Ever since I got my first camera, I've been taking pictures of animals. It didn't matter if they were mine, my friend's, or strays; they were what I liked taking photos of. Some of my favorite photos I've taken are of animals.

I've taken tons of photos of a group of four horses that used to come right up to our house and eat the grass by our sidewalk. It was so cool to have a bunch of horses right outside of our house! While I was taking these photos, I was overjoyed with the fact that even though they were not wild, they were outside of our house, and not inside a pasture with fences and gates.

Horses across the street from our house

Some of my other favorite photos are of Fresca, our little black and brown puppy that we had in Costa Rica. The photos really capture her personality as a puppy. I loved taking pictures of her! It made me so happy to be able to share the photos with our friends and family.

Fresca, our Costa Rican puppy

The picture of the cat is one of our family cat, Alex. Everyone loves to dress him up with bead necklaces. This photo doesn't just show him with a red beaded necklace, it also shows his personality as a cat.

Alex, our Mexican cat

The reason why I love taking photos of animals so much is because even though we can't always take our animals with us when we travel, I can always look at their photos, and remember exactly what they looked like, and even remember their personalities. It also lets me show my friends and family what they look like, and gives them a sense of what their personalities are like.

Joy Whitehead is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program.

All photos courtesy and copyright Joy Whitehead