Shooting landscapes was an early photographic love for both Craig and Charlotte!

When photographing your canine friends these days, there's a real storytelling value in incorporating elements of landscape photography into your work.

We've also found that clients often choose art for their walls that incorporates landscape elements in addition to displaying the beauty and character of their dog.

The Dogscapes challenge is one of the more, erm... challenging challenges of Embark (try saying that after a few gins!)

What we're asking for is simple, an image of a dog in a landscape, somewhere that gives the image a sense of place. In practice, it's actually quite a different discipline. One where you need to think more like a landscape photographer first and a dog photographer second. A genre mashup if you will.

We had so many beautiful images celebrating dogs at amazing places, congratulations to everyone who submitted, but especially to those who made our top 20 and top 10.

Congratulations to the photographers.

Charlotte & Craig 🐶 📸 ✨

We provide video feedback on all images submitted for the challenge, and from there, we select our Top 20 and Top 10. Without further ado, here are the Top 10 images for this challenge!

Birgit Zimmermann | Birgit Zimmermann Fotografie

What a fantastic location to spend a rainy day! The raindrops throughout this scene add to the mood. The dog is perfectly placed and posed within the scene and the mountains behind give a definite sense of place.

Caeli Gmai

What a great pairing of dog and location! The colour palette is lovely and the location has a sense of place that clearly gives this image the Dogscape look.

Dana Gookin-Owens | Studio D Portrait Design, LLC ~ Boutique Pet Photography

This is another shot where dog and location are a perfect match. The pose and expression of the dog help lead your eye through the frame.

Jenny Johansson | Jenny Johansson Photography

There's no mistaking that the dog is the hero in this Dogscape. The placement and posing of them in the scene and direct eye contact are striking. The location is shown well too.

Joan Carey | @jcarey2016

Gorgeous pastel colours and the rocks and lighthouse give this a strong sense of place. The composition is balanced nicely with the reflections.

Katie Pierce | @katiebatie13

This is the perfect mountain range for a panoramic crop! The dog is posed well and has a lovely expression making them the clear hero. The light is really nice too, especially that rim light on the subject.

Nicki Endt | Nicole Endt Photography

This is an excellent nighttime dogscape. We can see detail in the shadows of the rocks and headland and the little bay, which all give this a strong sense of place. The dog also has detail and is not in silhouette and the Milky Way looks fantastic.

Sam Rowe | Sam Coral Photography

What a great location and the sense of place is excellent. The centred composition balances this scene and provides a feeling of serenity.

Samantha Smillie

Lovely expression and a great Dogscape location to work in. The windswept ears and fur add movement and emotion to the image.

Valerie Bavegems | @valerie_rusty_luka

The dog is perfectly posed and placed against an area with clear space around their head, which helps draw attention to that lovely expression.

Embark is the foundation 6-month interactive challenge-based online dog photography course in our Unleashed Challenges series, focusing on helping you to learn new shooting skills and create more variety in your work.

Want to be the first to hear when Embark opens for enrolment each year? Register your interest here.