MEET THE JUDGES

Amy Johnson

U.S.A.

Amy Johnson has spent twenty-five years photographing dogs in motion, including agility, dock diving, and FastCAT. She has photographed some of the top dog agility events in the U.S., including the AKC National Agility Championship and the USDAA Cynosport World Games. Her photos capture not just the athleticism of the dog, but the heart and drive behind each run.

Before photography, Amy was a math teacher, complete with degrees in mathematics and physics. That analytical mindset still shows up in her images and in her teaching.

As an instructor since 2015, Amy has been simplifying complex photography concepts with her signature teaching style—clear, friendly, and just a little quirky. Her goal? To make learning feel like a conversation with that smart but slightly weird friend who just happens to know a lot about photography.

When judging photos, Amy values images that spark a genuine connection with the viewer. She believes the strongest pet photographs are a blend of photographic expertise, precise timing, and an authentic portrayal of the subject’s personality.

An Di Prima

Scotland

An Di Prima is an award-winning pet photographer and the face behind The Faithful Hound Photography in Scotland.
Originally from Belgium, An studied audiovisual arts before deciding to pursue a different path by moving to Scotland with her dog, Aika. Here, she fell in love with stunning landscapes and photographic opportunities.

After a life-changing car accident, An decided to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a professional photographer. Today, she is known for her emotive, storytelling imagery and has won multiple awards for her pet and documentary photography. She is also the author of 'Podencos In Scotland', a passion project highlighting the stories of Spanish podencos.
She firmly believes that every photographer should have a passion project, and for her, capturing the stories of the remarkable podencos is a mission that continues to inspire her work.

As a judge for the International Pet Photography Awards, An looks forward to celebrating emotion, creativity and storytelling excellence in pet photography.

Anne Geier

Austria

Anne Geier is a renowned dog photographer from Austria. Her journey began with Cindy, her first dog, who sparked her passion for capturing timeless memories through photography. In 2014, Finn, and in 2017, Yuri—two rescued dogs from Romania—became part of her life, joining her on countless adventures in search of the perfect shot. Together, they explored breathtaking landscapes, creating images that tell stories of companionship, freedom, and their unbreakable bond.

Her dogs have always been at the heart of her artistic vision. Though she had to say goodbye to Finn last year, the love and connection they shared continue to shape her work profoundly. Both Finn’s and Cindy’s spirits live on in her photographs, inspiring her to keep capturing the beauty and soul of every dog she photographs.

Anne’s signature style blends artistic storytelling, the raw beauty of nature, and the soulful presence of dogs in mesmerising landscapes. Each photograph tells a story of adventure and serenity, transporting viewers into a dreamlike world—one where the magic of these extraordinary animals becomes truly tangible.

Bill Parsons

U.S.A.

Bill has a diverse and experienced background in the photography world. Having worked on both sides of the table, as an art buyer/print producer for an ad agency and a commercial photographer, Bill has unique insight in the realm of creating commercial art that is effective, hard to forget and speaks directly to a target audience. He has worked with teams and brands of all sizes, productions of all levels and enjoys stepping into the role of art director and video producer.

As the co-founder and one half of The Labs & Co., a small but mighty creative team of dog nerds, Bill and his partner Nat combine their love of art, photography and animals into their life’s work and passion. Bill loves teaching as well as learning, truly enjoying forming connections with people over a shared interest.

Before the commercial art world caught his eye, Bill honed his photography skills on fine art and portraiture, later turning his lens towards companion animals specifically, and especially because of a beloved black Labrador Retriever named Corbin, their Canis Major. His first dog love. The “Lab” in The Labs & Co.

While a lot of their work is grounded in the commercial realm, working with brands and businesses of all sizes, Bill and Nat still love to work with families creating their own brand of pet portraiture and lifestyle photography - at once deeply rooted and wildly free.

