SHELTER update
The intention to blog about every shoot in the project was an ambitious one. I have to put my hand up. In spite of all my best intentions, my focus simply has had to be on shooting and editing and staying on top of delivery for my clients. I won’t lie, it’s been stressful, but images like the one above of little Ruby, give me a giggle and help to keep it in perspective.
Because the real truth, is that this project has been so much fun. Who wouldn’t want to go out every weekend and meet a whole plethora of funny, excitable, lazy, ball-obsessed, ball-indifferent, camera-loving, camera-shy furry little beings? And keep witnessing the unique bond and love between these animals and their human families.
I have just about finished my quota of 40 shoots (only 1 left!), and am ready to move into the next phase. Putting the book together. I am very excited about this, as it’s going to be such a great feeling to see the whole project start coming together into a coherent whole.
I would like to think that the hard work is all behind me, but I suspect that this next phase is going to be harder. Less time-consuming, perhaps, but an agony of editing decisions to get it as right as I can for everyone involved.
Levi knows what I’m talking about! Is there a Staffy out there that doesn’t have a hint of existential angst in their beautiful eyes?
SHELTER : Milly and Goggles
It’s been a while between updates, but that’s not because I haven’t been out there meeting lots of DCH Adoptions success stories!
I went to visit Milly and Goggles quite a few weeks ago now, and they were so much fun to photograph.
Goggles (can you guess how she got her name?) is a Kelpie x Cattle Dog. That little equations equals LOADS of energy. We spent some time indulging Goggles’ favourite past-time. Throwing and catching the ball. Oh..and leaping in an unbelievable manner.
Being a staffy, Milly is a little more sedate. She is such a gorgeous lady!
In a rare moment of calm, we managed to get the 2 of them sitting together. Sisters and best friends, and totally beloved by their family. (I couldn’t tempt them to look at me, they only had eyes for their human family!)
SHELTER : Shelly
Meet the gorgeous Shelly. She is just the sweetest, sweetest thing – a girl who is very cuddly and full of love. She’s experienced great hardship in her life, but is now – in her older years – living with 2 wonderful people who just adore her!
And oh my goodness – look at those incredible ears!
Shelly’s pictures can be found on Facebook, as well as her website gallery. Another DCH story with a happy ever after!
(Don’t forget to click on the images to see them bigger!)
SHELTER : Buddy the Border Collie
Buddy is a gorgeous Border Collie, who is really very fond of chasing his ball. He’s not so great at bringing it back, but hey…that’s all part of the game! As you can see, he was momentarily nonplussed when I moved his ball to take these portraits. But he’s a sweetie. He forgave me, and treated me to a lovely, happy grin into the camera.
I realised the other day that it’s been a while since I’ve explained what is behind this SHELTER project that I’m working on. Some of you are recently arriving here, and may be wondering what all the dog portraiture is all about!
I’ve partnered up with DCH Animal Adoptions, and we are creating a photo book of rescue success stories. All the dogs and cats who will feature in the book have been saved, fostered and then rehomed through the extended DCH network in Sydney. It’s a book of the happy-ever-afters!
At the moment, DCH works as a network of foster carers and volunteers who rescue abandoned animals, care for them temporarily in their own homes, and then eventually help them find their forever homes. The ladies who run DCH have been working on a long-term fundraising project to be able to build a physical shelter, which will allow them to rescue more animals from the pounds. All profits from these shoots, and any future book sales, will go directly towards financing the build of this shelter.
So, it’s all for a good cause, and I get my weekly fix of lovely dogs and cats. Win-win I say!
More images from Buddy’s session can be found on Facebook and on his website gallery
SHELTER : The dog park gang – meet Fergie, Sox and Sam
This shoot with Fergie, Sam and Sox took place one gorgeous afternoon, down at their local dog park. The 3 boys are good friends, and spend many of their play-dates together.
In spite of all the distractions – each other, the rest of the dogs in park – the boys we’re all so well behaved and patient with me and my camera.
