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.