Why is Shelter Photography Important?
About a year ago I began volunteering at an animal shelter. This changed the way I think about photography, shelter animals, and even shelters themselves.
Animals are hard to capture in photographs already, but adding the fear of being in a shelter and sometimes the over excitement of just being out of their kennel makes it extremely difficult.
Most of the time, you'll find a lot of shelters simply photograph the animal in their kennel, usually making the image blurry and out of focused. My problem with these photos is they don't show the animal's personality.
Animals in kennels are typically scared, so when you're photographing them in there, you're really invading their personal space and making them more uncomfortable than they already are.
This isn't how we want them portrayed to potential adopters. It doesn't matter how sweet and playful the cat/dog is in real life when all we get is a snapshot on Petfinder or social media sites.
What matters is can this photograph attract adopters?
Unfortunately, a quick and easy photo of them in their kennel isn't going to do it. Adopters can't imagine the sad/scared/blurry animal in their homes. We can easily fix this through having real photographers in shelters and photographing the animals outside of their kennels.
Photographers understand the camera settings necessary to make the image in focus and correctly lit. A well captured image can be the difference between getting adopted or being passed over.
Ideally, all dog photos would be captured outside, in a fence yard, so they can be off leash or in a room where a mini studio can be set up with lights or a backdrop (blankets taped to a wall can be used as a substitute).
Cats would mainly be in a room with a mini studio; however, capturing images in a free roaming cat room is great as well.
The important part is interacting with the animals. Playing with them will help them open up, so you can photograph a happy dog or cat. Providing the animal with an environment they feel comfortable in is essential.
Some of the animals don't want to play, but that's okay too! This might lead you to capture their sassy attitude, them being curious, sitting calmly, or anything else that's a part of their true personality. This allows potential adopters to actively visualize these animals in their homes, and they're more likely to stop and fully digest a well captured image of a happy dog or cat rather than a blurry image.
That doesn't mean kennel photos can never happen. Unfortunately, this may be the only option in some shelters for cats in particular. It's possible that they are so territorial that extracting them will prove difficult.
However, interacting with them, making them feel comfortable, and providing extra lighting (as needed) can still make a huge difference in how they're portrayed in the photo to potential adopters.
Below is a project I've been working on called, 'Rescue Me,' along with the artist statement. It shows the difference between the typical shelter image and a well captured image. All photographs are of animals while they were in a shelter and were captured at the shelter.
Rescue Me
Studies show that 64 percent of adopters find online photos extremely important when adopting a pet. Before Petfinder, Facebook, and Instagram were popular, shelters only had to take photos for documentary purposes. These would be quietly filed away and eventually discarded. However, times have changed, and potential adopters are now viewing these photos online. They are usually taken in a cold, unfriendly environments, soon after the animal has arrived and is thus very frightened. Because of this, great animals are being overlooked. This leads to longer stints in shelters for these animals, greatly hurting their social skills with both people and other animals. On average, animals only have 72 hours to get adopted at a kill shelter before they're euthanized, meaning a well captured image could literally be the difference between life and death. Internet access has drastically changed the way that we adopt pets, but shelters as a whole are still a step behind in this regard. My project highlights this disconnect and simplifies the question every pet is begging to ask...will you Rescue Me?
