October 29, 2009

puppy love

you might remember back in our august catalog, we featured animals from the philadelphia animal welfare society (P.A.W.S.) in several of the photos. well, one of our facebook fans, rachel, saw this and told us about a really amazing project that she was working on as her bfa thesis.

read on to hear more about rachel’s project and see some of her beautiful photos of the absolutely adorable animals…and tell me it doesn’t make you want to go adopt one!

chewie

what inspired you to do start the 4 to 5 million project?
from an early age i grew up aware that there was a serious problem pertaining to the overpopulation of pets in the US. this project stemmed from a passionate desire to communicate my concerns and love for these animals and while doing so, use photography to help inform the public about this heartbreaking and serious problem.

suzy q

what does 4 to 5 million mean?
every year approximately four to five million companion animals are euthanized. that amounts to 64% of all shelter animals around the country. the fact of the matter is, there are just too many pets and not enough homes.

rosie & sparky

how successful has the project been so far?
the project was extremely successful. it gained a lot of press for the shelters as well as for the specific dogs i featured in my photographs. the majority of which i have since been informed have found happy and loving homes. it also has provided people with new knowledge on this issue and with a variety of simple things that they can do to help.

taylor

who are your heroes?
the heroes who have had the greatest influence on who i am today are my parents. my father, a veterinarian and my mother, an artist, have too obviously, played a part on what i see through my lens.

zerbina

do you have a pet?
i have many pets, always have, always will, all of which were rescues! my house currently is home to two rescue chihuahua mixes and a terrier mix named mickey, as well as two cats, a tuxedo named tux and a calico, feather.

bocephus

what is your first memory of free people?
i first heard of free people when a model who participated in my project, saw your post about philly P.A.W.S. your plan to photograph the shelter animals with models was so similar to what i was doing that she passed on the video post to me. i admire that there are other people out there who are trying to do their part in helping spread the word about this problem. thank you free people!

Check out rachel’s website and blog to find out more about the project and see which animals have found happy homes thanks to rachel’s work!

thanks so much for sharing, rachel :)

• Posted by fp julia on October 29, 2009 12:43 PM
• Permalink