Despite a beating sun on Wednesday afternoon, Penny still worked the camera at Urban Outfitter’s Space 24 Twenty, nailing poses like “sit” and “stay.” The pug was brought out by her owner’s roommate, corporate communications senior Madison Ogden, for pictures at Urban’s new National Pets Day Portraits event.
“I loved the layout and everything, so I can’t wait to see the photos,” Ogden said. “Hopefully we’ll get one blown up for the apartment.”
To celebrate National Pet’s Day, Urban invited pet owners to come out for a free photo session with Pet Portraits Austin. Cristina Fisher, events and content manager for Space 24 Twenty, said donations will go to the city’s local shelter, the Austin Animal Center.
“We really wanted to do something to celebrate here in the local Austin community, especially since it is such a dog-friendly city,” Fisher said. “It seemed like a fun activity and also a way to give back.”
The donation aspect was what brought Sydney O’Connell, communications studies senior, out with her dog, Jo, whom she had recently adopted from the Center.
“When I saw that Pet Portraits was donating to the Austin Animal Center, I said, ‘That’s a great way to get a good photo of her and give back to where she came from,’” O’Connell said.
Jo was no stranger to the spotlight — O’Connell said she has her own Instagram account, @cup.ofjo. The light brown pit bull mix did not keep completely still during her photo op, but her tail wagged throughout.
“I’ve been trying to teach her how to take photos,” O’Connell said. “The Austin dog photo world is insane, people are very serious about it.”
At one point, more than 30 different dogs barked, sniffed and ran around the Space 24 Twenty area. One of those was Zia, a medium-sized mutt belonging to Austinite Tyler Lengal, who said he was a little pushed into attending the event.
“My girlfriend told me to come out and take pictures of our dog,” Lengal said.
Lengal said although he sometimes takes pictures of Zia on his phone, this was her first professional shoot. He left after making a donation to the shelter and getting some pictures of his black and brown pooch.
“We will probably just hang on to (the photos),” Lengal said. “She is going to get old, and this is our first dog together, so we want to have those memories.”
