The Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum - Fine Art Landscape Photography
Shelter Question
Posted By: tandk
Shelter Question - 03/25/09 05:03 PM
Hello,
I am interested in going to our local shelter and offering to do the photo's for the animals that need to be adopted.
what is the best way to approach them about this? Should i take in a portfolio of work? I am looking to help the shelter get animals adopted and to get some practice under my belt. I really want to specialize in Pet photography.
Any advice would be great!
Thanks
Tami
Posted By: Jim Poor
Re: Shelter Question - 03/25/09 05:39 PM
I just wrote emails to the local rescue groups and shelters and asked them if they needed volunteer photos. The first time I did this, I had no samples, but since then I send a link to some rescue portraits whenever I contact a new group.
You may find yourself overwhelmed with yeses though. I'm shooting for 13 or so different rescues now and combining that with my paid shoots keeps me pretty busy.
In this area, rescue groups are easier to work with than shelters. I assume that has a lot to do with regulatory red tape.
Posted By: tandk
Re: Shelter Question - 03/25/09 05:47 PM
Thanks, that's a great idea...
in our little area we pretty much just have the shelter not many rescue groups. I will definetly be contacting them though.
Posted By: AdoptAPet
Re: Shelter Question - 03/25/09 06:31 PM
Hi Tami,
I would just call and offer your help. Most of the shelters are anxious for the help (and definitely need it). Thank you for caring about the animals.
Barbra
Posted By: tandk
Re: Shelter Question - 03/26/09 07:21 PM
I would like to help, but also not overwhelm my self starting out. when i email, should i put a time frame and limit of photos?
When starting out, do you photograph only the newest members at the shelter?
Thanks for all your help and advice.
Thanks
Tami
Posted By: Square Dog
Re: Shelter Question - 03/26/09 08:02 PM
My local shelter turned me down! I'm thinking of asking surrounding counties.
Posted By: Bright Eyes
Re: Shelter Question - 03/26/09 09:16 PM
I spent 14 months recently volunteering at a local shelter, not the one in my county but adjacent. Since they all are run completely different from each other and because they usually have very low morale, and often not very good PR, I would suggest volunteering in whatever capacity is advertised as needed first. Then get to know how the place is run.
As a rescue veteran of 10 years or more, I have come to know all the shelters in my state and some adjacent states fairly well. They are usually leery of someone until the volunteer turns out to be reliable, dependable, etc. Do they already have a photographer even if amateur? The shelter I was at already had a retired lady doing this and it is her life. She does a great job. However, there were some animals that she never photographed and those were the ones I went in and photographed and personally handled all of those adoptions. So see what kind of photographs they have of their animals now and if that position is most likely filled already, which is often the case.
Good luck!
Posted By: Julie
Re: Shelter Question - 03/27/09 03:37 PM
I do a lot of this for ONE shelter. I cannot take on anymore as I am about to be really busy. I would suggest practicing on friends dogs first because, they do really need the help but, you better be able to direct them and do the job quickly.
I do about 80 animals in three hours, then run home, process them and get them to the shelter within about 12 hours. It is *alot* of work. I also run over and do their celebrity photos with animals. That isn't near the amount of work, but, you better know how to deal with people, posing and lighting(even if just natural light)
If you go to
http://knoxpets.org you will see a lot of my work there. They haven't gotten up the new ones I did yesterday. That will probably be tomorrow.
My blog(if you go through it...) has lots of shelter stuff on it too
http://JuliePoole.com
Posted By: psmith
Re: Shelter Question - 03/27/09 04:58 PM
Great slide show, Julie. Makes it easy to just sit back and view all the animals. What software are you using to put it together?
Posted By: tandk
Re: Shelter Question - 03/27/09 07:54 PM
Quote:
I do a lot of this for ONE shelter. I cannot take on anymore as I am about to be really busy. I would suggest practicing on friends dogs first because, they do really need the help but, you better be able to direct them and do the job quickly.
I do about 80 animals in three hours, then run home, process them and get them to the shelter within about 12 hours. It is *alot* of work. I also run over and do their celebrity photos with animals. That isn't near the amount of work, but, you better know how to deal with people, posing and lighting(even if just natural light)
If you go to http://knoxpets.org you will see a lot of my work there. They haven't gotten up the new ones I did yesterday. That will probably be tomorrow.
My blog(if you go through it...) has lots of shelter stuff on it too http://JuliePoole.com
Julie,
thanks so much your right i do need to practice more before i offer such a service. I want to help but i should be more prepared! thank you for the advice, and your slide show is great!
Posted By: Julie
Re: Shelter Question - 03/27/09 08:11 PM
That is
http://animoto.com and I *love* it. I have the commercial version and though it is a little pricey, the ability to burn dvds for free is worth it. I use it with every sales session. All the music is free and included. All you do is upload it, choose the music an voila' a cool video.