This gorgeous man is Fergie, a beautiful Collie Rough.
This sweet fellow is Sox, a Great Dane crossed with Wolfhound.
And this fun guy is Sam. Sam is a Labrador crossed with Husky.
Sox, like many large dogs, is a complete softy who seems completely unaware of how big he is.
Fergie is the king of the park. He is so sweet, yet independent, and clearly loves hanging out with his friends.
Sam’s the youngest of the 3, and is a bundle of excitement and energy.
And here they all are together. I’m not ashamed to admit it was tough to get all 3 together for a photo, but with teamwork on behalf of all the mum’s (outside the shot), we managed it for a second or two!
It was great fun to meet you all! As always, your pictures can be found on Facebook, and on your website gallery.
Oh, and a little hint to those of you reading this post. Click on the pictures to open a bigger version. They look much better enlarged!
SHELTER : Barney
I loved meeting Barney so much. He is truly one of a kind, this gentle older man.
Barney has spent a large proportion of his life living on the streets. Looking after himself and finding his own way. And however it happened, and however he managed to survive, he is the gentlest soul I’ve come across so far. A true little zen master wrapped up in a doggie fur coat.
These days Barney’s life is more settled, and he is happy simply pottering between his bed, his garden and the local park. And thankfully, this independent little man no longer has to wander the streets by himself.
More images from Barney’s session can be found at his online gallery, and on Facebook.
SHELTER : Little-Bit
Hasn’t he got the cutest name? Little-Bit.
The ‘Little’ in Little-Bit, is not a reflection of his stature. He’s not a little dog, but I did see first-hand the way he curls up on his dad’s lap for a cuddle, all tucked in as if he really is a teeny-tiny lap dog. Sure, his paws were hanging off the end of the sofa, but Little-Bit just gave out a tiny grunt of contentment and tucked himself up a little more neatly.
In a way, his name sums up many of the stars of our SHELTER book. The pets that are a little-bit of one breed mixed in a with a little-bit of another. It’s a fun game to try to identify the traits they have inherited from their mixed parentage, but of course none of that really matters to their adoptive families.
It’s all about love and happy endings, and amongst all the upset and sadness of so many animals being abandoned and neglected, this book is going to be a celebration and a reminder of the happy-ever-afters.
That’s Little-Bit on the left, with his adoptive sister Hermione and the lovely family with who he shares his life.
More photos can be found on Little-Bit’s gallery, as well as on Facebook.
And now for something a little bit different…* (no dogs were photographed in the making of this post)
We all have bad days. Those days when you feel trapped in life’s revolving door. When morning segues into afternoon, followed by a WHOOSH into night-time, and you look up and think, “what the hell am I doing?”. Yet one more day that feels just like the day before. Where you have achieved less than you wanted to achieve. Where you stack up the list of things you didn’t do, and balance it against the things you did do, and want to scream with frustration.
At best, these feelings make you feel a bit down. At worst…well, despair can take hold. Feeling down is not very pleasant. Despair is just nasty.
When I was younger I was convinced I was alone when I felt this way. Now I’m in the future (we are in the year 2011: CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!), the internet has helped me realise that I am anything but alone with these feelings. These feelings are everywhere and being felt by everyone. I’m not the super-sensitive, angsty creative-type that I fancied myself. I’m just one more human, stumbling my way through the confusion of life. So ordinary! So comforting.
I spend alot of time cruising around the internet. And the longer I do it, the more intriguing and interesting and inspiring people I come across. Complete strangers on the other side of the world who I would never have known the first thing about without the aid of the super-information highway. Luckily for nosy-parker me, these folks often have blogs or websites, and so I get to snuffle around and find out lots about them and their lives. (I am one of those people who is THRILLED when I walk past a house with the curtains open and get a glimpse of someone else’s life). (As long as there are no naked people wandering around inside, I’m not that sort of voyeur).
