There is a path to success through the creative arts: That was the message to a Grade 12 visual arts and photography class at Sandwich Secondary on Wednesday.
The message comes from a Windsor woman who has found her way in the world as a “pho-dog-rapher.”
“There’s definitely still a stigma around that you can’t do arts full time,” said dog photographer Keegan O’Neil, owner of Floofy Studios.
O’Neil , who graduated from Sandwich Secondary, says she abandoned her job as a dental assistant and became a dog photographer while living in Vancouver.
Three years ago, she and her partner began travelling across the country, living in an RV and booking appointments to photograph dogs in different Canadian cities along the way. O’Neil says they’ve travelled as far as Arizona to take pictures of pooches.
“Even though it seems like a difficult niche, because I love it so much, I really excelled in that industry because I was passionate about it and I wanted to keep working on it,” she said.
Today she says she likes the options running her own business provides.
“Definitely growing up in a small town, we had to convince our friends and family that this wasn’t just a goofy idea that we were going to take a half shot at,” she told students.
The vibrant dog pictures she creates with her partner pop on her Instagram, where the business boasts more than 50,000 followers. While O’Neil says it’s not about the number it’s something she makes sure to keep an eye on — and “consistency is key,” she told students.
“You want to make sure that you’re always having new eyes,” O’Neil said. “It just means oh ‘I got 200 new people looking at my account today’ that’s 200 potentially new clients for photo shoots and online course and all these other revenue that we do in our business.”
Teacher Sanja Srdanov invited O’Neil to speak to the class. She said her goal was to make students think about creative careers.
“There are creative career paths that students can go into and I just don’t think they’re celebrated enough or there’s a light shone on them as much,” Srdanov said.
Today the couple has settled in Essex County, where they live a comfortable life from her unusual profession.
“It adds up pretty nicely,” she said. “I’m living my little county paradise dream now out in Harrow with a beautiful property and a house.”
O’Neil says they still travel to bigger cities like Toronto and Vancouver, where the bulk of her business is.
Now, back in her hometown she found herself speaking with photography students — telegraphing that a career like hers is possible.
Student Ana Vallejo said her main focus right now is biochemistry, but she also wants to learn filmmaking. After hearing O’Neil speak she doesn’t rule out the possibility of making a change from the sciences at some future point.
“It’s encouraging to hear that someone can actually do what they love and especially in a career in art which is something that you sometimes get discouraged by your family or your friends — you don’t get that much support as other careers,” Vallejo said.
Delaney Mills also listened to O’Neil’s presentation. She’s planning on studying history and English at the University of Windsor but says she’s also interested in business and liked O’Neil’s story about building a business from scratch.
“You can sort of make the rules for yourself and for your business. You can do what you want with your own thing rather than have a 9 to 5,” she said. “It’s really a great career… to have a business like that.”
Srdanov said that O’Neil is proof that you can forge a career path in the creative arts “especially in the new age of these younger students because of the onset of the internet, Instagram and social media.”
“Even the presentation today, if people didn’t take away photography in general then I hope that they took something away that you can do anything you set your mind to.”