Charlotte Reeves

Australia

One of the OG’s of the industry, Charlotte is an internationally-acclaimed Australian photographer who has been professionally photographing pets since 2007. From the very start of her career, Charlotte has focused on combining beautiful natural light with unique landscapes, along with an innate understanding of canine behaviour, to create work that is both organic and vibrant. She’s widely known for her trademark backlit style and capturing dogs in action.

In 2018 Charlotte joined the Australian Institute of Professional Photography and shortly afterwards was awarded the AIPP Queensland Epson Pet/Animal Photographer of the Year. She has won numerous awards and has been widely published.

Addicted to creating lightbulb moments for her students, Charlotte has been sharing her extensive knowledge through teaching and mentoring over the last decade. She relishes simplifying tricky concepts, and helping students achieve their goals by making the learning fun, practical, and positive.

Along with New Zealand pet photographer Craig Turner-Bullock, Charlotte runs a popular education platform called Unleashed Education, which offers membership-based content focused on the art of pet photography, private mentoring and international workshops.

Charlotte also volunteers her time and talent to aid several rescue groups through fundraising events and regularly photographs adoptable pets to help them find new forever families.

Danica Barreau

U.S.A.

Danica Barreau is a digital artist and professional photographer based in Grove City, Ohio, where she runs Pouka Art & Photography—a studio devoted to creating portraits of pets and the people who love them. With a background that blends fine art and photography, Danica holds the titles of PPA Master Artist, Master Photographer, Photographic Craftsman, AIM Master of Animal Imagery, and Certified Professional Photographer.

She currently serves as the President of the Professional Photographers of Ohio, co-chairs image competition for the International Society of Animal Photographers, and serves on the Images of Distinction committee for the American Society of Photographers.

Danica’s a 9-time Grand Imaging Award finalist, a published author, a PPA National Award recipient, and has been named Ohio Artist of the Year for six years. When she’s not painting dogs, she’s usually surrounded by them—alongside a schoolteacher and an inordinate number of cats.

Denise Landerberg

Sweden

A multi-award-winning photographer and internationally acclaimed professional in her field, Denise has an unwavering passion for horses. From a young age, animals - especially horses - have captivated her with their poetic movement, inspiring lines, and graceful form.

Entering the industry at just 16 years old, she began competing nationally at 17, quickly establishing herself as a force in the field. Today, Denise offers private photo sessions alongside coaching, workshops, and photography tours, sharing her expertise and inspiring fellow photographers worldwide.

Elke Vogelsang

Germany

Elke Vogelsang is a photographer from Germany. When her husband fell seriously ill a few years ago, she used photography as a means to try to get her mind off things and to cope with the stressful time. Fortunately, everything turned out well. The passion for photography turned into something like a healing creative outlet and finally into a profession. She now works as an editorial and commercial photographer specializing in pet photography. Her three 'photography companion dogs' and beloved canine family members Noodles, Scout and Ioli are the stars of her licensing archive. They as well as Elke's other animal models claim their share of worldwide fame by publications in magazines and newspapers all over the world, including The Sunday Times magazine and National Geographic. She's the author of two books as well as numerous articles about photography. Her works were exhibited in group and solo shows throughout the world, e.g. Paris, London, Lisbon, San Anselmo, and Singapore.

Statement: Dogs are funny characters. They find pleasure in the most mundane things. My dogs are my joy, recreation, and constant source of laughter, though they can be shy and sad as well; they comfort me in bad times. They are members of the family, the kind I love to have around. I can never get into trouble with my dogs, because they are unpretentious and forgiving. I would never say that I prefer dogs to humans’ after all, some people mean the world to me; but I would definitely say that dogs enrich my life in numerous ways. My hope is that I give back to them at least half of what they give me. As I try to explore in photography all the emotions I share with my dogs, I pay homage to them and also to life.

