Photographer Chooses the Worst Weather for the Best Husky Photos (PHOTOS)

“Honestly, it kind of fell into place over time,” Pantely told weather.com. He and his girlfriend Alex moved to Denver, Colo. from Pittsburgh, Penn. and wanted a way to share his adventures with friends and family back in Pennsylvania. “My account started out as just landscape, milky way, and wildlife photography with some photos of Bear sprinkled in.”

But his Instagram eventually became exclusively focused on photographing his three huskies — Bear, 3, Zella, 2.5 and Grizz, 1 — when he recognized that photos of Bear were getting more engagement than any of his other photos.

Being the human to three huskies is a challenge in itself, but photographing them can be an even greater challenge. While all three of his dogs are trained to be off leash, he says that they listen only 98 percent of the time. “That other 2 percent, you get the ‘huskitude,’” he continued, “[which] consists of selective hearing, talking back and running around!” Still, he embraces the nature of his pups -- “let dogs be dogs, right?”

The transformation from a nature-focused account to a dog Instagram also impacted the goal and reception of Pantely’s photos. “The best part...is the memories it makes for the future and the smiles it puts on other people’s faces,” he said. “That’s the real meaning behind this. I just want to use this platform to make people smile and forget about their worries, even if it’s just for 20 seconds.” And that seems to be the key to his success.

“Don’t get caught up in all the trends or norms of the pet photography world like modeling, product reviews, advertisements,” he advised. “The more unique [and] creative you are, the more you will grow.”