Week Three Critters

https://picasaweb.google.com/101123446002444486873/OBXAnimalShelter5_27_11?authkey=Gv1sRgCOWd1Keq_JTWNA#

:)

Week Three, Day Four

Responsible pet ownership entails tender, love and care. The owner has to be nurturing and kind to his/her pet while providing the animal with love and also taking care of the animal’s needs, such as food and medical bills.

An anonymous shelter worker said, “Pet ownership isn’t for anyone. We get a lot of animals here because pet owners don’t realize the responsibility it takes to maintain a pet. Animals need constant care from toys to food to just playing with the animal; it can be very demanding. A responsible pet owner would recognize there is a time commitment as well as an emotional commitment that is needed to take care of any animal but these responsibilities certainly reap rewards greater than the demands. There’s nothing greater than seeing your dog’s excitement after being apart for a couple of hours; it’s the perfect welcome home gesture.”

A shelter visitor, Elizabeth from Virginia responded, “A responsible pet owner should know that you have to have the time and finances to adequately provide for the animal. Owning a pet is a responsibility and therefore no one should take on a responsibility they cannot handle. Also, particular shelter animals need extra love and attention.”

The picture that I feel best represents a responsible pet owner is my brother Luciano and Harley. My brother is thirteen years old and although Harley is the family pet, he is most definitely Luciano’s dog. Luciano loves Harley. These two are often found in Luciano’s room playing with legos. Luciano takes Harley for walks, plays with him outside after school, makes sure he always has enough water and feeds him twice a day. Luciano loves, cares and nurtures Harley; it’s quite adorable to watch.

Here's A Look At What I See...

This is inside kennels that are connected to the...outside kennel area.

This is looking in from the outside kennel area through to see the inside kennel area.



This outside play area is right beside the outside kennels entrance. The gated square is where the animals have a fifteen minute "play time" every day.

I'm trying to let y'all see what I experience. Whenever I get there I'm so focused on taking pictures of the animals, but next week I'll try and take more pictures of the shelter...

Week Three, Day Three

There are actually many reasons why animals are surrendered to an Animal Shelter. Some reasons make more sense than others, but not knowing the full story, volunteers cannot judge the person who surrendered the animals. With the animals in the shelter, it’s important to know where each of the animals has come from; but it is more important where the animals are going. So instead of focusing on why the animals were placed in the Animal Shelter, it’s better to focus on how to get the animals adopted. Positive outlook always works best.

However, to know where someone is going and how they are going to get there; it’s important to know where they are from. Yes, this is also true for animals. For instance, if an animal has come from an abusive home; the animal is going to need a lot of understanding and love from a new home.

Monkey (#29536), Ani (#29121) and Mercy (#29148) are all cats who had different reasons for surrender. Monkey is a one and half year old orange tiger who was a stray. I presume Monkey was found by Animal Control and brought into the shelter. I enjoy the picture of Monkey because of the animal's eyes. Monkey was a bit difficult to photograph at first then suddenly he sat down for a solid five minutes and I was able to get a couple good pictures.

Ani is a white and black cat whose reason for surrender was simply “cannot keep.” Ani's eyes stick out immensely against her white fur. I find this picture both captivating and eerie; almost like a mysterious bond between good and evil.

Mercy is a one and half year old tri-color cat who was surrendered because the owner’s were having a new baby. Mercy wanted nothing to do with me or my camera and I find her reason for surrender to be an interesting contributing factor.

Week Three, Day Two

The turn-over rate is rather slow at the Outer Banks Animal Shelter. The number of animals surrendered and the number of animals adopted are both fairly low. There have been two animals that I was notified that were adopted in the past week. One of which was Miss Priss (the terrier I posted on my blog last week). I did not notice any new animals. This surprises me how not that many new animals had been surrendered also respectably how few animals were adopted. However, I always have to keep in mind that I do live on an island. So therefore the number of surrenders and adoptions being low is understandable. The only people on the island currently are locals. Summer brings people from all over and Memorial Day weekend marks the start of tourism. So I think it will interesting to observe if the adoption rate increases as the number of visitors increases.

Also, I found it interesting that I met two shelter visitors traveled all the way from Virginia Beach to look at adopting animals. That’s a decent travel and I find it heartwarming that these individuals were willing to travel that far to adopt.

This is Jade (#A12691467). She’s eleven years old and needs a lot of love. She has a great deal of medical bills and medical needs. A potential reason why she has not been adopted is her age and medical treatment needed. Jade was truly a bundle of joy to photograph. She was very relaxed and wanted to sit instead of have her picture taken. She has a true personality and I enjoy how I captured her smile. (Also, as a side note, her ears are very tiny and this is the best I could get).

Week Three, Day One

This is Bobby (impoundment number A12834576). He was difficult to photograph because he didn't want to sit still. He was very active and playful. A strength of the photo is the Bobby's expression...it's very goofy and represents his personality. Another strength is the catch-lights are shown in Bobby's eyes. Also, the cropping is effective for making the focus be about the dog. Bobby looking at the camera is a strength as well.

