Who I am: Then & Now

My name is Pauline Ro. I am a rising senior with a major in Studio Art and minor in Art History at Meredith College. 

I was interested in this Photographing for the Web course because it fulfills a Studio Art elective and it gives you school credit for interacting with various animals. Perfect class, right? I thought this course was just going to be a fun class that I would experience and forget about when summer passes and my grades are already submitted. I was very mistaken. This course has taught me more than I can comprehend or could have ever expected. Through this Photographing for the Web course, I have learned the basics of photography, been introduced to various photo editing techniques on Photoshop, gained knowledge of the overlooked societal issue of animal overpopulation, played a small (but significant) role in saving the lives of homeless animals, and  found a new passion that gives my artistic abilities a purpose. 

How can photography make an impact on animal overpopulation? This is a question that I would ask myself at the beginning of the course whenever I was told that each student would truly be making a difference by their services as a volunteer photographer. Honestly, I did not believe it at that time. Seeing the same animals that I photographed the week before still in their kennels and being overwhelmed by all the new ones coming in, I was not sure how great of an impact I could make with my scratched up DSLR. I was very mistaken. The WCAS receives an average of 40 new animals a day. Before leading an animal to the appropriate kennel, the WCAS staff have to inspect the animal, give them the appropriate vaccines, and type up their information. They do not have the time to take nice photos of the animals to put up on the website. That's where we, volunteer photographers, come in. Each volunteer photographer not only provides the WCAS with photos that emphasize the adorable features of their animals, but also increases the chances of the photographed animals to find new, loving homes. Therefore, photography CAN make an impact on animal overpopulation by helping increase the adoption rates of homeless animals who would otherwise be left in the streets or who knows where. 

Overall, the most valuable part of this course is that it has given me a sense of community. I have learned that playing a small role in a large effort of benefiting others is one of the most, if not THE most, successful way of living life to its fullest. This course has given me the opportunity to actively serve our community and its homeless animals, planting an interest of serving my local community. It is embarrassing to say, but I have never had a hunger for serving others in my entire life. Any act of service I signed up for was always with intentions of bettering myself. However, after volunteering at the Wake County Animal Shelter, I have grown a desire and fulfillment in helping save the lives of this county's homeless animals. Also, I have been inspired to use my artistic abilities to raise awareness on different aspects of animal overpopulation, particularly breeding stereotypes and mistreatment of Pit Bulls. This is a project that I will be pursuing after my graduation in hopes that I will be a part of another movement that will help save lives and educate society.

As I have shared with Professor Johnstone and my classmates, I will continue to be a volunteer photographer for the WCAS even after this course ends. The impact of volunteering at the animal shelter has prompted me to sign up to be a foster parent for adult dogs. It sounds overly dramatic, but I can honestly say that this course has played a huge role in changing my perspective in life. Because of this experience, I know that my life and artistic career has to be dedicated to raising awareness, serving others, and giving a voice to those who do not have one in society. This is just the beginning. 

This is Ice. This is the photo of Ice that was used on the WCAS website. Although I am unaware if this photograph had anything to do with it, Ice was adopted recently and has found a family, which is the main goal as a volunteer photographer. I am still glad that this photograph was used on the website because it participated in an effort of finding him a home!

Animal Overpopulation

What is animal overpopulation? There are many causes and consequences of this particular issue. Irresponsible breeding, non-neutered/non-spayed pets, and a growing population of stray animals are a few major causes of animal overpopulation. The result and consequence of animal overpopulation: an overwhelming number of homeless animals. 

Ever since I started volunteering at the WCAS, the reality of animal overpopulation hit me like a train with no breaks. I was completely unaware of the seriousness of this problem. In my personal opinion, animal population means that our society is not taking enough action in 1) the prevention of irresponsible breeding and 2) enforcing pet owners to neuter/spay their animals. If these two, major causes of animal overpopulation are heavily regulated, then there would not be as many homeless animals as there are today. Animal overpopulation is an issue that is overlooked by our society, but desperately needs to be talked about. Because this issue is overlooked, people are not being educated of what they can do to stop it and because people are not being educated about ways to put an end to animal overpopulation, society as a whole does not identify it as an important issue. I am only assuming this because I did not see it as an important issue before volunteering at the shelter. I didn't see a problem in breeding or choosing not to neuter/spay your pets because I was never properly educated on these issues. This makes me question, is society taking the appropriate steps to raise awareness and prevent these issues that result in animal overpopulation?

