Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MURRAY — A Humane Society of Utah photographer took a unique approach to showcase the personalities of the dogs at the shelter and the photos have since gone viral.
Guinnevere Shuster has been the social media coordinator and photographer for the Humane Society of Utah since 2013. Shuster said she wanted to use a different approach to draw attention to the animals at the Humane Society of Utah, so in June, she started doing photography sessions with the dogs, creating images similar to a photo booth.
“We are just always trying to come up with different ways to show the animals and attract people down to the shelter, if you will, to adopt,” Shuster said. “You really kind of see the personality of the dog. They are much more playful and happy. Not just behind the bars, looking sad.”
Humane Society of Utah director of communications Deann Shepherd said there is a stereotype that shelter animals are dangerous or unwanted and the photo campaign was a good way to dispel some of the common misconceptions.
“A lot of the animals that come to shelter, they don’t come here because they are bad animals necessarily, the owners just aren’t able to take care of them for whatever reason,” Shepherd said.
Shuster said she would use props, treats and noise-making toys during the photo shoots with the dogs and create a collage with four photos that captured the animal’s personality. Since June 2014, she’s done around 75 portraits of different dogs at the Humane Society.
Shepherd said that, in the past, a typical photo included either a full-body shot or simple headshot for each animal in their kennels at the shelter.
Due to the unique and fun composition, Shuster’s images eventually went viral and were featured on several national outlets, including the Huffington Post, My Modern Met and ABC News.
Shepherd said there has been an increase in adoptions from the Humane Society of Utah, although it can’t be entirely attributed to the photos. However, she said several of the dogs were adopted within 24 hours of people seeing the photos on Facebook.
The Humane Society of Utah placed a record number of animals in 2014 with 10,481 adoptions and Shepherd said they plan to place even more animals in 2015. From January to March, 800 animals were transferred to the Humane Society and Shepherd said they have already had 2,658 adoptions in 2015.
Contributing: Ashley Kewish
