This week our Trader of the Week is Pet Paparazzi, an independent, Workington based, animal photography business. 

The business is run by Lena Lewis who started the service as a hobby during the pandemic back in 2020 and has since turned it into a successful trade with people from across the country using her services. 

She uses several locations across the Allerdale area and the Lake District to photograph people's pets. 

Most people use her service for professional style photographs of their dogs, but she has photographed an array of animals including rabbits, reptiles and and ferrets. 

Miss Lewis said: "I'm a self-employed pet photographer on location style in the outdoors. The most popular location that I offer is Curwen Hall in Workington, but I also photograph in Keswick and Bitts Park in Carlisle.

I then use the beach and harbour in Workington as locations, sometimes on special requests I'll go somewhere else if I can. 

"Before Covid I was working in the eatery in Debenhams but lost my job due to the pandemic.

"I decided not to look for another job as I felt that it would not be secure, so I started the photography as a hobby. People seemed to enjoy it and there was a demand for it, so I decided to go for it. 

"At college I studied animal care and animal management, so I've always been passionate about them. 

"I take photos of everything, I love taking photos, so it was kind of a combination of the two things that I enjoy. 

"It's just grown and grown since day one, I've had people contact me from Blackpool, Liverpool and Cambridge. 

"I promote the company through social media; mainly Instagram and Facebook but I also use TikTok. 

"But a lot of its word of mouth and people who I've photographed for will recommend their friends. 

"I also run a monthly competition which is marketing and promotion based, every month there is a new breed that is announced and anyone with that breed can enter, and the winner will get a photo shoot with me which is a way of getting the word out. The competition runs every month and I've been doing it for the past year."

To find out more information on Pet Paparazzi you can visit Lena's social media pages and website.