a labor of love

Brooklyn-born. San Francisco-seasoned. Now creating fine art dog portraits in Sacramento.

It all began during the 2000 dot-com bust. I'd just been laid off, then interviewed for a U.S. News & World Report story and asked, "What's next?" to which I replied: "I'm going to be a professional photographer."

I had never owned a camera but, subconsciously, I always wanted to do something creative.

Years before, I received a promo mailer — a beautiful black and white image of a pug on a square 5x5 card — from the alpha of dog photographers, Amanda Jones. I kept it. When the U.S. News story was published in May, I reached out to Amanda and, by June, I was her assistant in her San Francisco studio. Our time together was brief, but she became my mentor and inspiration.

For a decade, I photographed weddings and dogs under my San Francisco studio, Ann Hamilton. My logo—a bride walking a pug—was a poetic detail in hindsight. It was a whirlwind era that included being named one of the “Top 10 Wedding Photographers in the World” by American Photo magazine, but the dog on that leash was always pulling me back to my first love: canine portraiture.

Then came children. While raising my family, I launched Dearheart Studios to focus on families, children, and dogs. As my lens narrowed, I rebranded to Dogs on Paper in 2022 to focus exclusively on canine portraiture.

I'm a lifelong pug mom. Buddy is my fifth, and current, muse.

— Ann Burgermyer, Dogs on Paper