Our company started photographing in 1971, when at a Great Dane Club of Cleveland club meeting, Sam Pizzino made a motion that Richard and Diana Alverson be the official Photographers for the June Specialty Show. Before it could be seconded, Diana said, "Sam, we may show dogs, but we photograph weddings and portraits not dogs." His response was, "Oh come on Diana, any fool can take picture of dogs." There was a lot of laughter and she agreed to photograph the Specialty. It was seconded, and we were hired for the Specialty.
Diana Alverson
Richard Alverson
Since the Great Dane Club was so desperate to find a show photographer, the following day Diana started calling Kennel Clubs that were scheduled to have Puppy Matches. Frank Oberstar was the Match Chairman for the Grand River Kennel Club and he hired us to photograph his Match. Then, Maxwell Riddle hired us to photograph Ravenna Kennel Club's all-breed show. That was the beginning of our long standing Dog Show photography business. We have been photographing Dog Shows ever since.
We were the only Husband and Wife team photographing when we started. We had four daughters, Grace, June, Joyce & Lynn, all of them trained and photographed with us at the shows.
Grace Alverson
June Alverson Hill
Joyce Alverson Cook
In 1985, there was an article about our family Business in Dog World magazine titled, "The Family that Shoots Dogs."
In 1987, Diana was listed in Who's Who of the Mid-West for her photographic accomplishments.
We have expanded from photographing in Ohio to photographing in 19 states. We do All-Breeds, National Specialties, Local Specialties and United Kennel Club shows as well.
Today, we are still a family owned and operated business with Lynn Alverson taking over the reigns of the company. Nick Duplessis has also joined our team. Trained by Diana Alverson, he has been photographing for 2 years and is very dedicated to all of our clients. Lynn has been photographing dog shows for over 15 years and with her experience and knowledge will carry on the Alverson's excellent service and dedication.
