Volunteering to take photographs in Animal Shelters (UK)...

[GabrielleSapphira]

Hi!

I was wondering how to approach animal shelters and offer taking some photographs. I don't know if I'm definitely going to do it yet. I'm a student (have a lot of free time... until my coursework starts anyway ) and I was thinking of volunteering. I am by no means a professional and I don't think my photography is anything special, but I want to improve what I currently have, and if I can help some animals get adopted, it's more than a bonus. I love animals, and I hate that so many get put down!

I'm not particularly confident, and I'm shy when it comes to things like putting myself out there, but I know I have to in order to get better. If you want a look at some of my stuff, here's my flickr:

Flickr: ConfessionsOfMyCamera's Photostream

So, how would you do it?

Equipment:
Nikkor 50mm f1.8 (Manual focus only because I have Nikon D60)
18-55mm kit lens
Nikkor 18-200mm

[douglas]

Shelters generally will welcome you...anything to get animals adopted into goo homes .Lokk at meejoebee'sphotostream on flickr
Flickr: meejoebee's Photostream

[karen_s]

Good for you. I kinda want to do the same should the opportunity arise. (Our local shelter already has a "photographer" so I'm just waiting it out.)

Anyway, my suggestion is to practice taking pictures of your friends pets (especially in lower light and maybe with a flash) and get a small portfolio put together of 5-10 of your best shots. (I doubt it needs to be anything fancy, just something to show you are capable.) Once you have a few samples to share, go to the shelter with your shots and ask about volunteering as a photographer. Share your passion for animals and how you feel your photography can help them. I agree with Doug that most shelters would welcome the help.

You might try contacting the forum member who posted this. They do what you want to do and might have some good pointers ...

Adoptable fuzzies

And I just took a quick look at you flickr, and I think your shots are pretty darn good.

Good Luck!

[SusanH1970]

I do this for our local Animal Center (not a shelter, but an organization of people who foster animals without homes). I adopted all three of our cats from them and had noticed that the photos they were using on their site and printed materials could be better. I just told them I was a photographer and that I'd love to help them out by taking quality photos of their adoptable animals (mostly cats and kittens). They jumped at my offer and we've been working together for a couple of months now. They're also wonderful about giving me credit and using my watermarked photos on their site. I have a bunch of cat/kitten shots on my Flickr (in my siggy) if you care to have a look.

No harm in offering, go for it! To keep my costs down, I just burn them two CD's - one full-res for print, and one low-res and watermarked for online use.

ETA: I'd forgotten I posted a thread about this, here.

[GabrielleSapphira]

Originally Posted by karen_s

Anyway, my suggestion is to practice taking pictures of your friends pets (especially in lower light and maybe with a flash) and get a small portfolio put together of 5-10 of your best shots. (I doubt it needs to be anything fancy, just something to show you are capable.) Once you have a few samples to share, go to the shelter with your shots and ask about volunteering as a photographer. Share your passion for animals and how you feel your photography can help them. I agree with Doug that most shelters would welcome the help.

You might try contacting the forum member who posted this. They do what you want to do and might have some good pointers ...

Adoptable fuzzies

And I just took a quick look at you flickr, and I think your shots are pretty darn good.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the suggestion! I had a look and I love the photos, so I may message her to see how she started. Also, thanks for the compliment, I still don't think they're as good as you think! I love your animal photos as well

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

I do this for our local Animal Center (not a shelter, but an organization of people who foster animals without homes). I adopted all three of our cats from them and had noticed that the photos they were using on their site and printed materials could be better. I just told them I was a photographer and that I'd love to help them out by taking quality photos of their adoptable animals (mostly cats and kittens). They jumped at my offer and we've been working together for a couple of months now. They're also wonderful about giving me credit and using my watermarked photos on their site. I have a bunch of cat/kitten shots on my Flickr (in my siggy) if you care to have a look.

No harm in offering, go for it! To keep my costs down, I just burn them two CD's - one full-res for print, and one low-res and watermarked for online use.

ETA: I'd forgotten I posted a thread about this, here.

I think I will have to push myself and just go and ask, but as Karen_S suggested, I think I'll try to bug my friends to let me take pictures of their pets. Although, I don't have many friends that have pets... I was just wondering whether you just give them the CDs with the images and then they do what they want with it, or do you help them with the files? (In terms of putting them on the internet and so forth). And how low do you go for low-res?

Originally Posted by douglas

Shelters generally will welcome you...anything to get animals adopted into goo homes .Lokk at meejoebee'sphotostream on flickr
Flickr: meejoebee's Photostream

I hope they'll accept me! I plan on advertising the animals on my blog and flickr to get the animals more exposure, so I hope I won't get rejected because I'm still an amateur... and the images on meejoebee's flickr makes me want to take good photographs! I may ask them how they got into it for some advice

Thanks for all of the replies so far!