Shelter Animals

I consider myself very fortunate to have the opportunity to photograph adoptable animals at the Salt Lake County Animal Shelter.  A friend of mine at work brought the opportunity to my attention, and I'm really glad she suggested I check it out.  I did my volunteer training right after the holidays, and recruited another friend of mine to also do the volunteer training so I could have an assistant (because I could totally see me knocking my camera against the kennels as I'm trying to wrangle a dog into a leash and out of the kennel and out into a play yard).   With all the training done, my friend Ginger and I went out to the shelter this last Thursday for our first official photography day.   Because Ginger and I are only approved for 'green collar' dogs, and because this was our first day, one of the staff members helped us figure out what we were doing, while also managing a couple of 'orange collar' dogs that needed glamour shots.    In addition to the orange collar dogs (designated so because they were shy), there were a couple of little dogs and some cats.

It was a great experience, and I'm really looking forward to going back - I've got a lot to learn, and I will definitely become a better photographer, and a better reader of animal body language the more I do it.  I might actually even learn how to attract the attention of cats!

But enough blathering - on to the photos!

This is Nisha a red Australian Cattle dog mix with gorgeous eyes.  She was my first dog of the day, and she was patient while I got myself organized!

Next up was Wes, a chocolate Chesapeake Bay retriever mix.  He is very handsome, and he knew it!   

Did someone say 'cookie'?

After Wes, we had Nena, who was shy until we broke out the treats.  Then she was totally not shy.

Nena knows how to work it for the camera!

And she's a gorgeous girl!

After Nena, we moved on to the little dogs.  Our first little dog was Hershey.  Hershey has this incredible underbite and big eyes - all of which made him look like a muppet.

That face!  That tooth!

Seriously, this little guy is a muppet in disguise

Not a perfect shot, but I love the backlighting!

After Hershy, we had Ziggy.  Ziggy was a bundle of energy, and I had to be fast on feet to get some good photos of her.  This is a case where as I get more experience, I will have better photos of the bouncy dogs.  In the meantime, Photoshop is my friend!

 

I see a tennis ball!

Will dance for cookies!

After the little dogs, we moved on to the cats.  How difficult could cats be, right?!?  Yuh.  I definitely need more experience with cats.  But again, it was a great learning experience for me.   The lighting wasn't optimal - fluorescent lights in a painted room, so I had to use a flash (and lots of kitty treats to keep the cats from freaking out about the flash).

The first cat on the list was Bagheera - luckily he was very mellow and could be bribed with kitty treats!

Hand over the kitty treats now or I will meow at you! 

Don't worry - he got his kitty treats!

Then we moved on to Bindy, who in spite of having only one eye was very interested in playing.

Lady, give me the cat toy.  Yes, that one you are waving in front of my face.

A very playful, silly girl.

Yep, she was all about the cat toys!

Then we moved on to Pebbles the kitten (who, I think, has already been adopted).  Pebbles was all about receiving scratchies!

BRIGHT eyes!

And then there was Oscar.  Oscar is SO handsome (and he knows it - he strutted around with supreme confidence) and he was ALL ABOUT getting scratchies.  He wasn't remotely interested in treats or toys, only in getting scratchies.  Of the various categories of cats at the shelter, Oscar is solidly in the 'Love Bug' category.

I am the most interesting cat in the world.

Oscar was rocking his lion cut - he swaggered around while we admired him and gave him scratchies.

The last guy, Thomas, was really Not Excited about the whole camera thing.  I tried bribing him with treats and toys and scratchies, but he wasn't interested.  So Thomas the cat and I had a little chat, and we decided that a profile shot would be perfectly acceptable.

I am planning on going back a week from next Thursday, and I'm really looking forward to it.  I think I will learn to move faster on my feet, expand my repertoire of techniques for getting the attention of dogs and cats, and learn how to better approach shy and bouncy animals alike.   And hopefully the glamour shots will help these animals find their fur-ever homes.  Which makes this a win-win proposition, in my book!