Photography For The Web: Conclusion

My name is Shelby Decker and I am a senior at Meredith College majoring in Exercise and Sports Science- Health Wellness. In the spring I began searching the art catalog for a course that would fulfill my general education art credit. I am not very good at drawing so I was afraid that was the only thing that would be available to take. I was happy when noticed there was a photography class offered for the summer. I love taking photographs and have always wanted to take a photography class. Then when I was digging deeper into the course description and realized I would be photographing animals I was thrilled! I have always dreamed of working with animals and this course would give me a chance to test out a possible field dealing with animals. Thanks to this course I was able to combine many of my passions all into one and get credit for a class at the same time. This class has taught me so much and given me experiences that I could not get anywhere else. For starters I received a very good foundation in photography and editing that I have always wanted to learn. I now know what different terms mean, have a better understanding of pixels and other things, and I now know what to look for in order to make a great photograph. Secondly I learned the ins and outs of the shelter and surprising data that I did not expect to learn from this course. I learned the difference between the SPCA (and other no-kill shelters) and the WCAC (and other county shelters). On the first day of orientation we were alarmed to find out that plus or minus 40 animals a day enter the WCAC with a slower rate being adopted or moved to specialized adoption groups like a breed specific rescue group. I thought going into this class we would just take the pictures and learn about editing photographs on the computer but in fact I have learned much more. This was one of the most valuable experiences I have ever had the opportunity to be apart of. Now with my knowledge and hands on experience from actually being in the shelter I want to continue volunteering as well as educate friends, family, and the public about the staggering rates of intake and the unfortunate euthanasia rates. In addition, I have a better understanding of pet owner responsibility and animal overpopulation which are two things that I used to not ponder everyday but now I find myself thinking about it a lot and asking others.

Photography is an art form that is extremely important to the animals at the animal shelters as well as animal over population. The images taken by my classmates and I as well as the professional photographers that volunteer really help improve the chances of the animals getting adopted. We take the time to cuddle the animals so that the photographs are much more relaxed than the intake photographs when they are scared. If more of the animals from the shelters are being adopted then it would slow down the number of pets being purchased from breeders or puppy mills. Also these photographs can be used for educational purposes. The public needs to be educated on the importance of responsible pet ownership and getting their pet spayed/neutered. Along with their basic needs to survive animals need to be spayed or neutered to cut down on the number of pets in a given area causing animal overpopulation. Beautiful photographs of animals can be used to really catch the attention of the viewers and draw them into the information being presented.



 

Jax (88363)
The picture below is one of my photographs of one of my favorite dogs from this experience. His name originally was Pepper but is now Jax. He is currently in foster but still looking for a home. I really hope that my photograph makes a positive impact on him and getting adopted. However he is the one who has made the positive impact on me. I watched him come into the shelter and get surrendered. His story broke my heart but his personality mended it. I owe my awesome experience at the shelter and passion to continue volunteering to him and a few other dogs. 

   

Animal Overpopulation

Animal overpopulation to me means that there are too many animals in an allotted amount of space to provide a healthy environment for them. This includes proper food, water, shelter, lighting, exercise, and veterinary care. House Bill 930 highlights these same principles as being important. This bill is under debate with claims that the bill is "watered down". The section of the bill that I do not agree with is subsection (e) stating: "This section does not apply to kennels operated solely for the purpose of boarding dogs or kennels exclusively used for training dogs for hunting, sporting, field trials, or show." (http://ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/House/PDF/H930v0.pdf). The rules of humanity should apply to all dogs not matter what circumstances under which they are being housed or used for. In a news article  May 8th, WRAL Representative Jason Saine stated that he supported the bill. His peers reportedly accused him of proposing that dogs were on the same level as humans in relation to importance of care (http://www.wral.com/diluted-puppy-mill-bill-heads-to-house/12424623/). Although I understand that there might be issues of higher importance pertaining to humans, this is an important topic as well.  It needs to be addressed and not swept under the rug. Dogs are a very important part of my family, and the well-being of our dogs are just as important to me as my own. Every time I make a glass of water for myself, I look into my dogs eyes and think to myself "I wonder if they are thirsty too?"...
They cannot speak and tell us what they want.  They are dependent on humans to provide for them. Yes they can scratch at the back door when they need to use the bathroom or gesture at their food bowl, but what if their owner is oblivious to these signs? Not all pet owners have the same passion towards their pets, so standards need to be put in place.  This will allow us to enforce what should be done and can hold these owners accountable . I do agree that the bill needs to be revised, but I strongly agree with what the bill aims to accomplish.

As a society it is obvious that we are not successful at combating animal overpopulation. Animal shelters in every county are full almost every day of the year. Tax payers complain about so much money going to the animal shelters when it could be used towards schools or healthcare. However pet owners are not unanimously upholding the responsibility to spay/neuter their pets. The proposed bill would help cut down on the number of animals in our area but it still comes back to owner responsibility.

