Online Exhibition

Holly Susan Demyan

Graphic Design

Junior

Upon entering this course I was looking forward to having an excuse to go to the shelters and cuddle with all the different critters big and small as well as learning more about my camera. As I look back on my experience I am appreciative of the new knowledge I gained from volunteering at the shelter. Knowledge on how to properly handle animals in a shelter and how often the animals fall susceptible to disease and in turn, euthanization. I struggle with resizing my photos and navigation through photoshop but this course has helped me gain more practice, preparing me for my upcoming design courses next semester. 

Although I learned a lot from about how to handle my camera and the animals I was not expecting to learn how frequent animal turn around is with in the government based shelters and that the SPCA is privately owned, hand picking animals from the government shelters. All of this new information has made me consider where to look for my next new addition and has given me the extra motivation to encourage my friends and family to adopt opposed to breeding.I think that our photography over these few weeks will have a great impact on the animals in the shelter. I would love to be able to come in every so often to photograph some the animals for their online photos. With out good online portraits, those seeking a new pet might not be drawn in to visit the animal at the shelter or if they are farther away from the specific shelter they do not want to make a trip for an animal they can barely see because the cage is blocking the face. 

This is Bingo. It was little blurry therefor he never made it to my final images files. I love the photo because it reminds me of how much fun I had playing with him. He was so happy that it was difficult to get a clear shot. So I gave up on the picture and just gave him lots of love. I think he could be a great example of how loving and appreciative shelter dogs are.

"The Cruelty in Cuteness"

Being an adoptive pet owner myself, I believe that animal overpopulation can be seen as a form of negligence from the pet owner. When animals are not fixed because the owner wants to keep them intact for future breeding purposes this could end in poor health for the pet and the pet can now still run off and with any other stray create a litter. More than likely at least one will end up in a shelter.

Little Aimo couldnt get enough of the camera

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The overpopulation of cats seems to be more prevalent than dogs simply because that is more of what we see on the streets. Dogs I feel like suffer over breeding due to owners trying to create pure breed puppies where cats are so independent that most owners don't really worry about them being outside and running off.

First picture of the experience: little practice kitten from day one.

Therefor the WCAS brings in baskets of kittens almost daily, and puppies tend to be a weekly or bi-weekly event! It is sad knowing that most of these animals will not be adopted. With there only being so much space a government funded shelter has to offer, the more kittens and puppies brought in, the quicker the older animals will be euthanized simply because the shelter has no room to give.

Not sure where Zachary Binx went but isn't he handsome!

I would imagine that this could be very frustrating for he long term volunteers that work hard to keep the animals safe and healthy but as soon as a group of young kids come in wanting to handle everything with out the proper gown and gloves disease can spread like wild fire and before you know it there are 30 cats being euthanized.
I think the society today does not really take notice to animal over population. Sure the usual individual will cringe when they see a cat laying on the side of the road and maybe get a little emotional when it is a dog on the road. But most are not informed of the bigger issue. Shelters now require your pet to be spayed or neutered upon leaving the shelter.

I love how Vincent teased the my camera

No animal shall have their "equipment" if they have walked through animal shelter doors. It is however still difficult for government funded shelter to keep up sometime.

St. Tibbs reminded me of a little grey fox

When I adopted Oz he had not been neutered and when I picked him up the shelter was so busy and hectic that they did not realize he still hadn't been fixed.

Its obvious why the shelter named this little guy Sylvester

If I was a negligent owner I would have lost Oz or let him run off and there is no telling what he would of gotten into. However, I called the shelter after wards and they fixed him for free when I brought him back. Without proper research I cant think of any better solution than to have your pets spayed and neutered. Men hate to have their male dogs fixed because they think they understand what the dog is going through, but in reality the animal will thank you in the long run because not being fixed, especially for male animals, can lead to many health issues in the future.

Lala Orange had such a beautiful color coat and eyes. Perfect for anyone looking for a sweet and loving girl

Getting your dog or cat fixed might help combat their overpopulation but the little animals suffer over breeding due to lack of knowledge about the species. Anytime a male ad female rodent are together past the age of two months they are capable of breeding. Then what was a cute little pet for your preteen is now multiplied by ten.

"Overpopulation is not just for the big animals" says Curious

Chicago is beautiful and reminded me of my Fred-Weezy when he was a baby

So the only other concern I could say on the issue is that pet owners become well acquainted with the breed of animal and species so that they can better assist the new cuddly addition in their home.    

Streaker's first portrait was taken by Chris and about a week later he was on deposit and took this wonderful farewell portrait!

Volunteering Hopes

Although I have enjoyed my weekly visits to the shelter. It is unlikely the I will be able to continue volunteering.I will however still continue to visit the various shelters in the triangle to cuddle with the animals. I will take with me the knowledge I learned from volunteering about how important following the rules are at a shelter and continue to encourage my friends to adopt their pets.

