Check Out Michelle Crandall’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Crandall.

Hi Michelle, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Photography has always been in my life, but after a nearly 2 decade career as a registered nurse, I decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship. I loved creating beautiful images, and I loved animals, so I combined the two and decided to niche down and focus only on pets. I had a wonderful plan centered around dog agility and dog sports: spend my weekends behind the camera at events and sell digital products online during the week. That worked well – until the Covid pandemic hit and the event cancellations started filling my inbox faster than I could reply to them. I knew that if my business was going to flourish, I would have to shift my focus from large events to portrait sessions, and that’s exactly what I did. The training I had photographing dogs racing around agility arenas set me up very well for portraits, because not only am I able to get fabulous portraits during the brief moments when they’re sitting still, but when the inevitable zoomies hit, I’m ready for action shots too!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’m not sure any business owner would describe the road as “smooth,” and mine certainly had (and will continue to have) bumps along the way. Starting an event-based business about 6 months before the pandemic was the obvious challenge, but being an entrepreneur can come with a lot of mindset issues as well. Photography has a low bar to entry: you don’t need a degree and beautiful images are usually in the eye of the beholder. Therefore, learning to feel confident in my artwork, my offerings and my business model has been an important process, and one I continue to work on every day. Especially because many people don’t even realize pet photography is a specialty!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Pets in Focus is a boutique photography business focused solely on your pets. What that means for clients is that every single session I do is customized for each individual. While most of my clients are dogs, I’ve photographed everything from horses and cats to mini cows and guinea pigs. I often joke that I am a pet photographer who allows families at the session, not a family photographer who allows pets! That statement usually gets a laugh, but it’s actually a very important distinction: I specialize in working with pet parents who treat their dogs like family members, and want to honor that relationship through beautiful, custom artwork.

If I had to say one thing I am known for, it would probably be dachshunds in action. For 2025, I’ve embarked on a breed-specific passion project, compiling all dachshunds I photograph in the first half of the year into a coffee table book with all sales proceeds from book donated directly to Dachshund Haus, a local dachshund rescue. With my dog sports background plus my love for the breed, I have consistently created adorable images of dachshunds running around parks or pulling their owners down the sidewalk to the local dog bakery, and it has been the time of my life.

I am most proud of how my business makes people feel about their pets. So often after a session, clients will say, “Did you even get ONE?” which always makes me laugh. A couple of weeks later, when they see their gallery of beautiful images, they cannot believe it! Many tears of happiness have been shed during slideshows, and that is when I feel the most pride for my business.

What sets me apart from others is that each session is completely customized for you and your pet. Before I even book a client, we first discuss their dog’s personality, where they are most comfortable, and what the client is looking to do with the images we create. You don’t usually start a road trip with no destination in mind, and a photography session is no different! We want the right place – not only for your pet, but also to create artwork that will perfectly accent your home.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.petsinfocusphoto.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petsinfocusphoto
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@petsinfocusphoto
• Other: Google: https://g.page/petsinfocusphoto