One such blogger is Amber – who can be found writing as Moose in the Kitchen – over in San Francisco. I’ve been lurking on her blog for a long time now (occasionally popping up to say hello. I’m rubbish, I know). But mostly I just read and feel inspired. While sighing a little inside and wishing that I too lived in San Francisco.
(As an aside, Amber was the first place I discovered I Live Here: SF, which in turn inspired me to do my own little version of that project. Which has been shifted on the back-burner while I work on my SHELTER project. Projects, hey? You sit around waiting for them, and then 2 come at once….)
Amber is a writer who – not so very long ago – decided to leave behind the safety net of office drudgery, and launch herself into the freelance writing world. I love reading her honest take on the wonderfulness, as well as the difficulties, she faces with her career choice. The freedoms of the freelancer, the sense of calling she has from her craft, and the hurdles she faces in making a living doing it all.
Mainly, though, she’s just really funny. And she can be fully credited as the girl who came up with the idea of brain hamsters.
Brain hamsters. Ever heard of them? No…I hadn’t either.
If you’re pursuing any sort of creative life – in fact, if you’re pursuing any sort of life at all, which is…oh…everyone! – you’ll be familiar with the gnawing thoughts, the self-doubts, the second-guessing that you inflict on yourself. Brain hamsters. Pesky brain-rodents that scurry around our egos and make a mess of our senses of self.
Go over here, and it will all become more clear.
I urge you to spend a few dollars to support Amber’s creative dream. And in return you will get a lovely essay, with a unique take on learning how to deal with your inner demons. I can’t tell you how many times in the past couple of weeks, since I was introduced to Amber’s Theory of Brain Hamsters, that I have listened to the negative voices and thought to myself “Hey, brain hamsters. Shut up!” And have a little chuckle to myself.
—
*Sorry for that tired Monty Python joke. Not sorry enough to change the title…but sorry all the same.
SHELTER : a little book of rescue love
Oh, I do so love when a plan starts to come together!
A couple of months ago, I mentioned a book idea that was very much in its infancy. It’s a fundraising project for DCH, the group that helped me work out how to foster little Gertie-Girl.
This particular book is an all-or-nothing type of project. We needed to get 40 contributors to want to be involved in the book, and unless we met that target, there was not much point in doing it at all. I’m so pleased to say that after a couple of months of crunching numbers, many emails and fabulous co-ordination on behalf of the DCH ladies, we have got our requisite rescue success story contributors, and it’s all steam ahead. ‘Shelter’ is very much an idea that is definitely going to come to fruition.
So now, for me, the hard work begins. My task – to shoot 40 sessions of pets and their rescue parents, compile a write-up of each story, and design and put it all together into a fabulous little book. It’s all a little overwhelming.
Luckily, I have multi-talented friends stashed around the place. A good friend is a talented graphic designer, and she is going to ensure our end product is completely lovely. Also on board is a professional writer who is going to help me compile and edit the accompanying stories. We’re fast becoming a little team of book elves.
The gargantuan shoot schedule kicks off next weekend. In the weeks and months following, I’ll attempt to fit the 40 shoots into as short a time-scale as possible, in the hopes of reaching our (fingers crossed) deadline of having this mini-monster ready for sale by Christmas.
I don’t see too many wild parties or weekends away in my immediate future.
Let me tell you, though, it feels so good to be involved in this project. The money we raise will go towards the shelter that DCH are working towards making a reality – a half-way house for those abandoned dogs and cats in the pound, that are otherwise living on very short amounts of borrowed time.
Maree and Picollo’s
A few weeks ago, I had a photo shoot with Maree for my We Live Here : Sydney project. This shoot was particularly fun, because Maree is so bubbly and vibrant, and has one of the most infectious laughs I’ve ever heard. We chatted for ages, drank some seriously delicious coffee, and on Maree’s urging got everyone in the place in front of the camera at one point or another.
