Pioneer Park, in Muskegon Michigan, is another wonderful location for a dog photoshoot! This 145 acer location is a campground between May 1 - September 30, so usability is limited from October 1 - April 30 for dog shoots. During the off season, the park remains open for locals (no fee to enter), and is almost always empty, making it the perfect, distraction free location for dogs of all sizes, ages, and training levels.
We get a healthy mix of woodland background and beach access to Lake Michigan, giving us dunes, beach and water backgrounds as well! Another perk to Pioneer Park, is that after a rain or snowmelt, there are a few shallow puddles that form on the pavement, which make for easy, but stunning reflection shots!
This location does have minimal walking, and all of the woodland areas for photos, are handicap accessible for both owners and/or elderly dogs.
During all photoshoots, I do keep all dogs on leashes. In my camera bag, I keep several styles of leashes, including thiner show leads for the smallest dogs, heavier leather leads for the bigger dogs, and a long 15’ leash we can use for action shots. These leads are always edited out of your final image, leaving it looking as though your dog was the perfect angle, posing like a professional dog!
As always - no dog training is needed to capture professional photographs of your dog! It does help when your dogs knows the basics (sit, down, stay or wait), but I am very used to working with puppy brains or show dogs, where photographing them standing, and then capturing them in a sit or down when they naturally provide that behavior, is perfectly fine as well.