Ewan Cheyne

Scotland

Scotland based Ewan started Mutley’s Snaps 10 years ago as a location dog photographer. However, the Scottish weather had other ideas, forcing Ewan to seek shelter in a studio environment. After initial reservations, the studio soon captured Ewan’s heart. Ewan’s bright, clean and modern studio portraits soon capture the imagination of both clients and pet photographers from around the world. Career highlights have been presenting an on-stage studio light presentation on stage in Las Vegas for the Shutterhound Conference and hosting successful educational retreats at home in Scotland.

While most of Ewan’s working life is spent in the studio, he has never been able to beat the call of the Scottish Highlands and placing a dog in its epic scenery.

Jo Howell

Australia

Jo Howell is a photography lifer!

Starting her shooting career in her teens, she holds a degree in Scientific and Industrial Photography, has lived and worked on four continents and travelled the world taking photographs.

Jo’s list of photography jobs reads like a bad rap sheet 😊 she has worked in family and newborn, wedding, real estate, diagnostic, tourism, press, school, dance, event and commercial and photography. They all taught her something but it was while running photographic tours through Africa that she found her true calling, animal photography.

Now Jo not only runs JHP Studio, one of Melbourne's most successful pet photography studios, but also spends 3 days a week photographing for Zoos Victoria. From the microscopic to the gigantic, Jo see's the beauty and fascination in it all and relishes creating images full of heart, humour and hope.

Recent Awards
Finalist Grand Imaging Award - Animals Category - IPC 2023
Master photographer of the Year - Australian Photographic Prize 2022
WINNER - "Experimental" Category - Sienna Creative Photo Awards 2022
Finalist- Illustrative Category - NZIPP 2022
2nd - Open Creative Category – WPPI The Annual 2021
2nd & 3rd Pet & Animal Category- Rise International Photo Awards 2020

Mareike Konrad

Germany

Mareike Konrad is a full time, award-winning dog photographer, based in Leipzig, Germany. Her passion is to create vibrant and colorful images of dogs as well as emotional pictures of the dogs and their humans.
As a mentor and businesscoach, she accompanies and inspires pet photographers in turning their passion into a sustainable business.

Melissa Farlow

U.S.A.

Melissa Farlow is a freelance photographer who worked on over 20 National Geographic projects spanning Mexico, Europe and North and South America. She traveled extensively in the American West for magazine stories on public lands and wild horses. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt published Wild at Heart, her book about mustangs. She photographed in Africa for Women in the Material World and her images are printed in over 70 books including the Day in the Life series. Geographic books include Wild Lands of the West, Long Road South, The Photographs, Best 100 Wildlife Photographs and Women Photographers at National Geographic.

Awarded a Pulitzer Prize at the Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times, Farlow received a National Headliner and portfolio honors while at the Pittsburgh Press. She was named Distinguished Alumni by the IU School of Journalism, inducted into Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame and Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame. Farlow taught photojournalism at the University of Missouri and mentors for Girls Who Click, Vital Impacts and The Photo Society.

Farlow’s love of horses traces back to her childhood obsession when she wrote a letter to Roy Rogers and asked him to send her Trigger. Her family adopted an old, docile, one-eyed cow pony for her who ate watermelon rinds and chewed tobacco.

Monica Van Der Maden

Netherlands

My name is Monica van der Maden, and I am the photographer behind MoNoa Photography based in the Netherlands. I am also a proud dog mom to four wonderful dogs. For many years, I have had the privilege of capturing the beauty of dogs with great passion, enthusiasm, and joy, both professionally and in my personal time. Additionally, I have had the pleasure of mentoring numerous photographers, both nationally and internationally, in the art of pet photography. This is something I truly enjoy, as working with animals is incredibly rewarding, especially when it allows me to create lasting memories for dog owners.

Throughout my career, I have received several international awards for my work and have been featured in a variety of magazines and newspapers. I have also had the honor of appearing on Dutch television as a guest on a talk show and participating in a TV program focused on photography.

