About Us

"It's more than just capturing a photo of an animal; it's about capturing their personality and their spirit."

Meet our photographer: Marissa Helling

Marissa is a University of Kentucky alumni who received a Bachelor of Science degree in Equine Science and Management.

Her love for animals started young, with influences from her aunt who bred and showed dogs and from starting horseback riding lessons as a young child. Her aunt was also a photographer for the magazine, Dog Fancy, which initially inspired Marissa to begin photography. Her first camera was a Polaroid that she received at 6 years old, and her favorite place to take pictures was at the zoo. Throughout the years she had many different cameras and loved taking pictures of everything. In 2012, she got her first DSLR and the rest is history. While she's dabbled in other forms of photography, photographing animals quickly became her photographic passion. Her love and understanding for animals has allowed her to interact with the animal she's photographing, and truly capture their personality. A photo may have the perfect balance, colors, and the animal may look beautiful, but to her a photo of an animal is not complete without capturing the animal's spirit.