Ducky

Collaborating for Healthier Happier Pets

Upon adopting my first pet I did not know how to properly care for him in certain aspects, me being only 18 years old. I propose to collaborate with volunteer and other WCA shelter workers to create informational videos for the new pet owner. Such as how to give a cat versus a dog their personal medications, flea medication, how to bathe a dog, even how to get rid of fleas on a cat! There can even be more simple instructions, such as how to trim your pets nails, teach them to sit, or walk on a leash. Anything that could help the new pet owner. I think by using short informational films such as these more people will be drawn not only to the site but it will act as a quick reference on how to care for the pet they adopted from WCAS.
I would be the artist working on the project or any volunteers at the shelter willing to video. I would imagine that some of the processes would have to be performed by one of the veterinarians, possibly. The taping would have to take place at scheduled times that the service would be necessary for the animal.Such as when the shelter is giving the animals nail trims or their flea medication. Which is included in the pet fee but the video for how to do it would be helpful for the owner in the future. After the videos are made I could upload them and add ending credits, recognizing the shelter and animal. Then I would email them to Amanda to upload to the website.
Below are videos I found via youtube.com:


How to Trim Your Cat's Claws with Dr. Christianne Schelling
Veternaran Christianne Schelling and Charlie the cat (id 00000)
http://youtu.be/5YLDQMvskH8
Uploaded to youtube.com by softpawsnailcaps

How to Trim Your Dog's Nails by Howcast.com
http://youtu.be/66Uhv6179bU
Uploaded to youtube.com by howcast

Positive Impacts

When sorting through the photos of the WCAS animal shelter there are more portraits of the animals that are brief snapshots taken as soon as they are brought into the shelter. I think that by individuals coming in to take portraits of the animals helps the animals get adopted quicker. Being the mother of three pets, two of them are shelter babies. Both times I have decided to find a pet I have surfed several sites and been more interested in the animals that had pictures that showed how beautiful they were as well as their personalities. 

WCAS online photo of Dean

Dean Photo by Holly Demyan

Above is a photo from last week's bunch of Dean. Dean is a 3 year old handsome young man that I had woken up from his sleep. I think that his new photo will show the prospective pet owner what beautiful green eyes he has, where before his eyes are closed.  His body language says that he is a mellow loving boy waiting for you to take him home so that he can continue his rest on your couch!
As an artist I find my creativity to be helpful when choosing what photo suites the animal best. What is the composition? Is it visually appealing? Is it balanced? After choosing what photo will enhance the animals features best we then are able to pick out the flaws such as lighting in certain areas or the sharpness of the image. Color correcting the eyes, burning , and dodging can be simple exercises but it is our responsibility as visual artists to be able to know whether or not the photo is becoming over exposed or not enough. This benefits us by allowing us to perfect our portraits of the animals, giving them a greater chance of being noticed on the web.

Bonnie's eyes were brightened and color corrected. Her head was brought a little more into focus by adjusting the forced depth of field. I also applied a shadow around the rims to add drama to her portrait.

Tangerine's eyes look as if they are a crinkled metalic blue-green foil. I brightened the eyes to bring this and made a creative decision to not color correct the eyes because the way they are really shows how many colors he actually has in them.

I think by collaborating with AIGA the shelter would benefit greatly by their creative ideas for ways to better advertise the animals. By using other forms of media such as fliers and newsletters the animals are getting their beautiful portraits out there for everyone to see. Maybe someone who didn't think about going to the shelter to find their child a small animal but just so happened to see the flier at the local gas station. Soon Mother and child are taking home little critters like 5 year old Daisy to offer her a better home than maybe her previous owner could afford.

Daisy Bunny

By having an entire association with a wide range of creative ideas assist in the promotion of these little guys it is possible that more people will think twice about finding an expensive pure breed, and instead help out a homeless animal. Or at least be more knowledgeable of these pets behind bars such as Apple Dumplin. A sweet little girl with lots of unknown personality!

Apple Dumplin couldn't stop rubbing on her, the floor, and my hand! What a loving little girl!

Practice and Experience

The most valuable information I have obtained from this course is forced depth of field. I found it very useful throughout the rest of the course. I enjoyed the online lectures where Dr. Johnstone was able to show us step by step on the computer with her voice. I have had other online courses that only used a book and blackboard and they were not nearly as informative as this class has been. I took the course hoping to continue practicing with photoshopp during the summer and to learn more about the shelter and its practices. By continuing to practice in photoshopp over the summer I hope that it will help me out in the long run with my future classes. I have become quicker with my tools and navigation of the program. Knowing what size photos are appropriate for the web will help me in the future as I continue to modify and build my fathers website for his own business.
By having other students post to my blogs I have taken healthy criticism and tried to apply it with each new portrait. Ive enjoyed going into the shelter these last couple weeks to see many of our animals adopted and their pictures improved! I do wish I would of had more time to spend at the shelter. However, I am glad I was able to take the course this summer it has been a great experience.

Melinda; with information and the extra practiced I have dodged Melinda's eyes and burned the pupils. Then going back in I brought back out her catch lights. Before her pupils had too much reflection from the camera that they seemed gray or blurry so by darkening them a little I feel like it makes her beautiful two tone irises really pop! Also, I burned around her neck in certain places so that her head would not blend into her body so much.

 

 

 

 

 

Week 4

Here are my photos from this week.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115349954098816350467/WCAS_6_2_2011#

Also I noticed I did not share my link from last weeks group of photos.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115349954098816350467/WCAS_5_27_11#