner 2025
DESCRIPTION
This is Coco, my senior rescue Staffy, and I’m so proud of her for sitting patiently (with the help of a few treats!) so I could take this photo. I set up a make-shift studio in my bedroom using a black duvet cover hung up with pegs on my closed curtains and a small adjustable light that I’d borrowed. Afterwards, I adjusted the contrast, sharpness and saturation a little, to darken the background and make the image more impactful.
Pip
PHOTOGRAPHER
Jamie Smart
CATEGORY
Pet portraits – Runner-up 2025
DESCRIPTION
This is Pip the guinea pig. He loves carrots, dandelion leaves (must be fresh!) and cuddles. I wanted to shine a light on often-overlooked guinea pigs by getting some studio set-up images that show their personalities. To take this image, I used a two-light set-up with a yellow background sheet, and then used some favourite treats to encourage him to look up a little towards my camera.
Lenny
PHOTOGRAPHER
Jamie Smart
CATEGORY
Pet portraits – Commended 2025
DESCRIPTION
This is a 70-year-old tortoise called Lenny. His family started looking after him when his original owner passed away. He’s quite a character and has been known to go for a wander. Once he was missing for three weeks before being found over three fields away. He may be slow but he's a bit of an escape artist!
Treat time?
PHOTOGRAPHER
Poppy Wilkins
CATEGORY
Pet portraits – Commended 2025
DESCRIPTION
I took this photo of my dog Willow in front of a white door in my conservatory. I could see reflections from the roof in her eye, so I made this the focal point (you can see me reflected too!). I made the image black and white. This helps draw attention to her eyes and the white hairs around them, and creates negative space, thanks to the contrast between the dark fur and light background.
Not impressed!
Photographer
Jamie Smart
Category
Pet portraits – Winner 2024
Description
My cat’s quite elderly and is unimpressed by most things. So, getting him to lie still on a box in a studio set-up was quite difficult, to say the least. After much perseverance, I got an image of him looking straight at me. I’ve recently completed a Diploma in Photography and wanted to put my new knowledge of studio lighting to the test. But I think the trickiest part was the subject!
I love my job... I also love sleep
Photographer
Gemma Hollingworth
Category
Pet portraits – Runner-up 2024
Description
The photo shows a young guide dog, Victoria, who we fostered for Guide Dogs for the Blind while she was training. On holiday in Northumberland, we met up with her new owner. Victoria settled under the table in a coffee shop and watched me carefully as I took the picture. I love how relaxed she looks and how there’s just enough of the harness visible to know she’s a guide dog. I decided to make the background much darker in editing so her coat stood out more.
Curious cat
Photographer
Phoebe Rathbone
Category
Pet portraits – Commended 2024
Description
This is my neighbour’s cat, Petal. She’s very confident and curious and loves posing for photographs, which I think shows in this photo. She always makes me smile and so when I saw her sitting nearby, I went over to say hi. She looked up at me and I couldn’t resist taking a picture. I hope it makes other people smile as well! The dark concrete makes her white whiskers stand out and all the grey in the photo accentuates her bright orange eyes!
Baby face
Photographer
Olivia Tordillo
Category
Pet portraits – Commended 2024
Description
This photo was taken in the comfort of my own home. Ottylie was around eight or nine weeks old at this point and had the cutest ears and most heart-melting eyes. This image of her in a ‘head down’ pose was a completely candid capture. She’d watched her uncle (our other dog, Huxley) do it beside me and decided to mimic the behaviour, resulting in her puppy forehead wrinkles on show and the softest expression.