DISCO BOWLING

While looking for some stuff I shot last year, I came across pictures I took at an event here in Decatur. A local organization had organized a bowling night (probably there was some fundraising involved or something like that). Yes, in this newspaper, we shot "party pics" from time to time (more often than we would like to, I should add...). That kind of assignments basically consist in photos of people posing for the camera and cheesy-smiling. But when I arrived at the bowling alley, I saw all these people dressed in 70s outfits and the assignment got a bit more interesting. I completely forgot about the bowling and decided to focus on the costumes. Then I discovered an orange and blue wall, and that was it. Went back to my car to get a couple of strobes, umbrellas and stands and told the bowlers that I was setting up a photo booth and whoever wanted could have their picture taken. All of them showed up, got really into character and had a great time. These are just a few of many portraits I took that night.

SNOW, MUSIC, REFLECTIONS AND BASKETBALL

... and a fogged up lens.

IS THIS THE WARM SOUTH? C'mon, you gotta be kidding...

If you ask me, I'm sick and tired of snow and, specifically, snow pictures. But, hey, it's so rare to see stuff like this in Alabama, that I thought I should post some images here just for historical purposes.
These next three pictures are just outside my apartment:






Today, just before sunset, the sun came out for the first time since Saturday. It was only 20 minutes or so, but I drove out of town to get something in the countryside before it was completely dark, and I found this stuff (I swear I didn't know there was a camel there; apparently it's been in that enclosure for a long time, but I noticed it it only today, right in the snow... very proper):




This is my favorite one of these days, and the very last one I took today, right before the sun disappeared again. It made me feel I was in Montana or a place like that...

Watching cranes

FALL GRADUATION

...who on earth likes speeches?

HOW CRUEL...

A TICKET TO NEW HAMPSHIRE

A few weeks ago, Michelle shared with me her idea about how to raise funds for the Shelby Humane Society (Shelby Co., Alabama) of which she's a board member and a volunteer. Shelby Humane Society's Shelter Partners Program moves rescued pets from Shelby County, which is experiencing extreme animal overpopulation, to shelters in New Hampshire where the success and enforcement of animal and spay and neuter laws and initiatives limit the number of pets available for adoption. With rare exceptions, the dogs and puppies transferred are placed with adoptive families within a few days of becoming available for adoption at the NH shelters. Obviously, the trip costs money (about $50 per dog), and Michelle wanted to find donors who would sponsor individual pups' trips up north by buying Christmas tree ornaments containing the picture of the particular dog they would like to sponsor.




So, I volunteered to take "studio portraits" of shelter animals. I photographed about 80 dogs and cats in a small room at the shelter, using a black piece of fabric as a background (or the bare white wall for the darker dogs) and two strobes shooting through umbrellas. Now, that's easier said that done, because those guys are not gonna keep still on the exact spot where you want them to be. It actually was a huge exercise of imagination and patience and I could NEVER have done it without the help of Leon and Amber, who work at the shelter. Leon was great holding the dogs while keeping himself out of the frame, and so was Amber, who did all sorts of things to make the pets look (more or less) in the direction of the camera.




All sorts of things happened during the photo shoot, most memorable of which was the funny pitbull who, as soon as he entered the room and before any of us knew it, peed all over my camera bag and then came to lick my face as if nothing had happened (thank God the bag was closed and there wasn't any damage to report about...)

Then, we needed a campaign poster and they chose George as the poster boy (the 2 first pictures above). The idea was all Michelle's. There's no photoshop involved: I wanted to do everything real, on camera. George is a pitbull that had been in the shelter for 10 months and, therefore, was risking being euthanized. A couple of days after the campaign kicked off, George was adopted.





I'm not a "pet photographer," mind you, but this project was really worth it. In less than two weeks since the campaign started, the shelter has already reached more than half of its fundraising target, and even some of those dogs have been adopted, meaning that their tickets to New Hampshire will be used by other dogs.

MORE PICTURES HERE: http://shsornaments.blogspot.com