I’m so happy this day came. I’ve been trying to do a particular project with the Central Missouri Humane Society for months.

See, here’s the thing. The Central Missouri Humane Society is having a very hard time staying afloat. They don’t turn animals away and they don’t have the funding for the essentials of care, let alone the space they desperately need. I don’t have much to donate except for some photo skills.

I felt this needed to be done.

So that’s what happened.

It was so much fun too.

A little difficult, but a lot of fun.

Read on for more photos.

The animals were excited to have a full studio to play in, so before each one could be photographed we had to let them explore and romp for a bit.

The goal of this project was to showcase the animals in a way that showed their human characteristics. Often times people ignore animals because they are seen as just that…animals. That’s the core of the problem to me. Many people need to be able to relate to something in order to want to help.

So, if they can find a characteristic of themselves in the expression of the animal I photograph, we are one step closer.

The above shot really strikes a chord with me. To look at that dog (a stray that doesn’t have a name) you can tell that he’s had a very hard life, but somehow you feel a sense of hope and happiness to be in a place that cares for him with more than food. He looks optimistic to me.

Then we have the priss below.

It still makes me laugh though cause no matter what, when you look at these images you can’t help but see their personalities. That communication between the portrait and the audience is vital to the success of this effort.

I got into photography to affect people on a deeper level. Portraits to show people how beautiful they are, weddings to capture a memory of bliss, and commercial to get feelings like that to the masses. Maybe it’s corny, I don’t know, but I love it.

This is the first time that I’ve been able to look at a project and feel like I’m actually making a larger difference with my work.

It’s a damned good feeling.

***EDIT***

I should have done this before but it didn’t occur to me. Each of these animals is up for adoption, I dug for them on petfinder and have a link for each listed below. Also, the nameless stray whose photo really gets me, now has a name. Zimm.

Here they are, listed in the order they appear.

Casey

Rosie

Smokey

Zimm

Frumpy

Blackberry

The results?

They came to me wanting something edgy. So figured it would be good to give them some work based on this “hyper realistic” lighting that the world is nuts about. Maybe it’s your flavor, maybe it’s not. It’s certainly not pure photography. For those of you that will ask…no it is not HDR, or a specific plug-in either. Enough about the process though…let’s see some shots.

Pierpoint is a pretty talented group of guys, I’d recommend giving them a listen when you have the chance.

Check out their Myspace page here

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I get to look at what they have, and listen to where they want to be, then help them get there. A lot of artists (yes models are artists) get stuck in a certain way of doing things. It may be a certain look, a specific feel in the way they present themselves, a style of clothing or design, or something as simple as using one particular color a lot.

Each of those things can be great to help establish a recognizable style but if you don’t diversify, you end up getting pigeon-holed like Jason Biggs (American Pie).

Knowing this, when people like Abbey approach me wanting to work together, I go through their existing body of work to see what I can offer. In Abbey’s case she has plenty of photos of her in a studio setting. Her hair is styled, her makeup is done, the lighting is controlled…everything is in its place.

Here is the deal with an abundance of images like that though. It’s not a natural setting, and you don’t look like you do on a normal day. Most agencies want to see a clean shot with minimal makeup.

Remember that.

Abbey did a great job, she and her mom were a blast to hang out with for a few hours, very nice people.

Abbey, if you’re reading…Thanks a lot for coming out, you did fantastic.

The brochure is an offset Z-fold. what that means is that the green bar you see on the right of the cover, is actually the right edge of the panel behind the cover. Involved I know, but it makes for a much more interesting piece than a standard tri-panel brochure.

Anyway, I got to do both the photography and the design of the piece. I love it when that happens because it means that I get as close to freedom as you can get in this business. It doesn’t happen often, but man I’m tellin ya’ when it does, it rocks.