As a photographer, I primarily work with natural daylight, whether in forest settings or urban environments. However, I also admire various photography styles, such as studio photography, strobist photography, black-and-white imagery, and photos captured with natural light, which I enjoy seeing in the work of other photographers.

Natalia Martinez

U.S.A.

Natalia will insist you call her Nat when you first meet her. A self-taught illustrator and proud dog nerd, Nat was never satisfied with a professional life that fit neatly in a box. Enamoured by animals from day one on earth, and with a brain she describes as “useless with numbers, but colourful and filled with song lyrics”, Nat left her beloved Mexico City for the California Coast and worked hard to combine her three biggest loves (animals, photography and art) into a rebelliously creative brand she co-founded with her partner Bill, called The Labs & Co. -inspired by the life-altering power of that game-changer dog Nat calls a “Canis Major” - It all started with Corbin the Lab, his starry legacy now carried on by Willow and Kowi, both pointy-eared Northern breed types.

In photography, Nat loves the "perfectly imperfect”, savouring life as it happens, blur and all. She loves creating work that has been described as deeply sensorial, intimate and cinematic. With extensive education and working experience in dog behaviour, training and cognition, Nat’s core belief is that creating truly great animal photography starts with deep respect, understanding and being an advocate for your subject. As a Mexican strongly connected to her native ancestry, Nat is committed to creating representation in her work, for the right and privilege of hearts to beat freely, in whatever way feels true for them.

Nils Jakobi

Germany

Nils Jacobi, better known as The Catographer, is a German based photographer and videographer who specialises in capturing the feline essence. In addition to his commercial and private client work, Nils produces entertaining cat content on various social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok which have a combined following of 4.4 million followers.

Nils has been focussed on cat photography since 2018. His business - FurryFritz is named after the first cat he adopted ten years earlier - has a library of over 10,000 photos and video clips featuring a variety of cats and breeds in studio and at locations around the world.

Phyllis Burchett

U.S.A.

Prior to her photography career, Phyllis and her husband owned and operated Burchett Equine Center. As professional horse trainer, horses, and clients that Phyllis trained won numerous world, national and year-end awards. They also operated a large-scale breeding farm where Phyllis was Breeding Manager. It was her responsibility to oversee everything from stallion collection to artificial insemination to the foaling process.

In the beginning as an enthusiastic hobbyist Phyllis traveled from Europe to the USA to level up her photography skills. By attending these events it gave her a better understanding of how to help her current clients through the workshops and tours she hosts. Phyllis is an open book by sharing tips and techniques with her students through her weekly newsletter, mentorships, and events.

Phyllis's photography has been recognized in many venues, winning multiple awards both nationally and internationally.

She has been published in the Quarter Horse Journal, Western Horseman, Cowboys and Indians Magazine, the Appaloosa Journal, Working Ranch Magazine, Cowboy Lifestyle Magazine, Western Life Today, Cowgirls in Style Magazine, Horse and Rider Magazine, Trailblazher Magazine, the Equestrian Magazine of China, Sport and Trail Magazine, Lippizan News, among others.

Phyllis was named 2024 Western Horseman/Best of Western Photographers and 2024 Top 30 over 30 by Western Life and Style Magazine.

Phyllis is 1/3 of the trio that makes up the group Cowgirls with Cameras. Three friends formed this group to help promote western lifestyle through photography with their bi-monthly podcast and yearly photography events.

Phyllis is represented by the World Art Group and Arcangel-Images.

Travis Patenaude

U.S.A.

Internationally renowned dog photographer Travis Patenaude of Stink-Eye Photography creates unique portraits that foster an emotional connection between the subject and the viewer. He believes emotions and feelings are a vital part of telling stories and has to be put in a form that touches the hearts of people to evoke empathy and to have the viewer want to learn more about these dogs.

Travis is an advocate for animal rescue and animal rights, in particular raising awareness for the plight of the hunting dogs of Spain. He has won international awards and has been published across international print, online media, and magazines.