Fortunately, attempts are being made to combat this issue. House Bill 930, the Puppy Mill Bill, is "an act to establish standards of care for large commercial dog breeding facilities and to provide law enforcement with tools to ensure that dogs at those facilities are treated humanely" (http://ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/House/PDF/H930v0.pdf). This bill presents a list of rules that must be followed by large commercial dog breeding facilities. Although I am pleased that this bill legally restricts irresponsible breeding, one aspect of the bill has left me a bit unsatisfied: "Any person who owns, has custody of, or maintains 10 or more female dogs over the age of six months that are capable of reproduction and kept primarily for the purpose of breeding and selling the offspring as pets shall provide the following for each dog owned, kept, or maintained by that person." This Puppy Mill Bill specifically defines what a "large breeding facility" is. What about the irresponsible breeders who are disobeying all of these requirements but are safe from the law because they only have 6 female breeding dogs? Why does this bill only focus on the "large commercial" breeding facilities? The American Kennel Club opposes this bill and makes a good argument that the basic standards of care should apply to ALL dogs: "This bill only applies standards of care to those who meet this misleading definition of "large commercial dog breeder"...If the purpose of this measure is truly to improve the wellbeing of dogs, then it doesn't make sense to limit these standards of care to only those who own 10 or more intact female dogs" (http://www.wral.com/asset/news/state/nccapitol/2013/05/08/12425852/HB_930_Talking_Points-_On_Letterhead-_May_7_2013.pdf).

Although I would like to make some alterations to the House Bill 930, I still support its intentions of helping animals in need and curbing the issue of animal overpopulation. People, like the American Kennel Club may label this as an unsuccessful attempt, but as long as awareness is being raised and animals are being saved, every attempt is successful. Each effort put into action will take us one step closer to our ultimate goal(s): curbing animal overpopulation and the causes and consequences it's tied to.

All of the animals in these images have been at one point or still are homeless due to animal overpopulation:

Casa Blanca. ID#86658.

Simone. ID#88289.

Beauty. ID#87498.

Diesel. ID#89472.

Icelandic Breeze. ID#89499.

Leonard. ID#88682.

Chops. ID#44295.

King. ID#82176.

Tucker. ID#88031.

Emerson. ID#68687.

Mama Mia. ID#87648.

Adoptable Pets!!!

Zadie. ID#89306.

Angelina. ID#88976.

Blueberry Raindrops. ID#87954.

Diesel. ID#89472.

Icelandic Breeze. ID#89499.

Kimmy. ID#88219.

Ogun. ID#88835.

Sampson. ID#89528.

Ginger. ID#88702.

Hennessy. ID#89209.

Kimmie Gumdrops. ID#85749

Leo. ID#89469.

Midnight Express. ID#89529.

Sammy Sweetheart. ID#89305.

Sasha. ID#88940.

Tennessee. ID#89359.

Mookey. ID#84711.

Emerson. ID#68687.

Gaea. ID#89427.

Mama Mia. ID#87648.

Monkey. ID#8935.

Rainbow Sprinkles. ID#89153.

Satisfaction for the Soul

Me and Helga Higgins. ID#86330.
Photo taken by Shannon Johnstone.

My love for animals has grown ever since I started volunteering at the WCAS. I've learned so many valuable things, such as animal overpopulation and what we can do to prevent this issue. I will definitely continue to volunteer at the shelter. Since I will be finishing my last year of college this coming year, my schedule may get extremely busy, preventing me from volunteering at the shelter as much as I would like to. However, I have decided to continue as a WCAS volunteer no matter what. When I was a child, I always told my parents about my dreams of building an apartment complex in which homeless people would be provided necessary means of living and pair each person with a homeless animal to care for. I would also dream of having my own "Dog Sanctuary" on my own farmland. As you can see, I always had these dreams of helping homeless animals, but as I grew older I also grew out of these dreams. This course has given me the opportunity to actively serve my community and the many homeless animals of Wake County. Now that this passion has been refueled, I don't want to give it up. There's something so fulfilling to the human soul about helping homeless animals find homes. 

