Sarah Ernhart found a different name for the photographs nobody wants to need

• Ernhart connects Joy Sessions to a particular dog and relationship.
• Her project became a resource other photographers could use.

Photographs near the end of a pet’s life call for a different kind of care.

“Emergency Session” was the first name Sarah Ernhart considered for photographing pets near the end of their lives. In her account of the service’s beginning, she explains why it did not fit: “It sounded so cold and impersonal.” Her essay, Joan and Joy—Where it all began.

The eventual name, Joy Session, came from a particular dog and a particular relationship. It also became the name around which other photographers gathered. Ernhart’s story is about how a personal way of approaching a session grew into a resource other people could use.

Joy was a dog

Ernhart’s undated origin essay, available on her photography website, recalls a December 2009 appointment with a woman named Joan and her service dog, Joy. The photographs were a gift. The experience prompted Ernhart to consider a related service for people whose pets were nearing the end of life.

Her first official session followed in January 2010, with a Bernese mountain dog named Griffin. Searching for a name, she realized “the perfect name was sitting right in front of me.” Joy connected the new service to the relationship that had inspired it. Ernhart’s own account.

The distinction is in where the camera looks. A photograph can record illness, but it can also record the relationship that exists alongside illness: a familiar way of resting together, a hand on a shoulder, an ordinary piece of life a family wants to remember. Those possibilities do not require a grand or elaborate scene.

Other photographers take it forward

Photographer Jenna Regan described spending four years in the Joy Session network when writing about a feature on her business. She explicitly credited Ernhart with creating the directory to connect pet owners with photographers offering senior and end-of-life sessions. That is a trace of adoption in another practitioner’s own account. Regan’s network account.

The network’s current home is called Pet Memorial Photographers. On its undated about page, Ernhart describes the earlier Joy Session name and the addition of grief-related resources. “I’m so glad you found us!” she writes. The introduction presents a directory and support material, not just a gallery of her own work. Pet Memorial Photographers.

In October 2022, Holly Montgomery also invited Ernhart onto The Everything Pup Podcast to discuss choosing a photographer and what these appointments involve. The episode’s stated questions include who the service is—and is not—for. The episode and accompanying resources.

Read the story behind the name

The origin essay is Ernhart’s own writing. It describes how one assignment changed what she offered and the language she used for it. The external articles reviewed for this portrait are reports and interviews, rather than verified outside articles carrying her byline.

A 2014 Vetstreet feature adds perspectives from clients, including veterinarian Jen Myers, who described photographs of her dog Mason as a way to remember his personality. That is testimony about what the photographs meant to one person. It is not a promise about how another family will feel. Amy Sinatra Ayres’ feature.

A photograph is an option, never an obligation

There is no required way to document a pet’s life. A professional appointment may be meaningful, but a family does not need to arrange one to demonstrate love. Existing snapshots, a quiet moment at home or choosing not to take photographs are also personal decisions.

A picture cannot establish prognosis or tell a family when to make a medical decision. Questions about comfort and care belong with the animal’s veterinary team. The photographer’s role is different: to understand what the family wants to preserve and whether the session can fit around the animal’s needs.

For someone considering this work, the useful starting point is a conversation about flexibility, energy, setting and expectations. The question is what the family would like to remember, and how gently it can be recorded.

For you: What has stayed with you from meeting Joan and Joy?

How we reported this: We have not interviewed Sarah Ernhart. This portrait uses her published origin essay, a photographer’s account of joining the network, directory material and published interviews. Her service and directory are the reason for coverage. She is not a flurrily partner; this is not an endorsement or a recommendation to purchase a session. Corrections and additional context are welcome.