Icelandic Breeze (89499)
Such a sweetheart!! She was very well behaved. I love this photograph because it really caught the intensity of her brilliant blue eyes and the detail in her white fur. 

Darla Jean (89218)
Very photogenic puppy! She has nice perky ears and beautiful colored fur with highlights and low-lights. Very well mannered 

Max (89025)
Max was adorable! Very playful puppy who melted my heart! He was one of my favorite dogs that I interacted with :-) 

Tucker (88031)
I love this picture because of the the highlights and low-lights in his fur! His positioning in this photograph was perfect! He also had very nice perky ears 

Deloris (88618)
Very fluffy kitty that made for a beautiful photograph. I love the candid pose, it really shows the viewers her personality. She was a very sweet cat

Chocolate Chip (88666)
Chocolate was very shy because he was just put in his cage when I took the photograph. I absolutely love his eyes and the coloring of his fur with white paws!

Honey Bear (88320)
Adorable little girl who was one of the first dogs I photographed. Although I had a nose print on my camera lens, I still love this photograph. It really shows her curiosity and how soft and lovable she is :-) 

Pepper (88363)
Pepper was one of my all time favorites! He really got my passion started at the shelter. I watched him get surrendered, thoroughly enjoyed taking his photograph, extremely impressed with his manners learned from puppy class, and was thrilled to see how quickly he got adopted! I will always remember this sweet puppy and associate his with good memories from the WCAC 

Mama Mermaid (88626)
The most well behaved cat I worked with by far! She was also very photogenic. I love the split pattern in her fur and her green eyes

Davidson Jones (89147)
By far top one or two dogs I had the privileged of photographing! This was the sweetest most well behaved dog of all. Not only is he very photogenic and this picture above melted even my heart, but he was my favorite to cuddle with. He walked up to me, folded his paws in my lap and just laid his head on me. I wanted to take him home right that second! I know that he is making an amazing member of his new families home. 

Week 5 Photographs

Brianna (89470)

Brussel Sprout (89452)

China (89134)

Clarice (89024)

Crem De Leche (89304)

Darla Jean (89218)

Helga (89451)

Icelandic Breeze (89499)

Kevin (88061)

Lassie (89449)

Majestic Marble (89473)

Nala (89418)

Olga (89452)

One-Eyed Willie (88695)

Penny (89513)

Prince Charles (89372)

Sammy Sweetheart (89305)

Sasha (89430)

Squirrel (89511)

Tiger (89512)

Trina (87656)

Volunteering After This Course

Volunteering at the Wake County Animal Center has been a wonderful and valuable experience that I will never forget. It has been extremely educating and eye opening. The fact that they had 7,151 dogs alone come into the shelter blew my mind and cats were close with 6,919. It makes sense after volunteering because I have seen first hand how fast most of these dogs come in and go out to homes. It is sad that euthanasia rates are as high as they are but in comparison to other counties in North Carolina they are relatively low. 

Now that I have a better understanding of the everyday routines and processes at the center I see how important volunteers are. Not only can we help take pictures, cuddle the dogs, or even walk the dogs (if trained) but improve the chances of the animals getting adopted. In addition, now that I have a lot more knowledge of the ins and outs of the animal center and where to find statistics I can help educate the public so they are also more aware. 

Although photographing is fun and very rewarding for the animals, it is not always the easiest task for me. I would absolutely love to continue volunteering at the animal center. I could keep taking photographs or maybe switch to walking and cuddling. Above all I would love to put my collaboration plan into action. A fitness plan that incorporated exercising dogs would combine my two passions, fitness and dogs. It would be extremely rewarding as a volunteer to accomplish a program such as I have suggested to really increase the happiness and well-being of the dogs. By having a program with the public seeing these animals it would help educate them on the staggering rates at the shelter but also help teach responsible pet ownership like we discussed in this course. Dogs need exercise (as well as humans) so by having people exercise with the dogs it would really reinforce the need for pet exercise. 

Cuddling with one of the puppies before taking his picture :-)

Cuddling a puppy before taking his picture :-) 

Action Shot! He was giving kisses like most of the dogs tend to do while cuddling :-) 

Collaboration Plan

Although I am not an art or photography major, I do have an idea and passion that can incorporate this class into. I would use photography and the web to advertise for a fitness program. This program would have participants either walking or running the dogs at the animal center. All of these dogs need exercise and some sunlight and the participants need a fun way to exercise. By combining the two together both will have great benefits. The dogs will be able to get exercise they need and get rid of excess energy they have from being in the shelter. Some people need external motivators to be active and work out. Most people love dogs and want to interact with them. This is a great way to motivation people to be active without them focusing on how hard they are working.

The first step to get a program like this started would be to coordinate with the animal shelter and get permission. I would have to coordinated available hours for a schedule, requirements for the dogs eligible for walking/running, and any liability.

