Travis Patenaude, Grand Champion Winner of the April 2023 Portrait Masters Awards and Accreditation recently spoke to host Nikki Closser of The Portrait System Podcast about how adopting a rescued Spainish galgo hound saved his life and set him on a trajectory to becoming a Grand Champion Winner in the category of pet photography. See his winning image.

Patenaude is based in Crystal Lake, Illinois, where he works full-time as an IT expert in cyber security for his county’s government, reserving 3 months of the year in the summertime for pet photography. Patenaude had never considered becoming a photographer until his first encounter with a galgo changed his life.  

Galgos are bred in Spain for rabbit hunting, which is a centuries-old sport with conventions that do not take into account the welfare of the dogs. In fact, there is a superstition that mistreating the dogs will bring a better hunting season the following year. Because it is so popular for betting, an animal welfare bill that recently passed in Spain was only successful after the galgos were excluded because of voter pressure.

[Read: Profits from Passion Projects: Photographer Richard Tuschman Explains]

The galgos are mass bred in an effort to find “the next champion.” During the training season, dogs who are deemed not likely to become champions are summarily killed if they do not show interest in rabbits, are not fully focused on rabbits during a chase, or if they take shortcuts in catching the rabbit rather than exactly following the path the rabbit has taken. After the hunting season, dogs who are deemed no longer useful routinely have their microchips cut out and are shot, are crippled and abandoned, or are killed by crueler methods, like being hung from a tree. 

Patenaude’s first pet galgo, Leena was rescued from being hung to death. Leena’s fate resonated deeply with Patenaude because immediately before he and his wife adopted her, he had gone through a deep depression and had almost hung himself, too. Fortunately, something stopped him from going through with it. The following weekend, he and his wife rescued Leena. Patenaude says, “She became my therapy dog, and I became a therapy human.” 

[Read: Preserving Memories of Your Pet with a Personal Portrait Session]

Patenaude and his wife started an adoption group called Love Hope Believe Galgo Adoption. While working in partnership with the adoption organization HeARTs Speak, Patenaude got his first lessons on how to take photographs of dogs so that he could take galgo portraits to help them get adopted. That was in 2014.

In 2020, Patenaude had been working with a business coach and was ready to launch his pet photography business full-time when the pandemic struck. He decided to postpone his business plans and continue working for the county while focusing his photography solely on his galgo rescue efforts. Despite doing no marketing, Patenaude receives requests for pet photography sessions, which he schedules during the summer season.

To learn more about Travis Patenaude and his photography, visit his Instagram or Stink-Eye Photography. You can support his work with the galgos by purchasing his book Galgo Espanol After the Hunt or by purchasing his wall art and other products featuring his art at Travis-Patenaude.pixels.com. 

The Portrait System Podcast helps portrait photographers navigate the world of photography, business, money, and much more. Hosted by Nikki Closser, the podcast is powered by The Portrait System, a comprehensive, online educational platform that teaches all aspects of running a successful portrait photography studio.