My Vision

I am determined to pursue my "Wake County Pit Project" that I described in my previous blog post. Because I will be technically starting a "business",  it's going to take a lot to reach my goals and make this project happen. I will have to take all the necessary, legal steps to get this project rolling. But for the sake of this blog post, I can simplify my plan into 3 steps as a to-do list:

• I need to draw and paint portraits of Pits, representing them as lovable and innocent animals. These drawings/paintings will be a design for a t-shirt or bumper sticker. I was surveying "Pit Bull art" in a Google image search, and the majority of the artworks depict Pits as vicious, violent, and aggressive dog, except for one man. Dean Russo is a contemporary Pop Artist who paints portraits of dogs, particularly Pits, in a positive light. He represents Pit Bulls as loving and obedient creatures. I am inspired by his concept and want to portray Pits in a positive light, as well, to educate and confront this society on the consequences of false breed stereotyping.

Gratitude Pit Bull Print. ARTIST: DEAN RUSSO.
IMAGE WAS COPIED FROM DEAN RUSSO'S WEBSITE.
http://www.deanrussoart.bigcartel.com/product/gratitude-pitbull

• My next step would be to print my designs on t-shirts, bumper stickers, posters, and any other item that will help raise awareness.

Gratitude Pit Bull T-Shirt. ARTIST: DEAN RUSSO.
IMAGE WAS COPIED FROM DEAN RUSSO'S WEBSITE.
http://www.deanrussoart.bigcartel.com/product/gratitude-pit-bull-t-shirt

• My final step would be to sell the merchandise and donate the money to the WCAS as well as other local shelters. I would talk to each shelter in order to set up a plan/relationship with them, making sure they understand and agree with my project. This will also establish a consistency of donations on my part. 

My hopes for this project is to raise awareness on the discrimination towards this breed. I feel compelled to take action in educating people of the real causes and consequences of breed stereotyping. I also want to help out my local animal shelters in a financial way. According to last year's Public Animal Shelter Report, the WCAS had a total expense of $2,441,701. As you can see, It takes A LOT of money to properly care for homeless animals. Financial donations can help the homeless animals in a variety of way. These are the two objectives for my Wake County Pits Project. This isn't something that will happen in a couple of months. It will take a good amount of time to get things rolling, but I'm determined to make this happen. There's no better way of using your artistic abilities when you are actively supporting a good cause. 

Photography, Art, and the Impact

I think understanding my small role as a volunteer is what drives my dedication for photographing at the WCAS. When volunteering as an animal photographer for an animal shelter, one has to ask him or herself, "what impact can my photography have at the shelter?"  The greatest and most obvious impact photography has at the WCAS is increasing the animal's chance of getting adopted. Many people check the WCAS website before physically coming to the shelter to look at dogs. Without volunteer photographers, the shelter does not have enough time to take good quality photos of each animal. The in-take photos that are shown on the website are quickly taken when the animal is scared and wary of its new environment, producing an image that does not give justice to the animal and does not increase their likelihood of being adopted. Volunteer photographers have the time and ability to take photos that focus on the animal and emphasize their adorable features, increasing the likelihood of the animal finding a home. The second impact photography has at the WCAS is giving the dog another chance of interacting with a human being. My professor, Shannon Johnstone, volunteers at the WCAS as one of the few professional photographers. She is currently working on a series called "Landfill Dogs" which involves her taking one of the dogs who have been at the shelter long term to the open fields of the Wake County landfill once every week. I have been volunteering to help her with this project by helping handling the dogs for the past month. I enjoy it so much. Not only does this "Landfill Dogs" project overwhelmingly increase the likelihood of the dog being adopted, but it also gives the dog a good 2 hours of human interaction and enjoyment of the beautiful outdoors.

Photo taken by Shannon Johnstone as part of her Landfill Dogs series.
This image was taken Dec. 12, 2012.
http://shannonjohnstone.com/landfill_dogs/landfill_dogs.xml
All images on Shannon Johnstone's site are copyrighted. If you are interested in using one of her photos,  you need to email her and obtain permission.