If anyone is interested, here is a promo code ocwgtpks It will get your money off and gives me free months.
Posted By: psmith
Re: Shelter Question - 03/27/09 08:22 PM
Julie,
Wheels are a turning...$$$
Have you sold any 'videos' to your clients?
Posted By: Julie
Re: Shelter Question - 03/27/09 08:47 PM
OK, here is a linkity link
http://animoto.com/?ref=ocwgtpksAll you have to do is click that.
I am lazy. I don't like regular slideshows because they are too slow and I swear I have ADD. The regular version of this has animoto branded all over it, the commercial version allows you to have a button at the end to put whatever link you want and high res videos for free. They look awesome
I made a DVD of a bunch of high res videos and burned them so they would play one after the other and loop and it was awesome. Great for those of us who are at shows and stuff. I am going to put one in a bank display!
Posted By: Julie
Re: Shelter Question - 03/27/09 08:58 PM
Preston, I use them for incentives, if they hit a certain dollar amount, the are a gift. Everybody wants them, and almost everyone goes beyond that $$$.
The best thing about them is the emotion it creates. It is what I show them FIRST on the projector screen with surround sound. 90% of people cry. It is good to cry.
Once they place their order, I send the animoto to them via facebook and they place it on their wall. People click it straight to my site.
So, its more of a sales tool for me vs a sales item. I do know people who sell them though
Posted By: Julie
Re: Shelter Question - 03/27/09 09:06 PM
Oh, and I thought of something else.... You're at a cat show, you take and make multiple 3 min slideshows of different shoots at cat shows and burn a dvd of all of them together so it loops, put it on a dvd/tv combo and I guarantee people will stop and stare. Especially looking for their cats, then they will wait to see if their cat is in the show... Then they will WANT their cat in it!!!
Posted By: Bright Eyes
Re: Shelter Question - 03/27/09 11:07 PM
Tami,
You might want to check out what the lady does at our shelter. She is retired and does this full time as a volunteer, she spends hours touching up the photos. She does a really wonderful job:
http://petfinder.com/shelters/MD103.htmlShe has someone helping when she does them. She kind of glosses over the cats but does a great job on the dogs.
Also, all the photos at my link are of shelter rabbits. They let me bring them home and shoot them overnight, 3-5 at a time, and then I would drive them to get spayed or neutered the next day.
Then there is the company I used to work for, which you could apply for a job at, photographing pets at Petco all year long. They have a contract with them. You will get oodles of on the job experience. If you want to PM me, I'll give you that info.
Patti
Posted By: psmith
Animoto - 03/29/09 02:56 PM
Quote:
Oh, and I thought of something else.... You're at a cat show, you take and make multiple 3 min slideshows of different shoots at cat shows and burn a dvd of all of them together so it loops, put it on a dvd/tv combo and I guarantee people will stop and stare. Especially looking for their cats, then they will wait to see if their cat is in the show... Then they will WANT their cat in it!!!
Great, you just cost me $99. 
Actually I can see this replacing a good deal of display material that I take with me (and don't always have room to put out). This is definitely an attention grabber.
Posted By: Jim Poor
Re: Animoto - 03/29/09 09:55 PM
I've been looking at Animoto ever since Julie posted her first slide show / video from them. I've been trying to hold off, but I'm teetering closer and closer to signing up.
I like the idea of the video as an incentive. Do you let the clients choose the photos for the video or do you do that on your own if they reach the target amount?
Posted By: Peggy Sue
Re: Animoto - 03/29/09 10:13 PM
I also have been playing around with this and I love it but....
I am wondering about the time spent on resizing, formatting and "playing" around so that they can create a good looking result. It does not seem to like certain shapes.
Julie have you got a good workflow for this program that fits into your normal work?
Posted By: Julie
Re: Animoto - 03/30/09 12:38 PM
Yes, it is really fast. You can use a PS action to resize to 100px and 250kb and that will make a really nice high rez version. If you don't want a high rez version, than your typical 550px and 99kb works just fine. Send those to a folder on its own, and just ctrl A all the files in the folder to upload them, then I might move them around a little, might add a text box here and there and then choose the music and let it do its thing
I actually use
http://www.nsonic-net.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=336&Itemid=0 Which you can change the language to english when you download. It is the easiest resizer I have found. Any resizer works including PS.
I use all the photos from a session in a video, but, I cull heavily down to 30 images or less. There is no reason to have a bunch of photos that are just minor variations of the same thing
Posted By: Julie
Re: Animoto - 03/30/09 12:42 PM
Oh, and Jim, with your rescue work, it is great to send the code for these to them to put on their website. The commercial version has a button at the end that will click right back to your site. If you use the regular version, just have them put a link straight back to you.
This is GREAT advertising