07/03/2025
This is Koda. I met his family on the beach last night after a wicked all day storm. I watched him play from my balcony, zooming down the beach, rolling in the sand, just living his best dog life.
But I noticed he had on a muzzle.
So I asked myself, do I get all my gear and go down there for them to tell me “sorry, he’s not friendly”.
But that didn’t seem to be the case from afar as he was greeting people and dogs, with tail wags and big friendly pounces.
When I got down there, I asked “is it a requirement for dogs on the beach to be muzzled?” And his owner said “No, Koda just likes to eat sand, seaweed and crabs so we muzzle him so he doesn’t get sick”.
Perfect. Now time for my spiel…”my name is Emily, I’m a dog photographer from Buffalo, NY and I’d love to get some shots of him playing”.
They gave me the usual look and response that most do “oh that’s nice. Sure”.
So I whip out my phone with my instagram profile already queued up because I’m familiar with this response. I say I’m a dog photographer and people don’t take it that serious.
I show them my work to gain their confidence so now when they see me acting like a weirdo, make noises and crawling around on the ground they think “she knows what she’s doing” instead of “this ladies a nut case”.
His owner proceeds to remove his muzzle and he immediately grabs a chunk of seaweed off the beach and runs to play chase but his owner quickly removes it. So now I know I must provide distractions so he cant get too mischievous and have to be muzzled again.
While photographing him, I converse with his owners who have a place in the Outer Banks not to far from where we are.
They tell me that this time last year, they were on the beach with their elderly Golden, Kodiak. As he got older, he wasn’t able to run and play in the water but he figured out if he went out far enough to where his feet still touched, his body would feel weightless, alleviating the arthritic pain, allowing him to still enjoy the water.
I could tell the subject of Kodiak was still a bit sensitive as he was no longer with them, so I quickly changed the subject and learned the name Koda while similar to Kodiak was chosen because in Native American languages, particularly Sioux, the name Koda translates to "friend" or "companion".
I loved the relationship I could see this couple had with Koda. He’s a spunky, mischievous pup, less than a year old so he keeps this older couple on their toes. I could tell they enjoyed watching him play and approach others in such a puppy like manner. They’re head over heels for Koda, still trying to learn his behaviors but keeping them young and entertained at the same time.
I got back to our beach house, immediately put my memory card in my computer to pick out one of my favorite shots to edit and send to them right away.
His owner responded “We enjoyed it, and so, clearly did Koda. What a great shot. Thank you. Perfectly composed and perfectly focused. We will be excited to see more.”
Then another text a short while later saying “I don’t think I did you justice. Composition and focus is the least of it. You really captured his essence.”
And that is the biggest compliment. When someone tells me I captured their dogs essence or personality in an image, that makes me feel on top of the world.
My favorite part of this shot is not only capturing the playful pup but the iconic Jeanette’s Pier behind him which screams, Nags Head & Outer Banks.
