UTurn Studios

Genuine. Happy. Engaging. Smile-inducing. This is how April Turner describes her work. She strives to capture the pure joy that pets bring everyone and deliver it in colorful, cheerful photographs that are sure to put a smile on your face.

Aesthetically, she tends toward a spectrum of bright and happy colors, but what sets her images apart is the interaction that she has with the pets themselves. Their engagement in the session really shines through, making the images a true reflection of the furry personalities that April works with. The images are not edited to add props, each pet is genuinely reacting to the elements in the image - whether that be another pet or a pair of silly glasses. This approach yields an authentic connection to these furry friends who April feels privileged to photograph.

Many of her images available for licensing are created with local shelter pets during monthly photo sessions.

These monthly photo shoots are part of the Model Pet Project, a project she co-founded in 2012 to shine a light on homeless pets and show that shelter pets can be a model member of any family. “It warms my heart that these images will not only help each pet find their new family, but will also go on to spread smiles far and wide,” says April.

When not behind the camera, April can be found playing outdoors with her family (both two-legged and four-legged!) in the rolling hills of the Missouri Ozarks.