I’ve been playing around with the images some more, and have made a new selection that I’ve decided to post up here. You see, Maree chose our location – a homey and comfortable coffee shop called Piccolo’s in Rozelle – because to her it’s practically her second home. In the years that she has been going there for a daily caffeine fix, the owners and other locals have become fast friends.
This is the space where she wrote her recently successful short play. This is where she takes her first dates, and even hosts match-making parties. She loves that coffee shop, she really does. After an hour or so hanging out with them all, I came away seeing why she was so smitten.
On keeping moving forward
At the beginning of this year I did what most of us do, and decided to take stock, and make a list of resolutions that I was determined to actually keep. For a change, I didn’t bother worrying about weight, or chocolate, or too much wine. Instead I decided to resolutionate (I just made up a verb!) entirely around my photography. I really do have a tendency to flit around in too many directions, picking up projects and often not finding the focus to even define what I want to achieve with them, never mind work out how to bring them to fruition. 2011, I decided, was going to be different.
And so I made myself a list. A short list, granted, but a focused one. I picked 3 projects that I wanted to spend this year working on; projects that would be tangible and achievable. I then wrote them down on the big white-board I have in my study. That’s always Step 1, isn’t it? Writing it down.
The main difference in these ideas as opposed to previous attempts, is the element of collaboration that they involve. And here it is, only February, and things are taking shape. It feels great, and I am constantly busy trying to keep up with it all. It’s been a fab couple of months, and I hope the rest of the year continues in this direction.
In the spirit of throwing myself out there, I’ve decided to ask for some help. If anyone reading this feels they can contribute, advise or get involved in any other way in any of these projects, I would absolutely love it if you got in touch. Leave a comment, or send me an email. I’m finally using my photography to connect, and I want to keep that momentum going.
This is a portrait project that I started up at the end of last year. Since shouting out for willing subjects, I’ve had a really great response. Everyone I have met so far has been lovely, and for that experience alone I’m so happy that I decided to take the plunge. It should be weird – meeting up with a stranger for an hour or two, to take their picture for my silly little blog. But it hasn’t been weird in the slightest. Every shoot has been fun, I’ve been getting some great portraits of fabulous people, and I suspect that some of these folks may end up my friends. Details of how it works are here, and if you live in Sydney and want to get involved, just get in touch. If you know someone who might want to get involved, pass the link along. Don’t be scared….I’m not a serial killer. Just a serial shooter. (hah!)
Doggie coffee table book
This one is in its infancy, but it’s going to be a doozy. I’m working with DCH adoptions to produce a coffee table book of portraits of animals and their owners. Most of them will probably be re-homing success stories through DCH, but anyone who would like to take part is invited. At the moment, we’re still doing the number-crunching, and so I’d like to ask anyone out there who knows a printer who might be willing to cut us a deal on publishing the book to please let me know. I’m looking at photographing about 40 portrait sittings, and with so much time and effort involved, we want to make this as profitable as we can. The best way of doing this is getting publishing costs down.
Of course, DCH are also always looking for foster-carers (that’s how little Gertie-Girl – more recently nicknamed ‘The Gerticon’ – came into my life) or those ready to adopt a dog or cat into their homes and lives.
Working with an NGO or charity
This one is yet to get off the ground, and so really in this area I’m looking for ideas or advice. I’m an avid follower of many great humanitarian photographers, such as David DuChemin, and Matt Brandon, as well as the ever-growing body of work being produced by the community over at IGVP. I mention these guys because they have such a huge presence in this area of photography, but there are countless photographers out there getting involved in causes they believe in. This year I want to see if I can make some small difference too. The onus is on me to approach those charities that I feel are a good fit to my photography and experience, but I would appreciate any stories, or advice, from other photographers or non-photographers, or marketing people, or just generally interested parties out there who have been involved in a marketing or fundraising project.
If you know of a small NGO or charity who is looking for a photographer to help tell the story of the people they are trying to help, I’d really appreciate a link or phone number. The small guys probably don’t have much internet presence, and so can be hard to find. But mainly, any thoughts or ideas or advice, would be greatly appreciated.