I can use my artistic skills to enhance the impact of my photography. Because I am a painter and drawer, I am very familiar with the principles that create a visually pleasing composition. I can apply these principles, particularly proportion, scale, emphasis, and balance, when photographing/editing the pictures of the animals. I can also use Photoshop to enhance the impact of my photography by subtly editing the photos of the animals. I can crop, lighten, darken, sharpen, and apply a forced depth of field to provide the WCAS with images that flatter the animals, increasing their chance of being adopted. 

As I briefly mentioned, I have a passion for painting and drawing. I can use these artistic skills to draw and paint portraits of Pit Bulls to raise awareness of the breeding stereotypes against Pit Bulls. Generally, throughout Art History and contemporary media, images illustrate only pure-breed dogs that are not deemed as aggressive. I have noticed that Pit Bulls are rarely depicted in fine art or the dog magazines that are sold at pet stores. As mentioned in one of my previous post, the WCAS took in 7,151 dogs last year. According to my observations and weekly visits to the animal shelter, I would argue that more than half of the thousands of dogs that the WCAS takes in per year are Pit Bulls or Pit Bull mixes. I would also argue that many of the "long-term" dogs who have been in the shelter for over a month or two are Pits and Pit mixes. Our society has formed a negative representation of Pit Bulls when they are actually sweet and loving dogs. With my artistic abilities, I can draw/paint portraits of Pit Bulls, incorporate text, print them on t-shirts, sell them, and donate the money to local animal shelters. I could also print these portraits with text on bumper stickers or any other item that will be seen by many, educating more people about the false stereotypes against Pits. This issue needs to be talked about and people need to be educated, so that we can save this innocent breed.

A Valuable Experience

There are so many valuable aspects of the Photographing for the Web course that I am taking. The information that I've learned of the shelter and animal overpopulation, relinquishment, and euthanasia are extremely valuable. Before beginning this course and volunteering at the WCAS, I was against animal shelters that euthanized animals, uneducated of all of the underlying issues. However, after beginning this course, I've learned so much about the causes of euthanasia. It's not the shelter's fault for having to euthanize. We as a community choose it to be this way when we vote for certain bills to be passed.There are just simply too many animals. According to the 2012 Public Animal Shelter Report, just in the last year, the WCAS took in 6,919 cats and 7,151 dogs. It is utterly impossible for the WCAS to shelter and care for over 14,000 animals. The shelter already spends $165 for each animal that is brought to the shelter. The animal shelter is not provided with enough money or volunteers to care for all of the animals if they were a no-kill shelter. Most of all, it wouldn't be fair to the animals. If we really think about it...those animals are in those kennels all day without anyone walking down the halls or giving them attention from 5pm-8am. Particularly for the dogs, the only times they get to enjoy the outdoors is when they are walked for 10-15 minutes. Dogs need love and attention from human beings. If a dog is never adopted and has to live in a kennel in the shelter for the rest of his life, we are stripping him of his need of this relationship with a human and time outside of the kennel. The animals will gradually go crazy from being locked up for too long. This information that the course has educated me with is one of the most valuable aspects of this course.

Most of all, what makes this course so valuable is the role that I'm playing. Photographing the animals may be a small role, but I am still contributing to the effort of finding these homeless animals homes which is the reason why I signed up for this course. By photographing the animals, we are making an impact on the animal's lives, but also the community around us, encouraging people to adopt a homeless animal. Even if only one dog were to get adopted because of a photo that I took during my volunteering services, I would be happy and satisfied. As long as I'm a part of making a difference.

It's great that this class has an online format with this blog because we students get to regurgitate what we learned from the class onto this blog and educate our readers about the issues of overpopulation. Also, we are given the time to do our best at helping the WCAS and this county's homeless animals. This Meredith College course may only provide 10 volunteer photographers for the WCAS, but we're still 10 supporters of a great cause that are helping these animals find homes...And THAT is what is most valuable about this course.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

                                                                                   -Margaret Mead

Photo taken by Shannon Johnstone. 6/6/12. This photo was taken from Karen Santrock's WCAS volunteer blog from last year:  http://talesfromtheshelter.blogspot.com/2012/06/volunteering-at-wake-county-animal.html