Jim Dratfield photographs animals—and occasionally their owners—from house pets to exotic creatures like skink lizards from the Solomon Islands. The 46-year-old Princeton native calls his art form petography.
Before moving behind the camera, Dratfield spent fourteen years as a stage and TV actor. “I went from one struggling art form to another,” he jokes, although these days his clients include Jennifer Aniston, Sir Elton John, and Princeton High classmate Bebe Neuwirth (and, of course, their pets).
Dratfield, whose ninth book, A Dog for All Seasons, is due this fall, says that his four-legged subjects provide at least one advantage. “A dachshund is never going to ask if I can cover his snout from the other side,” he says.
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