Urban Dog Studio: Pet Photography in Pinellas Park, FL

Last updated May 30, 2026

Pet Photography with Purpose in Pinellas Park

Urban Dog Studio, located at 5663 Park Blvd #8 in Pinellas Park, Florida, specializes in portrait photography for dogs and their owners. The studio operates as a luxury boutique experience, meaning sessions are designed around the individual personality of each pet rather than a one-size-fits-all assembly-line approach. Photographers Laurie Elmer and Knicki Lucrezi built the business on a straightforward premise: dogs deserve photographs that actually look like them, not just any dog.

Pet photography sits at an interesting intersection of technical skill and animal behavior. Getting a dog to hold a compelling pose requires patience, timing, and a genuine ease around animals. Urban Dog Studio has built its reputation on exactly that combination, producing portrait-quality images that clients describe as heirloom-quality artwork. For pet owners who have lost an animal, those photographs become something else entirely: irreplaceable records of a life shared.

How Urban Dog Studio Came to Be

Laurie Elmer and Knicki Lucrezi have known each other since 2003, and they formally launched Urban Dog Studio together in 2019. Both photographers bring more than 20 years of experience to the work, and by the time they opened the studio, they had developed a clear vision for what a pet photography session should feel like. The goal was never to simply point a camera at a dog and click. The vision was to create a dedicated space where pets are treated as the subjects of serious, considered portraiture.

The partnership between Elmer and Lucrezi draws on complementary strengths. Their long friendship translates into a working dynamic that clients notice immediately: sessions feel relaxed, organized, and genuinely fun for the animals involved. That ease didn't happen by accident. It reflects two decades of learning how animals move, what makes them comfortable, and how to read a dog's energy in real time.

Services and Specialties at Urban Dog Studio

Urban Dog Studio focuses on pet portrait photography, with dogs as the primary subject. Sessions are structured as boutique experiences, which means the studio limits volume in favor of giving each client and their pet full attention. The finished products are described on the studio's own website as heirloom-quality artwork, and the framing matters: the goal is a finished piece you'd hang on a wall, not a digital file you'll forget about in a folder.

A few things set the studio's approach apart from general pet photography:

• Sessions are paced around the dog's comfort level, not a rigid schedule
• The photographers are experienced working with pets that have disabilities or behavioral challenges
• The studio produces artwork designed to function as long-term keepsakes, not just snapshots
• Each session is treated as a unique project shaped by the individual dog's personality

Beyond the studio sessions themselves, Laurie Elmer and Knicki Lucrezi (also credited as Knicki Knowlton in their podcast work) host a podcast dedicated to pet ownership and photography. The show completed its first full year of weekly episodes, a milestone that reflects a genuine investment in the pet-owner community beyond the studio walls.

The Team Behind Urban Dog Studio

The studio is run entirely by its two founders, and clients interact directly with both photographers throughout the process.

• Laurie Elmer: Co-founder and photographer. Clients consistently single out Laurie for her communication style and her ability to put both pets and their owners at ease during emotionally significant sessions. One client specifically credited her with exceptional kindness during a difficult period surrounding a pet's declining health.
• Knicki Lucrezi: Co-founder and photographer. Praised alongside Laurie for her handling of dogs during shoots, including animals with physical disabilities and behavioral issues. The patience both photographers bring to those situations is something reviewers mention by name.

Together, the two bring more than 20 years of pet photography experience to every session. Their long personal history means they work with the kind of shorthand that only develops over years of collaboration, and clients tend to pick up on that chemistry quickly.

Milestones and Track Record

• Urban Dog Studio was founded in 2019 by Laurie Elmer and Knicki Lucrezi after more than 16 years of friendship and parallel careers in photography.
• The studio's podcast, hosted by both founders, reached one full year of consecutive weekly episodes, marking a sustained commitment to producing content for the pet-owner community every single week without a gap.

What Customers Say About Urban Dog Studio

The reviews Urban Dog Studio has collected share a few recurring threads: the quality of the finished photographs, the way the photographers handle animals during sessions, and the emotional weight the images carry after a pet has passed. That last point comes up more than once, and it speaks to something specific about what this studio produces.

They have such an artistic eye. I have since lost 2 of my 3 babies and these portraits are now treasured keepsakes.

- Courtney Huss

That sentiment captures why pet photography done well is different from pet photography done quickly. Courtney Huss's note about losing two of her three dogs reframes what the studio actually delivers: not just a nice photo, but a record that outlasts the animal itself.

Laurie was super communicative and kind to us during this difficult time and we will never forget it.

- Jackie D

Jackie D's review points to a quality that doesn't show up in a portfolio: how the photographers treat clients when the session isn't just a fun afternoon but something more emotionally charged. That kind of attentiveness is harder to manufacture than technical skill.

Laurie and Knicki were absolutely perfect in regard to handling my dog. The experience was fantastic. So professional, communication was perfect.

- Lisa Presnail

Their skill to get the dogs to pose for just the right shot is amazing.

- chad shannon

Chad Shannon's observation gets at something practical: getting a dog to hold a pose long enough to capture a usable frame is genuinely difficult. The photographers' ability to do it consistently, across different breeds and temperaments, is a concrete skill that shows up in the final images.

Location and Community in Pinellas Park

Urban Dog Studio operates out of Suite 8 at 5663 Park Blvd in Pinellas Park, FL 33781. Park Boulevard is a well-traveled commercial corridor in Pinellas Park, making the studio reasonably accessible from surrounding Pinellas County communities. The studio's boutique format means it isn't trying to serve the entire region at volume; it serves the clients it takes on with full attention.

The podcast the founders produce extends the studio's presence beyond its physical location. By publishing weekly episodes about pet ownership and photography, Elmer and Lucrezi have built a platform that connects with dog owners across a wider geography than a single studio address can reach. That combination of a focused local practice and a broader content presence reflects how the business thinks about its role in the pet-owner community.

Why Choose Urban Dog Studio

Urban Dog Studio offers something specific: portrait photography for dogs, executed by two photographers with more than 20 years of experience, in a setting designed to make the animal comfortable rather than the session efficient. The studio works with dogs that have disabilities and behavioral challenges, not just easy subjects, and the finished artwork is built to last.

For pet owners who want photographs that genuinely capture who their dog is, rather than a generic pet portrait, the studio's track record speaks clearly. Clients who have lost pets return to those images for comfort. That's the standard Urban Dog Studio is working toward with every session.

Customer quotes shown above are from public Google reviews.