Famous Dog Photography Claudio Piccoli's Dogs in Action Workshop

Back in July, I attended Claudio Piccoli’s Dogs in Action workshop. For those who don’t know Claudio’s work, he is known for his Dog Sport Photography. Think frisbee or disc dogs.

I love attending photography workshops. I always want to continue to improve. Meeting other photographers is a blast too.

For my photographer friends if you have thought about attending one of Claudio’s workshops, do it. I was so impressed by his photography knowledge and his willingness to share.

He is also hilarious. Cussing in English with an Italian accent made me laugh a lot. I can still hear him saying “sheet” in my head.

Day 1 we photographed dogs performing routines with frisbees during the day. In the evening, we photographed dogs running through the forest jumping over a fallen tree branch.

Do you want to know one of the things I really like about this first photo? The sticks and dirt flying up underneath the limb where the dog launched himself. Some of these dogs were lightning fast!

Laying on the ground as an Irish Wolfhound is barreling towards me was exhilarating and a bit scary too.

Looking back, I wish we’d switched the sessions and photographed dogs in the forest in the afternoon and the frisbee dogs in the evening. My daytime photos were all taken in harsh light and my forest photos were all shot at a high ISO.

Day 2 we learned about Claudio’s editing style using Photoshop. I didn’t have any photos I wanted to edit because I wasn’t happy with my results. My photos weren’t tack sharp and if you keep reading, you’ll understand why.

Here are 3 lessons I learned:

1. Using a new-ish camera with a different tracking system especially with this type of action wasn’t a great idea. I should’ve brought my trusty Nikon d500!

2. I should have researched dog sport photography. I probably should’ve known but I had no idea we’d be photographing frisbee/disc routines. Maybe it would’ve helped if I’d watched a few videos before the workshop.

3. Photographing dogs doing routines with frisbees is hard. Predicting where they’re going to go when you don’t know the names of the tricks is hard.

5 Things I Loved about the Workshop:

1. Claudio. He was awesome!

2. My friend Audrey was there and anytime I am with her and we have our cameras, we have fun!

3. I met a lot of really nice, very skilled photographers.

4. I learned a lot about dog sport photography. We photographed a ton of different dogs.

5. I learned a lot of very technical details about editing photos in photoshop.

Attending Claudio’s workshop was so worth it but it was humbling. I didn’t create the type of work I’d hoped I would but it made me research my camera and figure out why I wasn’t happy with my results. I don’t always evaluate my own work in detail but I have spent the last few months really looking at it and I have Claudio to thank for that too.

Another lesson I was reminded of: Life as a creative is a roller coaster ride!

I love photographing dogs in action. Here are a few photos I’ve taken at client photo shoots. All of these dogs could be trusted off leash. (The greyhound and galgo were photographed in their fully fenced backyard!)

Photographing dogs having fun and capturing their joy are photos the dog moms and dads love too.

This is a blog circle and this week our topic is “Lights, Camera, Action!” Be sure to click the link at the bottom of each post and you’ll make your way around the circle. You’ll end up back here when you’re finished. Next up is Canberra Dog Photographer Ina Jalil of Ina J Photography loves capturing photos of dogs in action.