Behind the Lens

You see, I began photographing animals in 1997 in an effort to raise awareness about the pet overpopulation epidemic in our country. My heart ached for the hundreds of thousands of animals needlessly euthanized each year in the U.S. and in our “own backyard”. I grew up in a home of mismatched mutts and other assorted and odd creatures and was surrounded by people who loved animals and accepted them as part of the family. Learning more about the plight of homeless, shelter and unwanted animals, I desperately wanted to be part of a solution that would begin to put an end to this senseless tragedy.

My own two “found” dogs, Calvin and Findlay, were the inspiration for Happy Tails, a non-profit organization that I founded together with several friends nearly 15 years ago. In order to draw attention to the tragedy of pet overpopulation, Happy Tails created a line of note cards that featured heartwarming photos and rescue stories of individual pets. And that’s when I picked up my camera. That trusted old vacation buddy that I’d use to shoot panoramic scene and impress my friends. Though I’d never really spent much time turning my camera to the animals I had grown up with, I inherently knew that I could aim my camera and help tell their story. I knew their personalities and their behaviors, their quirks and what made them each unique. And by sharing inspirational stories of rescued pets, I hoped to encourage people to consider adoption from a local animal shelter or rescue organization and to spay/neuter their own animals.

We created note cards, wrote stories, posted information on our web pages back before the days of Petfinder, and shared important information on caring for animals and saving lives, such as euthanasia statistics and the importance of spay/neuter.

Each hour, every day more than 3,000 dogs and cats are born in the United States. Most of these animals are unwanted and they face very precarious fates. Some die on the street, others are abused, sold to testing laboratories or dumped at shelters where up to 70% will end up dying because there aren’t enough homes for them. Pet overpopulation and the resulting euthanasia is the greatest killer of our companion animals in this country today.

The numbers are almost unfathomable. And their fates are unimaginable.

We worked with many local shelters and rescue groups in the Tri-State area, and that’s when I began to develop my ties to the local animal welfare community – strong ties that I still maintain today. As I photographed rescued pets, more and more people began to ask if I would photograph their own animals. And the more I photographed for Happy Tails, I also began to lend my photography support to these groups and to help them in other ways. I began to volunteer my time to these groups in addition to my work with Happy Tails.

I photographed events and I took headshots of animals still in need of a home. In 2002, I led a group that hosted Compassionfest, a national youth-oriented event inviting young people to live and grow in the spirit of love, peace and compassion for all living beings. The festival culminated when Freedom – the celebrated slaughterhouse cow who made history when she took a courageous leap of faith over a 6-ft fence and eluded authorities for 11 days – was adopted by artist Peter Max before finding a permanent home at Farm Sanctuary. I photographed the 2004 United Coalition for Animals Pets and Their Celebrities calendar, where I began to work closely with the board of UCAN and was fortunate to meet animal advocates John A. Ruthven and Nick & Nina Clooney and the other Cincinnati celebrities that loved their pets and lended their support to this project.

All the while, I held my day job as a business consultant with Deloitte & Touche, leaving on assignment during the week and returning to Cincinnati on weekends to focus on my passion of helping and photographing animals. Eventually, my work photographing pets evolved into a pet photography business. And I left my “day job” as a consultant, but turned my business consulting skills to good use as I assumed the role as UCAN’s Board President. I served as President, then Vice President and remained part of the Executive Leadership team of UCAN leading up to the opening of the region’s first low-cost, high-volume spay/neuter clinic – offering an effective and humane alternative to euthanasia in tackling the pet overpopulation epidemic. While I’m now on the sidelines, I am still a strong advocate of UCAN and the many other players in our local animal welfare community, and I can proudly report that in September 2010, UCAN will celebrate its 27,000 surgery! Yeah!!

Once the clinic was opened, the staff and medical team were in place, an Executive Director was hired and the clinic began to serve the Cincinnati population with days, then weeks, then months of appointments on the books, I stepped down from the board to allow myself time to focus on my passion, which started as a hobby and grew into a business. The business of photographing pets.

More than ten years ago I started down this path and have used my skills to help animals in many ways. I still lend my support when and where it is needed, but its been a long journey to get to where I am today. And I’m happy to finally be in a place where I can allocate more of my time to working with clients to help them capture images that celebrate their love and devotion to their own beloved pets. And to freezing a moment in time that will become a cherished memory of a special friend.