FURRY FRIENDS

Essay 497 • Apr 17th 2022

Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, I started to really miss taking pictures. I had spent the past half a year playing video games and taking naps while collecting unemployment money. All my previously scheduled shoots were cancelled for the foreseeable future.

One day, out of pure boredom (and a desire to fiddle with my camera again), I set up a backdrop and lights in my apartment, and photographed the only subjects available to me at the time— my cat and my roommate's dog. I posted the photos I took to social media, and that single move changed my life. A year and a half later, I have a full blown career as a pet photographer. I previously worked primarily as a human portrait photographer, but photographing animals has become my passion.

Taking pictures of our furry friends has provided me a sense of joy in these uncertain times, and I can only hope that my work does the same for other animal lovers. Here is a small selection of some of my favorite recent pet portraits, all taken from January through March of 2022.











 

Bảo Ngô is a photographer and director based in Brooklyn, New York. Her photographs have been published by National Geographic, Rolling Stone, New York Times, and Dazed, among others. Her work explores performance and visions of a peaceful world through playful, color-drenched and theatrically lit imagery.

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