Hello Fab Friends!
Today we are honored to be featuring Jim Dratfield of Jim Dratfield's Petography.
Jim takes photographing your pets to another level and captures them in such a way to make it more of a fine art piece. His experiences and accolades are many, including but not limited to 12 published coffee table books of his work. Jim has been commissioned by the likes of Charlize Theron, Laura Dern, Elton John, Billy Joel, Georgina Bloomberg, and Oscar De La Renta. Prior to becoming the artist he is today, Jim was an actor for 14 years and also waited tables. He would send pictures of his dog to casting directors in an effort to grab their attention. When he started to realize his talent and passion for photographing dogs and cats, he began posting his work on the walls of pet stores to try to earn commissioned work. A true story of following your calling and being able to love what you do and do what you love. We can resonate with that message.
When I asked Jim about how he got into photographing horses and attending horse shows, he shared that a well-known painter in the horse community encouraged him to attend a show after seeing some of his work. He did, and now he does around 30% of his work with horses as subjects, while 60% are dogs, and around 10% are cats.
I thought we'd all love to hear about some of his most interesting encounters (as I was confident he's had plenty). One story involved a domesticated pigeon who wore diapers and accompanied a church organist! As far as one that relates to horses, he recounted a time in which he did a shoot in Wellington of a horse inside of a restaurant - luckily, all went well!
Jim's work is absolutely incredible. Visit his website, www.petography.com or contact him via phone at 800-738-6472. Jim is available to be commissioned all over the country and would love to hear from you!
For those of you who will be at Old Salem next week, Jim will be on site. He also has plans to attend The Hampton Classic at the end of August, The American Gold Cup in September, and the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon NC.
We are in awe of Jim's talent and delighted to be introducing you to his work.
xo,
FFBS
