The story of Seth Casteel and his diving dog photos is the perfect example of what happens when something goes viral and the person is prepared to take advantage of it. Seth was your typical on-the-move freelance photographer when he created the now famous underwater images of dogs diving in a pool after balls. As you’ll see in the story below by Wired on the Raw File blog, he was prepared to handle all the inquiries about him and his work, because he’d teamed up with the good people at Tandem Stills + Motion to handle licensing and PR. While it’s impossible to make something go viral or predict when it might happen it’s good to know professionals can turn all that attention into business.

On that fateful February 9th, the photos mysteriously landed on Reddit, Facebook, Google+ and then Warholian, becoming one of the hottest trends amongst viewers on at least five or six continents.

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.

“The business side is so important because you can have something go viral and be silly about it and you won’t make a dollar off it,” Casteel says. “Without [Tandem Stills + Motion] it would have been a fail.”

via Diving Dogs Are Good Catch for Photographer | Raw File | Wired.com.

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14 Comments

  1. what a brilliant idea!! way to mix the popular underwater swimming pool photo shoot with an even more popular subject – dogs.

  2. I assume the 1000 people from all over the world asked the photographer to shoot photos of their dogs jumping in pools. Yeah, I guess that’s a great idea, but don’t you think that would get boring after a while; doing the same shot over and over again?

    • Probably more fun than shooting execs on grey.. I’ll do it, sign me up!

  3. Inspirational work and inspirational story. And to any naysayer…have you ever thought of shooting a dog UNDER WATER?

  4. Very cool idea, well executed. Good for him!!

  5. Awesome! What a simple idea and probably tons of fun to shoot…

    (personally, i find the dogs underwater like that a bit frightening)

  6. I just love pics of the dogs….really good stuff.

  7. A good reminder that photography is an ideas business nowadays. There are countless photographers out there who could execute this idea, but coming up with it in the first place is where the value comes in.

  8. Great idea and shot beautifully!

    Bout time dogs get the bitter spotlight. yaz-can-haz cats had it for way too long.

  9. FANTASTIC!! What an experience to actually see the dogs in action underwater. To think…we have NEVER seen dogs loving this sport as they are amazing animals.
    It is amazing to watch. I have sent it to everyone!! CONGRATULATIONS to Seth
    he has opened up new paths for Photographers to really get credit for all their hard work to get it appreciated. I hope it is the start of a NEW door opening for Photographers!! I cant wait to see one of his shows. I feel honored to be on his comment list!!
    jude

  10. As a fellow Tandem photographer, I really appreciate Seth’s gratitude towards the agency. They really are awesome people to work for, and even more amazing as individuals. And Seth deserves the success for such a creative idea with such broad appeal. Well done!


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