What about our Allergies? Dog, Cat, Peanut Butter, Other?
f you are
interested in a studio photography session in the Calgary/Airdrie
area and anyone in your family has any of the above, please read this
document carefully and communicate with me (Peter) before booking your
session.
Several people with pets have told us there
are very few, if any, professional photographers who will photograph
Fido.
There are 2 reasons for this:
-
It is very hard to get good photos of
Fido if all you have is a few minutes. Many photographers aren’t willing
to invest the time to get good photos of pets. It can be very stressful
for the photographer to get Fido’s pictures when their business
model only can afford twenty, ten or fewer minutes per
session.
-
They want to have a studio that is
allergen free so that anyone without pets can come. So… the simple
solution is to not allow pets.
I admit, I thought long and hard about
the second one before deciding whether to allow pets in the
studio.
I have come up with a compromise that
works for most people, check to see if it works for
you.
As you probably
know, bookings at Photos By
Madman Family and Pet photography sessions are done in clusters every few
months. This means, between the bookings, there is at least several weeks
where the studio remains unused by anyone other than me and perhaps
corporate shoots (so far never with animals).
To accommodate people with Dog, Cat,
Gerbil etc.., and Peanut Butter allergies, I take the following
precautions:
-
When all the sessions in a cluster
are done, I vacuum well using a shop vac with a fine dust filter. In
between, the floor gets vacuumed periodically. And before the
1st session in a cluster I do one final careful vacuum
followed by a wet mopping of the floor followed by one last
vacuuming.
-
I initially reserve the first 3
sessions in a cluster for people with allergies
(be sure to mention you have allergies when you call to book so you get
one of these sessions.) This means that the Dog, Cat and Peanut Butter
don’t enter the studio until after those with allergies and then
it is several months before the next cluster of
sessions.
-
All props that come in contact with
animals are washed if possible. This includes any blankets, clothing,
plastic, wood. Where appropriate the item is pressure washed or
laundered.
Why mention Peanut Butter? Two
reasons. First, the photo studio is part of the house so there is peanut
butter in the building. Second, peanut butter is sometimes used to get
dogs to respond. A little bit on the owner’s cheek and the dog is more
likely to give kisses for the camera. I don’t use a lot but by keeping it
to later sessions I hope to not cause problems for anyone with this
allergy. The peanut butter itself is not stored in studio between clusters
and it is not brought into the studio until just before the first session
where it may be used. The rest of the time it is stored in our kitchen at
the other end of the house.
Additional
notes:
·
Our dogs and cat are outdoor animals. The dogs do come
in the North door which is 75’ away, but they almost never come in further
– they are not allowed
to. The cat comes a little further into the house occasionally, but normally stays about
50' away from the studio. When we know we have people coming with cat allergies we
make the cat stay outdoors all the time at least the week
before.
·
The studio has a painted concrete floor, and the
floor in the area around the studio is
also concrete. This means there is less trapped hair (no carpet). But there is
some material used for props so there could be cat hair in
that.
·
As
mentioned, because the studio is part of the house, there is peanut butter in the building.
It is mostly in the room at the far corner to the photo studio until after
the "allergy" sessions. But if this could be a problem (ie. fumes from
sandwiches,) please let me know so we can work something out. If it works
for you, we could restrict our kids from eating peanut butter for an
appropriate period of time prior to your session (and if you think there
might be a problem, please tell us, we have lots of food
so restricting one for a while is not a problem - better
that than you or your child suffering). We will do our best to accommodate
the allergies in your family.
What if, when you arrive, via red eyes
and other allergic reactions it becomes apparent that the steps taken were
not enough?
If this happens, I will again do what
I can to accommodate you. If we can’t work out something to our mutual
agreement, then I will refund your deposit in full. I truly want
your session to be a pleasant experience and will not charge you for what
you don’t receive.
What about other allergies?
Let me know what your allergies are and
we can talk together to see if there is likely a problem and if so whether
things can be done to reduce or remove the problem.
If I can reasonably accommodate it, I
will and there will be no additional cost to you.
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