What a Dog Day!
An international project that helps animals through photography
Intro
"What A Dog Day!” is a reference to the sentence “What a happy day!” because, you know, a dog = happiness. This project is 100% volunteer and with the main goal to help the abandoned, the disabled, the old, and the unwanted fur friends to get adopted by photographing them having lots of fun!
How does it work?
The first step is to reach out to public shelters, non-profit organizations, and foster volunteers, to get to know their stories. Then together, we select one pet (or more, depending on the availability) that is in dire need of being adopted. After we choose a pet, I spend an entire day with them. The important thing here is having fun and giving them lots of love, attention, and delicious treats! We go for walks, play in green areas, and rest under trees with many belly rubs. While we play, I photograph every happy smile, jump, and bark. It is a day made for them to remember the life they truly deserve. Later, I will deliver to the shelter several digital photos of the happy day that can be used to make this pet and the shelter visible to everyone! Hopefully, soon, all of them will have a lovely and fur-ever place to call home.
Where?
The project started in Houston, Texas, in May 2019. Over the next few months, I took it to Europe, where I could photograph in four different places: Florence - Italy, Zadar - Croatia, Krakow – Poland, and finally, Bolzano - Italy. All that happened among amazing human beings and, of course, the loveliest dogs and cats. I invite you to come and join me in this journey full of love and hope!
Take a look inside the project
The Place
Let’s talk about a huge protected green area with lots of flowers, trees, and little ponds. A place where each rescued has his covered room side by side, with ventilation for the heat in Summer, beds, and blankets for the colder days. There is fresh food made every day, freshwater is always available, and if any medical situation arises, it is treated right away, no matter the cost. It is a happy place where the dogs can run free all day, playing and resting whenever they want.
Sounds like heaven for pets, right?
That is how Dog Village is maintained - only by the good intentions of Mrs. Maria Rita and donations. She is a sweet and strong lady that leads this shelter as her own life. And what a pleasure it was to spend a day with her, with Marco (her right hand and a great human being), and her 15 rescued pups!
The Models
GAIA (2 years old) - full of energy yet very gentle little girl, Gaia loved to catch the ball as often as I could throw it or until she decided it was time to rest under the trees and receive some belly rubs. Action photos worked well for her because all she wanted to do was play around.
VERA (4 years old) – white as a snowflake, sweet as cotton candy, and so gentle it was difficult to stop petting her and saying how much of a good girl she was. Candid photos were the result of her session as she was very cooperative and calm all the time.
The Place
There are people with a huge heart and an even bigger love for animals volunteering at this shelter in Bolzano. They take great care of all the cats living in this colony. Rain or shine (or snow!), they take turns every day so someone can be there giving them food and fresh water. The group also takes care of any health issues as well as fights for animal rights.
And YES! Cats also = happiness, so why not give them a second chance too?
To work with them was a complete success as I had a green fenced open area to photograph the cats running free, nosing around, playing hide and seek, and just freely being themselves. A whole new priceless photography experience!
The Models
As many as I could point my camera!
Every single one of them had a different color and beautiful deep eyes. Some were more playful, even curious about the noises I made. While others, I had to calmly chase them around and use my long lens to capture their unique personality.
The Place
There is definitely an enormous amount of work for the few volunteers who take care of more than 200 dogs of all sizes and ages daily!
The place is huge, located in a green area in the middle of the city. It has an excellent structure funded by a German company called Einsame Pfoten Zadar E.V. that financially makes everything possible. Nevertheless, the volunteers could use many more helping hands for the hard work as it has been hard to find engaged people there.
The session happened over two different days, as the dog´s personalities were very different. I wanted to take the time to bond with them before starting the session so they could feel comfortable and, most importantly, have lots of fun!
The Models
WULFIE (4 years old) – a timid pup that opened up and became my new fur friend after a bit of attention! Then he was up for everything a good photo session needs: a good run, posing calmly under the tree, and, of course, willing to have many delicious treats.
Luckily, a beautiful open and secluded green area nearby with zero distractions was perfect for his personality.
DEDA (12 years old) – unfortunately, the beginning of the story of this well-lived grandpa is not a happy one. He came to the shelter from a small village, just skin and bones. It took a long time, work, and endless love from the volunteers to get him into the healthy shape he is now.
I totally forgot his age during our photo session as soon as we left the shelter! Deda loved to explore the city, and he didn’t care at all about the many distractions around us. We had a blast chasing birds and running through the white alleys and main touristic points of Zadar’s Old Town.
The Place
This shelter is run by the Animal Welfare Organization in Krakow (KTOZ) and has operated for 25 years. Thanks to charity concerts, they were able to equip the shelter’s clinic with specialized animal treatment equipment. The structure is very organized. The kennels are clean and spacious with indoor and outdoor spaces. The animals are separated by personality and have signs indicating if it is an animal that needs special attention regarding medication or behavior.
All dogs and cats in the shelter are spayed/neutered (except for puppies and kittens, who will be spayed/neutered when mature). When adopted, they go home with a health card and passport! And the cherry on top: they have a NO KILL EVER policy.
As I was not allowed to take the animals out, the green areas within the shelter with flowers were a perfect solution for different backgrounds.
The Models
RUDI (6 years old) – although his sad story begins with a car crash followed by an owner surrender situation, Rudi kept his great personality throughout! Full of energy, he loved to play catch, jump obstacles, and run everywhere during the photo session!
Bonus: As hard as choosing the “face of the shelter” is, some pups just know how to touch your heart. Rudi guaranteed his place by jumping nonstop in his kennel until I pet him. How could one resist, right?
MURUK AND VISIR (puppies) – playful, curious, cute, and the most adorable creatures in the whole world! Working with young dogs is not always easy, though, as I had to be extremely careful not to scare them with my big lens or sudden movements.
A small garden with flowers right in front of their kennels was just enough as they didn’t need much space to be photographed. Then getting down low was the key to capturing a good sense of scale in the photos.
