[frogoutofwater]

What an interesting shoot. How did you hook-up with Shannon Johnstone?

Tim

Yes, I did get to shoot with Shannon! Dream come true!

I was planning to be in the Raleigh/Durham area for business and, as has become my habit in the past year, I did some research to see if there might be a rescue group who would be interested in having me take photographs for them. My search turned up the name of the Wake County Shelter, that name rang a bell and I realized that I was going to be in the area where Shannon photographs the Landfill Dogs series. I love her work, and have found it to be very inspiring. So, I sent her an email, told her I was a fan and asked if I could take her out for a coffee or meal - or join her for a photo shoot if she had one scheduled while I was in the area. I also sent her a link to my website, so that she could see my work. She did, in fact, have a shoot planned and invited me to join her. I had to change my flight, but I got there in time to do an early evening shoot on a warm spring day.

During the shoot, I tried to spend some time photographing Shannon photographing Giovanni and interacting with him and his foster mother, so that Shannon could use those photos to promote her work. She was a wonderfully generous person to spend time with, as was Giovanni's foster mother. I think that the 90 minutes or so we spent in the photo shoot rank right up there in the top 10 experiences of my life. It was magical

Although it doesn't really surprise me that she agreed to meet with me, this experience is a good reminder and lesson that it's always worth asking the question. If there is an experience you want to have, whether it is meeting a photographer you admire or photographing a person, animal or place, just ask (nicely). You will often get what you wish for.

[ToyTank]

Great story-very cool images. Thanks for sharing both!

[wolfiegirl]

What a great thread. I would love to volunteer at my local pound to do a similar kind of thing. But my skills are nowhere near as good as any of yours (you can see some examples in my dog blog in my signature).

I should probably ask anyway, as an opportunity to further my learning skills and get a chance to help out (if I can). I'm a big believer in rescue dogs, as both of mine came from pounds, with Fred being on death row (the pound only kept dogs for a week).

I will follow this thread with interest (if only to see what amazing shots you all have taken for your local shelters).

[atupdate]

But my skills are nowhere near as good as any of yours (you can see some examples in my dog blog in my signature)

I looked at your blog and your skills are not lacking. I suggest you look at the website of the pound and see if you think you can improve the image quality they currently have (I bet you can). If they have room outside, you can stick with natural light if that is where your comfort level is. It is well known that the better the picture, the more likely the dog will get adopted.

Tim

[amoringello]

What a great thread. I would love to volunteer at my local pound to do a similar kind of thing. But my skills are nowhere near as good as any of yours (you can see some examples in my dog blog in my signature).

I should probably ask anyway, as an opportunity to further my learning skills and get a chance to help out (if I can). I'm a big believer in rescue dogs, as both of mine came from pounds, with Fred being on death row (the pound only kept dogs for a week).

I will follow this thread with interest (if only to see what amazing shots you all have taken for your local shelters).

Fantastic skills are likely not necessary.
Quite often photos of the animals are taken on in-take. In other words, the dogs/cats are dirty, scared of the new environment as well as what possible environment they may have come from... and therefore generally not very photogenic. Additionally, the volunteers may have not had the time or resources to do a good job. Not tat they are bad photographers, but the time and environment is not conducive to capturing dog's true nature.

Sometimes just giving the animals a few days can help a lot! At least enough to get them cleaned up.
If you can spend more than a few minutes with a small set of dogs, that time -- which no one else may have, can make such a difference to getting them adopted.

On the win-win side for you, it is a great way to quickly build up your skills.
Other than small children, I don't think there is much more difficult of a subject than a rambunctious and frightened puppy running, pulling and just not at all co-operating. :-) :-)

If it is something you want to do, I am sure a shelter would appreciate any help they can get.

[wolfiegirl]

I looked at your blog and your skills are not lacking. I suggest you look at the website of the pound and see if you think you can improve the image quality they currently have (I bet you can). If they have room outside, you can stick with natural light if that is where your comfort level is. It is well known that the better the picture, the more likely the dog will get adopted.

Tim

Thanks for the encouragement tim. Yes i agree. Photos are so important for adoption. I will take your advice and see what happens

[wolfiegirl]

Fantastic skills are likely not necessary.
Quite often photos of the animals are taken on in-take. In other words, the dogs/cats are dirty, scared of the new environment as well as what possible environment they may have come from... and therefore generally not very photogenic. Additionally, the volunteers may have not had the time or resources to do a good job. Not tat they are bad photographers, but the time and environment is not conducive to capturing dog's true nature.

