Seth Casteel has become a very important person in the world of dogs (and their owners) because of his ability to capture on film the look on a dog’s face as they dive into a pool after a ball. Casteel literally captures the look on the dog’s face, as he is under water shooting his camera upward. Seth Casteel started as a freelance photographer and has recently become a very sought after commodity in the pet photo world.
Casteel’s ticket to fame started on February 9 when the underwater dog photos he had taken ended up on popular social network sites Reddit, Facebook, Google+, and Warholian. From there it’s history as they say as the amazing pictures were shared over and over again across the internet all over the world. “I could have never predicted anything like this,” Casteel said. “It’s been pretty unreal.”
Needless to say, the fact that the pictures made their way around the globe, Casteel has been able to reap major benefits!
More than 1,000 people all over the world have subsequently asked him to shoot photos of their pets. He’s got a line of publishing houses fighting to get the rights to his forthcoming book of underwater dog photos, and he’s made appearance on, or in, most major American news publications from the The New York Times to Good Morning America.
He credits his licensing and PR firm, Tandem Stills + Motion, with successfully converting his new audience. Where many internet stars fade away after a few days of intense popularity, his firm capitalized on the traffic by handling most of Casteel’s business transactions and press requests.
While the fame and probable fortune Casteel is experiencing is great, he is even more happy about how the attention has already helped his non-profit, Second Chance Photos, which aims to increase the quality of animal adoption photos at shelters across the country by providing photo equipment and technical training for shelter staff. Better photos, Casteel says, means increased adoption rates.
He got involved in helping animals after some kittens wandered onto a movie set he was working on and he agreed to do their adoption photos. From there he moved on to volunteering at the West Los Angeles animal shelter and then started Second Chance.
Now Casteel’s recent success has lead to an increase in donations to the non-profit. It’s also led to invitations from animal shelters outside the U.S. who are interested in the workshops.
“That’s the thing I’m most surprised about,” he says. “That the photos have resonated with so many people across the world. In the end I’m just super grateful and excited that it’s been such a positive thing.”
Visit Casteel’s website gallery to see the underwater dog pictures that have made him famous!
