My first suggestion is to leave him out of your photography sessions. When you are taking him for an outing, focus on him, and when you need to focus on photography, don't take him with you.

Of course, you can also train him to a down-stay so that you can ask him to lie down over there and wait while you compose a photo.
This will take time and patience. You won't be able to use this as a solution to the problem you have until you have worked with him for at least several weeks, first at home and then moving gradually outside. If you try to rush the process it won't work or will backfire. In the meantime, just don't take him on your photography sessions.

Here is a video of instruction on this from an excellent positive-reinforcement trainer.
FUN GAME to teach STAY - Down stay sit stay

 

Dogs & nature photography - two things near & dear to my heart.

Just a couple of suggestions - When you head out for a photo shoot, plan a bit of time at the start & take him for at least a short walk. Power walking or sniffing - whatever he prefers & let him decide what he wants to do. Then, lay down a bed/blanket/mat from home & ask him to lay down on it. If you have never worked any sort of 'mat/place' training with him, you will probably need to start this at home first, but if he has something he's accustomed to laying on & relaxing at home, you'll be one step ahead. Then, provide him with a long lasting chew or perhaps a 'licky mat' to occupy him while you work. You might have to tether him up to something, especially at first, until he gets the hang of this new 'game' you're playing together.

Ellie says even dogs need to learn how to stop & smell the flowers...

 

William Wegman had a similar problem with Man Ray demanding attention during photo shoots. The silly answer is that Wegman simply started posing and photographing the dog. Human got pictures; dog got attention. More seriously, Wegman did a lot of training with his dogs. His work wouldn't have been possible if the dogs hadn't been able to sit, stay, and respond to requests for eye contact. Wegman also had assistants who could help wrangle dogs and props. I think both that sort of training and that sort of help, ultimately, is what you will need if you wish to have your dog present during photo sessions.

 

Thank you guys. Vader has been such a good dog with all his training on the ranch. He is a ranch herding cull. He is also one of the most concious dogs I have ever met. It will be interesting to see how he does with the mat.

On a side note, he recently got a hot spot on one of his forelegs. I coned him to stop the licking. He figured out what I was getting at and stopped licking the sore so I would stop coneing him. He is a very smart dog.