Sometimes just giving the animals a few days can help a lot! At least enough to get them cleaned up.
If you can spend more than a few minutes with a small set of dogs, that time -- which no one else may have, can make such a difference to getting them adopted.

On the win-win side for you, it is a great way to quickly build up your skills.
Other than small children, I don't think there is much more difficult of a subject than a rambunctious and frightened puppy running, pulling and just not at all co-operating. :-) :-)

If it is something you want to do, I am sure a shelter would appreciate any help they can get.

Yes it is something i have been talking on and off about doing for a while. Which is what makes this thread so interesting for me to see people doing it.

The pound where i got one of my dogs from has ok shots. But the other local pound has no photos whatsoever.

I know that some of the rescue groups around my area have some decent photographers doing the shots -they look good - which probably doesn't help with my confidence level either. Lol.

It's one thing to take photos of your own dogs (and neighbours etc). It's another to take photos of scared/unknown dogs who have never met you in their life (and possibly never will again...)

[atupdate]

It's one thing to take photos of your own dogs (and neighbours etc). It's another to take photos of scared/unknown dogs who have never met you in their life (and possibly never will again...)

Two words of advice, have someone at the shelter help control the dog (treats or squeaky toy) or if you are outside and have the time, wait for them to run off a little of the pent-up energy.

Tim

[wolfiegirl]

Thanks for the tip tim. Tried calling pound today. Ranger out and about..... left a message. This particular pound doesn't even have an available dogs listing layout page (!!!). Apparently they are looking into upgrading this very soon so maybe they already have someone in place (or not....) so will wait (im)patiently for them to call me back and see what the lay of the land is...

The other pound that already has photos won't be open until 4 so will call then

[frogoutofwater]

I contacted about half a dozen groups until I finally connected with someone who invited me to help with their photography. It has been a great experience ever since. Is there a pet store or similar location that lets a rescue group bring their animals for a meet-and-greet on weekends? If so, that can be a good way to make a real connection with someone who can help you make a further connection to the person who handles communications. (Don't leap in with a "take me to your leader" request. Start by cooing over the animals. Find out more about them. Then ask if the shift leader is present - that's a good person to start the conversation with.)

A shelter that already has a very good photographer can present a very good learning experience, too. If you can find the photographer's contact details somewhere, you could volunteer to be that person's photo assistant. Even though you won't necessarily be taking lots of photos, you'll be helping to set up shots and you'll learn a lot from that experience - both in terms of your technical photography skills but also animal handling skills at the shelter. And I'll bet that you very quickly could start to get your own photo assignments.

Another option to consider is to begin by volunteering as an animal caregiver at a well-organized shelter with a good training program. You will learn a lot about animal behavior and animal handling, and you'll get to see some things that the regular photographers don't see. Although I volunteer as a photographer for some dog, cat and farm rescue groups, I also volunteer regularly at a wild bird rehabilitation center primarily as a caregiver. But I always bring my camera to my shifts. I ask permission, but I often take some photos after my shift ends and occasionally I'll pull out my camera to photograph something really interesting during the shift if the care managers want me to do so.

When I have a little more free time, I want to start volunteering as a caregiver at one of the large animal shelters with a good training program - to help the animals but also because I think it will be a good way to expand my skill set that will complement what I do as a photographer.

Frog out of Water Photography

[wolfiegirl]

The local pound called me back. I explained what I wanted to do and he said if it was up to him, he'd say yes in a heartbeat. But he needs to look into the legalities (insurance etc) before getting back to me. He has kept my number on file.

The other pound - I spoke to a volunteer. He suggested I simply turn up one day with camera in hand and maybe can take some photos then. He said he'd talk to his manager about it (he sounded fairly keen), and that she'd call me back. I was busy at work yesterday and didn't hear back from her. I thought I'd wait until next week to recontact.

In comparison to the pound photos, I have seen some of the local rescue photos and they are very good. Some of these photos are of animals from the pound which has yet to return my call, so I am feeling a little apprehensive/intimidated. The smart thing to do based on your comments would be to contact the group, ask who the photographer is, and then contact them to see if I might be able to watch them work. But that takes a bit of courage on my part.

Thank you for your encouragement, frogoutofwater. It sounds like I need to get out there and connect a bit more and work from there. Have been thinking about it a bit more while waiting for people to get back to me, and have realised that I would only be able to really do this if the pound was willing to let me come in on the weekends, as I have a 2.5 year old who would have to come with me during the week, and she's not old enough yet to be phtographer's assistant. Something else to think about.

If the second pound says no, it may simply be the wrong time, and I may just work on my contacts/networks for a while instead, before venturing out there again when my girl is a little older.