The Pet Service
The annual Pet Service at St Mary’s parish church in Caterham, Surrey, England is a little bit of chaos at the edge of heaven.
Each year families bring their pets for a blessing and a reminder of what important companions pets are with their unjudgemental and unconditional love and affection. Pets which Rev. Duncan Swan has blessed over the years have included fish and a stick insect. This year they included hamsters, a horse, cats, a rabbit and lots of dogs – (and a few soft toy pets for good measure).
An event like a pet service is relatively easy to photograph because there is so much chaos that you just blend right in. I only use available light (which can be a bit of a challenge) so as not to be too intrusive with flash and not to alarm the animals. It is all about catching the moment and on an occasion such as this there are lots of moments with animals and children. However it is all totally unrehearsed and things happen quickly so you need full concentration.
