Animals have feelings, dignity, character, and nobility. They deserve to be treated — and photographed — with the same respect we show to humans.
That’s what I tried to achieve with my animal photography. I spent four years working for the Westchester, NY, SPCA, doing adoption portraits for their animals. I am glad to say that they told me repeatedly that my portraits helped find new homes for these animals.
Just as a matter of interest, the white dog ended up at the SPCA four times through no fault of his own. He had a series of families who died, or became incapacitated, or moved away and could not take him. He was deeply philosophical during his portrait session, but someone saw this picture, and he finally found a permanent home.
The orange and white dog had only one eye. Based on this picture, someone drove from Pittsburgh to adopt him.
The cocker spaniel with the pink ribbon had cataracts and was blind. Based on this picture, someone adopted her and paid for an operation so that she could recover her sight.
The pictures were all taken with Leica R-8 and R-9 cameras with DMR backs, using 50mm, 80mm, 90mm, and 180mm Summilux and Summicron lenses.