Meet Tracy Munson MPA - New Brunswick’s Vet Tech Turned Pet Photographer!

Once she was gone, every photo of her became priceless, even if I couldn’t bear to look at them most of the time. Strangely, the portraits already on my walls didn’t bother me - it was coming across them unexpectedly, on my camera roll or Facebook memories, that did me in the most.

I deeply regret that I don’t have a single good photo of Becca and me together, and that has really changed how I approach my sessions. I used to be relieved when clients didn’t want to be in the photos with their pets. Now, I can’t stand the thought that they may someday realize, as I did, that it didn’t matter if they needed to lose a few (or a lot of) pounds, or had wrinkles, or hated their smile - that they would give anything for just one photo that really showed their connection with their best friend. I encourage everyone to be in at least a few photos, even if it’s just from behind, with the cat draped over their shoulder, the dog sitting between their feet, or an affectionate hand on a furry head.

It wasn’t even a year later that we lost our sweet, crazy, clingy sphynx, Trillian, unexpectedly to a congenital heart problem, at only 6 years of age. She left a huge hole in our lives. To be honest, she could be kind of a pest…constantly climbing all over me, trying to climb into my shirt or sit on my shoulder, waking me up all night, drinking out of my glass, knocking things off my desk while I tried to work. She made sure we were constantly aware of her presence, so her absence was devastatingly conspicuous. Once again, I was filled with regrets. All the photos of her I never took, all the photoshoot ideas I had, but procrastinated. I don’t even have a single picture of her with our hairless dog, Iris. I thought I had plenty of time.

Our odd couple! Stompin’ Tom (Stompy) the Persian with Trillian the Sphynx. This portrait hangs over that bookshelf, and it used to make me so happy when Trillian would sit up there, under it. (Stompy was way too lazy to jump up there on his own.) I’m so thankful I have this now that they’re both gone.

I understand your pet, and I understand how much they mean to you.

My first word was “cat”. As a little girl, I never dreamed of getting married and having babies; I fantasized about having a monkey and a koala bear. I didn't have imaginary friends; I had imaginary pets.

Before becoming a pet photographer, I spent over 25 years nurturing the human-animal bond while working as a veterinary technician in busy, urban animal hospitals and shelters in Toronto. I learned to read fear, comfort, trust, and the half-second before a dog decides to bolt, long before I understood shutter speed. I truly believe that my understanding of animal behaviour is the real reason this works, not my skill with a camera.

Originally, photography was my escape from my stressful but rewarding job at an animal shelter. Creating beauty to combat the terrible things I saw in my day job. Eventually, I started volunteering to take adoption photos for Speaking of Dogs rescue. Somehow, that evolved into a full-time career change. Sometimes it’s still hard to wrap my head around it!

For many years, my partner (and lovely assistant!), Graham and I explored Canada by car with a tent, a camera, and our 2 tiny dogs. After seeing it all, Atlantic Canada kept drawing us back, and in 2018 we escaped city life for good, relocating from Toronto to the beautiful Bay of Fundy Region in New Brunswick to pursue pet photography full time.