What do you get when you combine a veterinarian, powerlifter, and photographer all into a single person? Your get Dr. Elaine “Lainie” Dinwiddie, a woman who believes that if she puts her mind to something, she’s going to do it, and in a fantastic way.
“Excuse me Miss, I hate to tell you this, but you’re going to have to take your dog outside,” says the manager at a local coffee mainstay in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia. I just met Lainie there about 5 minutes earlier, and we had already ordered our drinks … dammit.
PugCheeto is her dog’s name (a pug, naturally), and he is quietly sitting under the table with absolutely no idea that he’s the reason we’re about to get booted from the joint. We quickly agree to get our coffees to go, and search for a place that is more canine friendly. As we exit, we see a sign on the door that indeed states, “No dogs allowed.” Oh well (shoulder shrug), PugCheeto seems happy to be on the move.
PugCheeto: A Lucky Dog
While we’re walking, Lainie tells me that she never really wanted a dog, especially living in an apartment, in the city. I feel like I should be covering PugCheeto’s little ears. Lainie explains, “I moved to Philly 5 years ago as a surgical resident [veterinarian] and got a call from a friend who said there was a dog that’s owner was going to put him down, for no reason. The guy just didn’t want him anymore. I felt so bad that I agreed to take him in. Now we’re inseparable.”
I look down at PugCheeto with a smile and realize for the first time that he’s wearing a Philadelphia Eagles scarf! Lainie tells me the Eagles won the Super Bowl her first year living here and they’ve both been diehard fans ever since. Go Birds!
We find another coffee shop a block down the street. It has window seats available, and this time PugCheeto is welcome to come inside. He’s a lucky dog, not due to the friendlier venue, but because his human also happens to be a leading veterinary surgeon in the area. She attended veterinary school in California and says she fell in love with surgery right away. It’s something that just “clicked”, and it was a surgical residency program that brought her to Philadelphia.
Veterinary Surgical Procedures: Dr. Lainie’s Jam
Now she’s a top surgeon at Mount Laurel Animal Hospital where she specializes in orthopedics and soft tissue surgery in small animals. “Animals have a lot of emotions, which makes it difficult to know what’s really wrong with them when they’re sick, or hurting,” says Lainie. “I feel like I can be a voice for them, and that’s one of the most rewarding parts of my job.”
Lainie shares that she knew she wanted to be veterinarian since she was a little girl. She grew up on a ranch in rural northeast Nevada, raising sheep and tending to farm animals – a practice that would spark her desire to work with animals as a profession. In fact, she centered her life around it.
Prior to veterinary school, she worked with primates at a pre-clinical pharmaceutical company in the pathology department, as a “Necropsy Technician.” What is necropsy? I had to look it up. It’s the examination of animals after death. Perhaps it was those early dissection experiences that helped hone her surgical acumen, which today comprises soft tissue, orthopedic, spinal, and thoracic surgery, as well as a myriad of other minimally invasive procedures.
Powerlifting to the Rescue
Surgical veterinarian life can often mean long hours and significant stress. After a hard day at work, Laine lets loose with her second love – powerlifting. I ask her how she got turned onto lifting. “I grew up on a ranch, lifting hail bails. So, I’ve always been kind of strong,” she says. “My sister and I grew up dancing, but I never really had the physique of a dancer, so I tended to gravitate to more active sports. I tried Crossfit, but only liked the strength part of it. One of my best friends in vet school was previously on the Cornell track team, and really into bodybuilding. I started working out with her in California and it became a steady thing. When I came to Philly, I kept lifting because it’s such a great stress reliever.
One of my lifting buddies convinced me to try a local power lifting competition. The sport of powerlifting focuses on the squat, bench press, and deadlift. In competition, the goal is to perform each lift once with as much weight as possible. I had no idea if I could really do it or not. But once I competed, I was hooked.” Lainie competes in the United States Powerlifting federation with the plan to compete again this year. “Competing gives me something to work for, a goal to accomplish.”
Lainie trains 4 days a week, sometimes more if she’s preparing for a competition. But the competitions aren’t the sole driver of her love for the sport. She tells me that there is a large community of powerlifters in Philadelphia, and they’re a very tight knit community. “I’ve been introduced to a lot of people [through powerlifting], many of whom have been instrumental in my life. It’s a great group of fun and crazy characters.”
“I also enjoy lifting with other women, because it builds a support system as well as healthy competition. There’s also a level of confidence gained while lifting that translates to other areas of my life.” Lainie competes in the United States Powerlifting federation with a plan to compete again this year. “Competing gives me something to work for, a goal to accomplish. I will definitely strength train for the rest of my life.”
Powerlifting Surgeons Can be Artsy Too …
So, what does a successful veterinarian and powerlifter do during her downtime on the weekends? For Lainie, the answer is photography. She shows me a couple of shots she recently took, and they’re simply incredible. I quickly look down for a golden lasso to see if I’m interviewing Wonder Woman.
Lainie tells me that she has always admired photographers, but never thought she could do it herself. She started taking photos during the pandemic, on her smartphone. “I would walk around the neighborhood with my dog, pull out my phone, and take photos of things I saw in Philly streets. I really enjoyed it. Soon I started following Philadelphia photographers on Instagram, which helped me think about different ways to take my own photos. I told my parents about my new passion and they bought me my first ‘real’ camera as a gift, a Nikon D3500. I spent the next several months figuring out how to use it.”
Lainie has since upgraded to a SONY a7C camera and is getting noticed by the Philadelphia photography community. Several of her captured images have been featured on popular Instagram photo blogs such as @visitphilly @phlvisitorcenter @phillycurrent and @phillyframes. Philly Frames consists of a group of professional photographers who search for and share the best photos of Philadelphia they find. They also organize walking shoots for photographers throughout the city, which is where Lainie feels she learned the most about the craft.
“I started going on these Philly Frames walks, and all of the photographers were so nice … some of the best people I’ve met. I liked watching them do their thing, learning from these other creatives as I observed the different styles to set up a shot or look at a scene. They were also willing to offer me advice regarding things like lighting and camera settings, all the tricks of the trade. I began to see the world in a different aspect. I began to see the world in a different way, looking for shadows, shapes, or various compositions of everyday scenes.”
“The experience has been eye-opening because my other world is lived within a set of rules and restrictions. It is mostly science based. But photography is art. Anything goes and you can do whatever you want. My particular focus is kind of all over the place. By definition, I’m a street photographer. But my true love is nature and landscape photography. I love to travel, and some of my best work has been capturing landscapes in the west and southwest.”
As we finish our coffee, Lainie tells PugCheeto it’s time to go. Apparently, they’re headed home to check on the rest of the family, three cats named Fuzz, Banana Pancake, and Colonel Cornbread. Great pet names by the way. I feel happy to have been able to spend time with Lainie. I can’t remember the last time I met a powerlifting veterinarian photographer. Maybe because I never have … until now.
If you want to check out Lainie’s photos, they can be found on Instagram at @dr_lainie.