Now for the areas of improvement. The bars of the gate being in the background are a definite need for improvement. The pictures are supposed to capture the animal's personality and make them look cute. However, with the bars in the background this reinforces the feeling of guilt of how the animal is in the pound. Another area of improvement are the catch-lights and uneven lighting. The eye on the left side is much brighter than the right. It would improve the picture to have both eyes exposed to the same amount of light. This is a challenge for me due to the kennel areas being small and narrow. Contributing to the catch-lights being unbalanced is the uneven lighting. To solve this problem, I would need to be able to take each animal out of his/her kennel.

To compensate for the uneven lights in the dog kennels, this week whenever I went to the animal shelter, I photographed more of the cats. The indoor lighting was more even and balanced. Also, whenever I did photograph a dog; I asked to take him out of the kennel area on a leech, this kind of worked. This technique took a very long time (a good twenty minutes for a not so great picture). The dog was just very excited to get out of the kennel and he knew how to get out of his collar, which he did twice. That's correct; he got off the leech twice. Luckily I was in a decent sized room and was able to get him back on the leech easily. So next week, I will try again... :)

Week Two's Critters.

https://picasaweb.google.com/101123446002444486873/OBXAnimalShelter_5_18_11?authkey=Gv1sRgCIna9ODGhZWeXg#

Enjoy! :)

Week Two, Day Four

The best way to learn about something is to submerge yourself in it. This is certainly true. After a week of volunteering, I’ve already observed and learned a great deal more than ever before. From what I can tell most of the animals I have seen so far come from families or individuals who cannot take care of them anymore. Most of the reasons I’ve seen on the kennel cards are “couldn’t take care of anymore,” “moving,” and “medical bills too high.” It’s truly heartbreaking to think that some families cannot take care of their pets because of medical bills. Other animals are strays that have been picked up by animal control. All of the reasons are not the animals fault; yet the animal is the one who is given away and put in a kennel. Then that’s when we step in, to take pictures with hopes of finding these abandoned animals homes.

The picture I’m most proud of this week is of Scrappy. This dog certainly has a personality of his own. He sat great for me. Most of the other dogs needed some extra attention then sat. Scrappy sat right away click click; I had two great pictures. Then just as I was leaving…zing! He ran out and escaped. Scrappy certainly had an enjoyable time running around outside. To describe the dog area again, each dog has two areas he/she can be in (inside and outside). The inside area is generally too small for me to get a picture so I tend to stay on the outside. All the outside kennels overlook a grassy area. In this grass area is a gated region where each dog will spend 15 minutes a day in “free time.” When Scrappy got out, he approached the dogs in free time and started to play with them through the fence which caused much commotion and all the other dogs started to bark. After Scrappy was put on a leech and escorted back to his kennel. The shelter worker informed me, Scrappy is a very smart dog who rarely listens to anyone. Scrappy has been at the OBX Animal Shelter since Christmas. Just last week he had a break through learning experience: Scrappy will now walk next to the shelter workers on a leech without biting. This is my picture I’m most proud of this week because after the escaping dog incident; I just wanted to be done for the day but Scrappy wanted to play. So that encouraged me to stay even though I was very embarrassed he had gotten out. This dog deserves a good home. He is very smart, clever and very fast.

Week Two, Day Three

Meta data is embedded information into the photo for tasks such as tagging images, ownership, subject matter and copyright. It will helpful for this class because I will be able to quickly search and find pictures based on a keyword. The most important piece of meta-data seems to be the copy right option; giving the photographer the ability to claim his/her work no matter where the pictures may go. If the picture is passed on to someone else or copied, the meta data allows the user to always be able to trace back to the original source of the photographer.

For these photos, I used the macro mode. It adds to just focusing on the animal and not the background. Since my camera is a point and shoot, I do not have much control over depth of field. This macro mode option assists with my focusing. This is a picture of Angelica (impound number #29686) and Auto (#29544). Both of these cats have distinguishing physical traits about them. Angelica has such intense and focused eyes and Auto has unique markings on his face. Both need great homes; these pictures are a step closer to achieving that goal.

Week Two, Day Two

PICTURE MAKEOVERS: Before and After Shots

This is Miss Priss. I found her picture on the shelter’s website (http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/19406684). I was drawn to this picture because I love terriers. It may have come from my obsession with the Wizard of Oz when I was little, ever since I’ve wanted a little Toto look-a-like. I admire this picture because the dog is looking at the camera and her ears are raised. The dog is in the center of the photograph and the depth of field is focused on the dog. However, her eyes do not accent the catch-lights. If I could redo this picture, I would like her eyes to be more of the focus without the glare and for the background scenery to be plainer. These two changes would make the picture completely focus on Miss Priss.

Here I have redone the photo of Miss Priss. She is in focus with catch-lights visible. The background is not competing with her and she is looking at the camera. Also, there wasn’t a flash to capture the glare in her eyes. This picture overall does reflect her personality and makes her more desirable.

This is Otis (http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/19106915). He has been in the shelter since March 2011. The picture below is not very flattering. His ears are down causing him to look scared. A flash was used so there is a glare in his eyes. Overall, not a very appealing picture.

This picture redone of Otis is much more appealing and reflective of his personality. He is truly a fun-loving dog who wants to play. After giving him some love, he sat perfectly for his picture. This picture is a big improvement because his ears are raised with catch-lights visible. He is in the center of the picture and in focus. He was a great dog to photograph.