I have never worked so hard to give my work away, but I love the cause -
Finally I got my foot in the door (sort of speak) to try and photograph some animals that are at a nearby shelter.
Not sure if it will turn into something I should do since as many of you know it is a tough job to walk away and not go home with a vehicle filled with animals.
With the great help of Animoto I hope the images come across okay

http://animoto.com/play/j8aT3uJfAgtYt7ldApkNeA

Nicely done.

By the way you talk, it sounds like it was hard to get the shelter to let you do it?

Hey Peggy,

Good for you! I hear you about the difficulty of doing shelter shoots. They are intense and you always do leave feeling like you need 1 or 37 new cats/dogs.

Were any of the cats very skittish? Cats (particularly non-show cats) can be very difficult to photograph, so props to you.

James

Lovely Peggy Sue! I love the kitty shots! That beautiful gray could find a home with me pretty easy.

I have tried shelter shoots, and gotten turned down so often it's not funny. It's like they don't want good pics of the animals.

Yes, many of the organizations have people who do their photography and I have never wanted to step on toes. I understand the need for those volunteers to feel they are helping. There are times some of the images I have seen are really not much help at all! We will see if my visit will work to have them see the need for better images. I would love to take some lighting in there but as of now, just a few baby steps at a time.

The cat rooms are amazing. Big open spaces with lots of trees. No problem there since none of the cats seem stressed. The dogs are another issue and it would be a wonderful thing to have them in a different space. I will have to work with dog walkers in order to get them into different light. Me being the dog walker, dog handler and photographer - as all of you know - is not a great mix. First visit down and now we will see what happens.

Thanks for the kind words since so many of you give so much time to help causes. I cannot wait to tell you about a new project that is being created now. It truly is terrific to make a difference.

Penny, you are absoultely right. I just don't get it. But I feel like a pinball game and I am the ball that keeps popping around trying to find the right bumper - LOL

I wish you all the luck possible that your project succeeds, anything to help the critters get adopted.

I asked the shelter I work with awhile back why others would be reluctant for help. The answer made sense. Its the time factor. They have to take employees away from their daily duties to help do photos and they are already full up on things to do. The don't really trust the motives of the people who ask to do these things and even if they have great intentions, they don't always feel the time invested will pay off.

So, its something they really have to believe in to do. I know when I would go it would take up 2.5 hours and that is a lot of time to take out of their schedules. Granted, we would get 70+ animals photographed in that time frame.