Meet the award-winning Columbus photographer specializing in pet portraits

Whether you’ve a basset hound or a bearded dragon, native photographer Erica and her digicam are prepared on your pets.

A hospital worker, Erica turned to pet pictures as a method to keep in mind her late canine, Kaya, earlier than she handed. She rapidly discovered she had a severe expertise for pet pictures (she even took dwelling a number of International Pet Photography awards in 2024 and 2025), and that she significantly loved it. Her firm Ash & Alder was born shortly after this in 2021.

“I didn’t start out as a photographer. I got a dog and started photographing that dog, and I loved it. That’s Ash. That’s the basis of my business,” she mentioned, noting the idea was named after two of her labs, Ash and Alder. “I was working at the hospital at the time, but it wasn’t my passion anymore. The art of photography is my passion now, and animals are my everything now.”

Her classes, which could be shot exterior, in her cell studio or her warehouse studio, sometimes final an hour per pet, however every animal is totally different. In reality, she embraces the persona of every pet, and works onerous to verify all of them are comfy and of their aspect so as to finest seize their essence.

“I’ve really immersed myself in the dog world, and I find dogs tend to really like me too. I’ve had reactive or difficult pet shoots, and the photos turned out great,” Erica mentioned. “Each shoot isn’t all photographs, either. I want to make sure the dogs are enjoying themselves, so we’ll stop to play, or to run around, just making sure they’re having fun too.” 

If you’d wish to guide an Ash & Alder shoot, you may contact Erica here.

While you should buy prints out of your shoot, she additionally provides a singular service that transforms images of your pet right into a bodily “painting” utilizing digital enhancing instruments. She can create these utilizing a photograph from an Ash & Alder session, or she will make one in all these “paintings” utilizing a photograph of your pet you have already got.

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