Long before she picked up a camera, Amie was studying dog behaviour — drawn particularly to anxious and reactive dogs. She understands how dogs communicate, how stress presents itself in posture and gaze, and how to work with that rather than against it. She reads the room before she reads the light. That training knowledge is what separates her from photographers who are technically brilliant but can’t get a nervous dog to relax. No dog is too difficult, too old, or too anxious. She means it.

That care extends to the light itself. She told us something we haven’t forgotten: if you can see your shadow, it’s too harsh for a dog portrait. So she shoots at first light, when the world is soft and the dog is still. The result is the kind of portrait that stops you in the hallway — not because it’s technically perfect, but because it looks exactly like your dog in the moment they forgot anyone was watching.

That instinct traces back to her own dog. Emma wanted one since she was a kid, and the moment her cockapoo arrived, she knew his name: Schlappohr, German for “floppy ear.” Learning to read him — his moods, his triggers, the split-second before he does something wonderful — became the foundation of how she now photographs every dog she works with.

It’s the same instinct behind her contribution to a book for All Dogs Matter, a North London dog rescue. The book champions the dogs they’ve rescued and rehomed — the idea is simple: all dogs really do matter, however they came to be loved. Every shoot follows that same belief — capture the dog as they actually are.

If you think your dog can’t be photographed, think again. Your dog can’t be off-lead? No problem. Your dog is reactive? Also no problem — Schlappohr is human- and dog-reactive himself, and years of living with that has made Emma exactly the right photographer for it.