Step two would be to coordinate with the healthcare facility I would be employed by. This would also involve any liability insurance, class location, as well as finding participants for the program. As a fitness instructor it is important to be in control of the class and the environment it is held in. I would have to find a safe path for the participants and the dogs to walk or run on. I would also have to take in to consideration the weather conditions and hydration of all of the participants (human and dogs).

The third step would be to advertise for the fitness group and put the event into action. I would need to advertise at the health care facility, the animal shelter, and online. This will be a very important step and will include skills that I have learned in this course. Not only will photography editing skills come in handy but also my newly attained knowledge of what catches viewers eyes.


An example of a flyer for a program like this would look like the following. Note that the flyer is not a real event and is just a proposed event.

The Impact of Photography on the Animal Shelter

Photograph is not only has a huge impact on the number of animals getting adopted but it also is a great form of advertisement. The Wake County Animal Center could easily type a letter informing the public of the importance of responsible pet ownership and adoption but pictures are worth a thousand words. One look at the innocent animals sweet faces and people's hearts melt. Images of these animals are not only put on the cages but also on the animal centers website. In our society today technology is everywhere and a part of everyday life. Now that I have learned how to edit photographs for the web along with my classmates, we can use our skills to help all of these animals. We are apart of a great community at Meredith College and have the ability to get information and causes spread across campus as well as spread into the community. Our photographs can be used to grab the attention of our audience and get more people involved. I would love to incorporate my major and design a fitness program in collaboration with the animal center to not only exercise the dogs but humans as well. The dogs need exercise to burn off energy they build up from being inside and a lot of people need an external motivator to keep exercising. This would be perfect to accomplish both needs. By making it a continuous program the constant change in dogs would make the program more interesting, get the community involved helping the shelter while helping themselves, and possibly find these dogs homes by the participants.

This is a picture of Olga, an adorable puppy looking for a home. The photograph on her kennel card does not do her justice which is why photography is so important to these animals. If people only look online at the original photo then they might miss out on a great pet. I took this photograph and feel that it really shows how beautiful she is. In addition, Olga would benefit from a walking/running program since she is a puppy and needs the exercise to develop into a healthy dog.

Olga (89452)

Course Impact

This course has offered so many valuable lessons and opportunities it is hard to properly depict them. For starters being able to go into the animal center as a volunteer has opened my eyes so much to things society has blinded me to. I now have a realistic view of what really goes on behind the scene at the animal center and how heart breaking it is to watch so many animals come in but very exciting to see so many get adopted.

While reading the 2012 Public Animal Shelter Report it really shocked me to find out that Wake County Animal Center took in 7,151 dogs last year and 6919 cats. Before I became an active volunteer at the animal center I had no idea that the number of animals was anywhere close to these numbers! The Wake County Animal Center spends approximately $165.24 per animal as compared to Robeson County that is only able to spend approximately $68.53 per animal. Another thing that I am grateful for is having the opportunity to give so many of these animals attention (cuddle/petting time in their cages) as well as taking a photograph of them in attempt to help find them a home. In a previous class we looked at more of the center's reports and coincidentally there was a spike in adoption rate at the same time there was a spike in volunteer hours. Some days I wonder if my time in the animal center is even making an impact and then I remind myself that every little bit of help contributes to the bigger purpose. Thinking about my contribution also makes me think back to the other counties around us such as Robeson County that I mentioned. It makes me wonder how many volunteers they have and how many hours are being put into their shelter. Their euthanasia rates are far higher than the rates at Wake County. I feel confident if they could get more active volunteers to help at the shelter than their euthanasia rates might have a significant decline.

All of the data shown above came from the 2012 Public Animal Shelter Report http://www.ncagr.gov/vet/aws/Fix/documents/2012ShelterReport5-29-13PDFVersion.pdf


The next valuable thing that this course has offered is the actual skills required for digital photography and editing the photographs. I take hundreds of pictures a week on my iPhone and really enjoy paying attention to lighting, angles of pictures, and even some of the effects available to edit these photographs. However after going through this course my eyes have been opened to the fine details that actually go into taking a picture, editing them, and how to properly prepare them for the internet. One of the first things that we learned is how badly photographs are stripped when put on the internet and I am very excited that I now know how to prevent this from happening and have a great quality photograph. Although I am an Exercise Sports Science major, I have a strong passion for photography. This course has provided me with skills that I never thought I would have the opportunity to learn. An additional benefit to this course is the internet portion. Almost everything in society is technology based, so it is only appropriate that we should start to learn how to edit photographs for the web.

Before this class I was alright with taking pictures such as the one below of Sadie. However after this class I am now extremely proud that I am able to take and produce photographs such as the one of Davidson Jones from last week. The new pictures have better exposure and color levels. In the pre-class photograph the background is very dark and Sadie's white fur is too bright. I now understand the levels and I am able to adjust the levels to emphasize the dog (or main focus object in the photo) and decrease focus on the background as desired. 

Sadie 

Davidson Jones