A Year Later: A Dream Come True

I've always loved animals. In fact, I've never had less than two at once in my house, sometimes, as many as four. All of my family's pets have been adopted from shelters, so I've been passionate about rescue my entire life. When I first started photography, I considered the idea of reaching out to local shelters and asking if I could photograph their adoptable animals. And I did. But...between the constant level of overworked and understaffed that most rescue groups are, and the fact that the emails were coming from an 11 year old, none responded.

Last May, that changed. I went to a "Kitten Shower" hosted by my local Humane Society. They had some of their youngest kittens and were having a kitten party to raise donations and supplies. I'd reached out earlier that day through their social media to ask if I could bring my camera and capture a few images of the cats interacting with the guests and each other. They said that would be fine, and I loved getting to photograph those tiny kittens. As I was leaving, one of the volunteers asked if she'd seen me on the news-I'd been interviewed about my Suffs experience, where I'd actually mentioned that next goal was to photograph shelter animals. Turns out, she was the same woman who'd allowed me to bring my camera that evening! I brought up volunteering, and while I was younger than most volunteers, she said she'd see what she could do. I was thrilled!

She reached out the next morning, and sent me an application-including a requirement for my mom to chaperone as well as get the animals from thheir crates for safety reasons. A few days later, Elizabeth, the volunteer coordinator, emailed me and offered me the (volunteer) job! When I tell you I squealed-I squealed. The next week, on June 12, one year ago yesterday, I went into thhe shelter and explained that I was a photo volunteer. Elizabeth gave me my first subject, Shalimar. He was a sweet, adorable, wild pit bull mix puppy. I took him outside to one of the Humane Society's "Henry's Houses", which have little fenced yards, where I let Shalimar safely run free. I threw tennis balls, bribed him with treats to sit and pose, and took photos of him running and playing. The next day I sent my images to Shana, the amzing adoption specialist I now check in with weekly.

Since then, I've photographed well over 200 animals, and had so much fun. I can't fully articulate how much this means to me. Getting to help shelter pets get adopted has always been a dream of mine, and getting to specifically use photography to do that-it's incredible. This passion project is so important to me.

When we adopted Blizzy, my sweet husky, it was partially because we first saw her photo on the shelter's website, and so I'll always be grateful for that photographer, for catching our eyes with Blizzy looking so mischievious and cute. I wanted to do that.

I wanted to use my talents to help these beautiful animals find loving homes-and thankfully, for the last year, that's what I've done.

Thank you to everyone who made this possible, and thank you, especially, to all the kind volunteers and staff at the Lexington Humane Society. One thing I've learned over the past year is how many it takes to help shelter animals find loving homes, and how tirelessly they work. I've watched shelter staff and volunteers fight for the creatures in their care, I've seen them get emotional over animals with sad stories, and I've watched them cheer when long term residents find forever homes. I've watched them tackle the less glamorous parts of animal rescue-cleaning crates, walking dogs in poor weather, treating illness-and I've watched them give treats and belly rubs and love the adoptable animals as they likely do their own pets. I'm so thankful to get to know so many of those wonderful people and to be the tiniest part of that very important work. Thank you all for making this experience what it is.