WEST TOWN — Most photograph studios give attention to human topics — however one Chicago enterprise is photographing town’s furry residents and the households who look after them.

Candice Cusic has run her West City pet pictures enterprise for a number of years at 1821 W. Hubbard St. Whereas most of Cusic’s clients convey canine and cats to their periods, Cusic mentioned she welcomes all types of pet.

Credit score: Offered Cusic mentioned individuals who get photographs taken at her studio can count on it to be enjoyable and relaxed, not overly posed and “huffy” like different studios might be.

Cusic’s studio additionally companions with native animal rescues to {photograph} adoptable animals for his or her web sites at no cost, she mentioned.

Cusic’s background is in photojournalism, which helps inform her strategy to creating intimate and heartwarming pet photographs, she mentioned.

“I’ve all the time been a vegetarian and animal lover, so shifting to capturing moments of canine was a pleasure to embrace,” Cusic mentioned. “However it’s by far probably the most difficult factor I’ve ever executed in my profession, and I’ve photographed quite a bit.”

Cusic labored for the Tribune for 11 years, overlaying the 2004 tsunami that devastated India and 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. She pivoted to different kinds of pictures after twenty years in journalism and teaches photojournalism at Northwestern College.

Earlier than Cusic’s enterprise transitioned to primarily photographing pets and their house owners, Cusic labored on a portrait sequence aimed toward highlighting methods the neighborhood can assist small companies. The sequence began in 2020 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and returned this fall.

“After leaving the Chicago Tribune, I documented weddings for 10 years, and I opened my first portrait studio,” Cusic mentioned. “We had a storefront studio on Chicago Avenue. That’s the place I photographed households and pets, after which, throughout COVID, we really moved and upgraded our studio twice.”

Credit score: Offered Cusic believes her background in photojournalism and former profession on the Chicago Tribune permits her to convey out intimate, heartwarming and genuine feelings in her photographs.

There are challenges when photographing animals that don’t usually happen with human topics, Cusic mentioned. Animals might be onerous to information and infrequently don’t hearken to instructions, so it takes plenty of persistence to get the right shot, Cusic mentioned.

Cusic has additionally developed a protocol to get probably the most out of the pets she’s photographing, she mentioned. It often begins with a name between Cusic and the pet’s household so she will be taught extra in regards to the animal’s temperament and what the household is on the lookout for in pictures, she mentioned.

Households are given a tour of the Cusic’s studio, and pets can let their natural tendencies out by enjoying, operating round and getting treats and stomach rubs, Cusic mentioned. That helps them be extra relaxed and excited after they return for the precise photographs, she mentioned.

“I like photographing house owners and our animals, simply cuddling. ‘Present me the way you cuddle your canine at house. Let me {photograph} that for you,’” Cusic siad. “As a result of these moments are what my shoppers will placed on their partitions, and these are moments that can make you smile day-after-day while you stroll previous it, as a result of that is your fur child.

“This can be a everlasting instance of your love. What we actually focus on is capturing love and love tales.”

Credit score: Offered Whereas Cusic primarily pictures canine and cats, all types of animals are welcome at Cusic’s West City photograph studio.

Credit score: Offered Candace Cusic is a Chicago photographer who makes a speciality of taking pictures pets. She additionally works weddings and has taught photojournalism at Northwestern College.

Cusic’s curiosity in pictures started when she obtained a toy digicam when she was 4. By 6, she’d begun utilizing her father’s outdated Minolta SLR digicam, she mentioned.

Cusic mentioned it’s a privilege to take photographs that many households will maintain for years to return, and there are a lot of pets she’s met whose tales have caught together with her, she mentioned.

This features a shopper who not too long ago wished to be photographed together with his neighbor’s canine, Cusic mentioned. The person was initially petrified of canine however discovered to love them by spending time together with his neighbor’s canine and sharing duties for its care, she mentioned.

“This man is taking the canine to the vet, this man’s shopping for skilled artwork, and it’s not even his canine,” Cusic mentioned. “These are the love tales that simply make me work tougher in asking questions on a few of our shoppers and having these cellphone conversations main as much as our photoshoot. These are the tales that helped me do a greater job in capturing these moments of their households.”

Credit score: Offered Cusic believes her speciality is capturing the love between pet house owners and their pets, she mentioned.

Cusic mentioned potential shoppers can count on a extra relaxed atmosphere in the event that they’re on the lookout for photographs with their furry associates.

“Lots of people don’t perceive what portrait studios may very well be, versus the one the place a photographer is like, ‘OK, look right here. Look right here. Smile right here,” Cusic mentioned. “That {photograph} of everybody smiling and cheesing for the digicam is often the final photograph I take as a result of there’s so many unimaginable moments which might be stronger than posed photographs.”

You possibly can guide Cusic for a session by means of her web site.

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