Can mean life or death to these furry friends
The cats and dogs at St. Charles Animal Control are looking better than ever thanks to new photographs taken in the hopes of drawing in adopters.
Nanette Martin, co-founder and photographer for Shelter-Me Photography LLC, donated hours of her time and paid for her own travel expenses to take the pictures for free.
Animal Control Director Angie Robert said that the pictures have really helped increase adoptions in the parish.
“How can they not help? People see them and they absolutely help,” Robert said. “I wish I could do this every single week for our animals.”
During each trip to St. Charles, Martin photographs about 140 furry four-legged friends looking their best to help get them into good homes.
“She takes pictures of every single animal in the shelter,” Robert said.
Martin, a photographer from Boulder, Colo., first got the idea to photograph shelter animals while working on a documentary in the greater New Orleans area after Katrina.
“The first trip (to New Orleans), I saw a lot of dogs swimming in the water, stranded and needing help,” she said. “I started photographing shelters after that and it just continued because rescuers were saying that my pictures were making a difference between life and death for a lot of the dogs.”
She co-founded the 501(c)3 non-profit organization Shelter-Me Photography LLC in 2009.
“I just ran out of money and energy so we formed a non-profit with a mission to provide professional photography services at no cost to pet adoption agencies in an effort to increase adoptions,” she said.
Now Martin tries to make four trips to the area each year, photographing as many shelters as she can.
She hopes that many of the shelters will apply for grants to help offset her travel expenses until she can expand her business.
“Our goal is to hire and pay professional photographers that we train to photograph shelters in their regions,” she said. “We want to ultimately be in all 50 states with photographers providing regular service to shelters.
“In my opinion, if we can provide a regular service, we stand a chance of helping shelters become sustainable by increasing their adoption rates and decreasing euthanasia, but we’ve got a ways to go.”
In the meantime, she visits as many shelters as she can.
She plans to return for a photo shoot with St. Charles animals during the winter.
To learn more about Shelter-Me Photography or to make a pledge to help save shelter animals, visit www.sheltermephotography.org. See pictures from the St. Charles Animal Shelter on the Shelter-Me Photography page at www.facebook.com/ShelterMePhoto.
See the parish pets of the week on YouTube at youtube.com/stcharlesgov or on Government Access Channel Cox Cable 6 in St. Charles Parish. For adoption information, call (985)783-5010.
The St. Charles Parish Animal Shelter’s hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. It is located under the Luling Bridge on the West Bank.
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