I've long-since pondered about working with my greatest love of all - animals. And how I could work with animals, or an animal charity, in a way that wouldn't be too heartbreaking (since I already lie awake at night thinking about the insidious cruelties people inflict on animals) but rather a positive, giving-back experience. And I've also wondered more recently (well, at least the past couple of years) how to combine my love of photography with my love of four-legged friends. And then, a couple of months ago, I caught a glimpse of this wonderful and incredibly inspiring news story about photographer, Shannon Johnstone - who, as you will see from her "Landfill Dogs" website, takes out a shelter dog once a week (as part of an 18-month project) to a a nearby landfill area that has been turned into a lovely park, lets them off-leash and captures their sheer joy, energy and boundless enthusiasm for life in a creative and heart-warming collection of photographs. And the images she captures are so lovely they're used to promote the dogs' adoption - rather than the average sad and scared shelter pup images. And what's more important - it's working! The shelter has seen a noticeable increase in adoptions of even the longer term residents, thanks to this remarkable project and one woman's beautiful images. But why read my babble - I wholeheartedly recommend checking out the Landfill Dogs website and Facebook pages for yourself....I challenge you not to laugh or smile (or even tear up) at the charming and lovable characters she shares, and for whom she has helped offer a new lease on life!
My personal favourite so far has to be the dancing with joy stance of this little guy, so aptly named Looney Tunes:
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| Looney Tunes #5, impoundment #81578 |
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| So thoughtful, just breathing in life. Ice Frosting, impoundment #82263 |
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| The "Can we please stay here forever?" look. Karsten #3, impoundment #87239 |
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And I just love the joy and freedom captured in this
beautiful dancing silhouette shot. Akimbo Dances with
Shavonte, impoundment #91008.
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And the funny thing is, I was at the gym at the time this story aired, so unfortunately I didn't hear/see the details and, for the bit I caught, the closed captioning was rife with errors - as usual! The next day I told a close friend just how much it had inspired me, even though I didn't get the full story, and then, thankfully, another friend recently posted the Landfill Dogs link to my Facebook page and the friend, with whom I'd talked about this whole idea originally sent me this story from Huffington Post.
Enter another amazing program: One Picture Saves a Life, where the photographer, Seth Casteel (photographer and author of the unique and hilarious "Underwater Dogs" series of images) is described as, 'passionate about helping animals. He volunteers with animal shelters and rescues around the world, professionally photographing homeless pets to increase adoption rates.' The Save a Life initiative provides shelters with resources to properly groom and photograph shelter pets - and the before/after photographs speak for themselves! And, like the wonderful work of Shannon Johnstone, Seth's project has also proven to be a valuable aid in improving pet adoptions.
If ever I've had a calling, then I know this is it. I know I have to make it happen. Somehow.
It might not pay the bills - this type of work, unless for some private clients, would almost certainly be voluntary - but I can't think of a better way I'd rather spend my day and I know I have to do something like this myself before too long. I owe it to myself and, more importantly, to the abundance of animals needing a little extra help to find a new home!
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| Pet photography: something I know I have to do. |
I should start by practising more with our own cats and other people's dogs, just to get used to it, hopefully find my technique - and a friend has kindly given me the contact information for two people at the local SPCA shelter she said would love my help, if I were to recreate the same portfolio of shelter dogs (and other animals) here.
Basically my daytime work contract really is finally coming to a close (heck, I'm even grateful it lasted this long - my 2-month contract has been going more than 15-months), so I'll have plenty of time on my hands to get to work on this next project. And I can't wait!
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