Photoshoot for Dog Gone Seattle — Margot McKelvie Photography

On October 1, 2022, I held a fall fundraiser for Dog Gone Seattle. The original plan was to photograph Seattle dogs with the fall colors but due to unusual heat fall did not really hit Seattle until the end of October so we switched to the Rose Garden in Woodland Park! The backdrop ended up being beautiful but turned more into what looked like a spring photoshoot than a fall one - we will have to try again next year.

I never could have imagined how popular the event was. The idea was that the photoshoot was completely free and a photoshoot would be 5 minutes. Photos would be posted 2-3 weeks later and would be purchased by attendees for $25 a piece, attendees could purchase as many photos as they’d like. 40% of the proceeds would go to Dog Gone Seattle. I originally only opened up 10 spots, 5 minutes a session, 5 minutes apart and posted the sign up link to both the Dog Gone Seattle Foster Group and also the Adopter Group #DGSAlum. The spots sold out in less than 5 minutes. I was visiting family at the time and was out to dinner when my phone started blowing up with messages asking what happened and why people couldn’t sign up. When I got home I added a few more spots, once again they filled up quickly - not in 5 minutes but still very quickly! I added a few more and they filled up quickly again but at that point I had about 25 dogs and a 5 hour event. As my first event, I wasn’t sure how I would be feeling so wanted to keep it fairly small and easy.

In the weeks leading up to the event, I worked on getting contracts out, creating info sheets with FAQs, printing new info cards and dealing with no responses and filling those spots. We decided to switch the location last minute to the Rose Garden at Woodland Park instead of War Garden Public Park due to the lack of fall color that showed up in the park and the still blooming roses and flowers in October. Then, event was written up in The Seattle Stranger as one of the top activities to do over the weekend! Holy Smokes! My little event had now become one of the top activities to do over the weekend in Seattle.

I ended up photographing around 25 dogs, the full gallery can be found here but I’ve also shared some of my favorite photos below! If you’re interested in attending this event with your pup in the future, keep an eye out on my social media channels. It was such a big hit, I will definitely be hosting more. I also need to mention that I would not have been able to do this event without my great friend Stephanie Thurner. She spent the day chatting with attendees, sharing information, taking BTS footage for social media and keeping everything organized! The day would not have been possible without her, so thank you Steph!

So far we have raised $460 for Dog Gone Seattle from the event. If you still have not purchased photos from the event of your dog and would like to, please send me an email at hello@margotmckelvie.com.

Thank you everyone for attending!