Week 4: Day 2

I have not had the chance to capture photos of another critter but I can imagine that it is not easy. Growing up, I had a pet rabbit at home and he wasn't the easiest thing to handle. Whenever I would try to pick him up he would begin hopping around his cage ( and sometimes liked to nibble on my finger). Applying this knowledge to photography, I feel that it would be difficult to photograph a rabbit because it would not be comfortable being held and something as large as the camera may be intimidating when coming toward it's face. I will be going to the shelter tomorrow (June 1st) to photograph the animals. I will compare how I think it would be to photograph a rabbit and how it really was!!

* The photographing of the small critters was harder then I thought. The picture below is the one I felt was of the best quality. In addition to photographing the rabbit I also tried photographing guinea pigs as well. Unfortunately those pictures did not come out clear, they appeared fuzzy :(

This is Roger rabbit ID # 72068

Week 4: Day 1

Over the past 2 weeks many of the animals I have been photographing have found homes. Those animals include Kimberly, Crystal, Cambria, Maui, Lolly LaLa, Florencia, and Buster. These animals had been in the shelter for less than 2 weeks.

Kimberly

Crystal

Cambria

Buster

Florencia

Lolly LaLa

Maui

Week 3: Day 4

Responsible pet ownership will vary depending on who you talk to. In my opinion responsible pet ownership entails knowing what your pet needs and being able to meet their needs, and not always putting yourself first. Responsible pet ownership also means knowing when you have an appropriate pet to fit your lifestyle. For example, someone who lives in a house without a yard should not have a large dog that needs multiple opportunities to run throughout the day. Responsible pet owners need to be able to show care and affection toward of their no matter what.
While at the Shelter with Bailey and Kayley we interviewed one of the volunteers about what it means to be a responsible pet owner. Below is a video of the volunteer's response
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8LNqLdCc8E&feature=youtu.be

Video curtousey of Bailey Redmond and and permission with interviewer Joanne Duna

May 24, 2012
I did not see anyone else at the shelter besides for workers so I decided to interview another person I knew who has a pet. In their opinion responsible pet ownership entails "The ability to maintain proper health for your pet, spend ample time with the animal, and to love your animal unconditionallly." (Branson Holt. Interviewed on May 26th,2012)

This is a photo that I took of my dog Gunner the day I adpoted him. This depicts responsible pet ownership because not only did we rescue him but we are also meeting his needs of having a safe (and secure) place that is his own.

Week 3: Day 3

At the WCAC owners are allowed to surrender their animals to the shelter if the owner can/will no longer care for the pet. While visiting on May 23 and 24 I came across quite a few animals with owner surrender sheets. The three I chose to photograph are Colonel Whiskas, Smokey, and, Shadow. One of the sheets said it was because they had to move from their current home into an apartment, another said they were no longer able to financially keep the dog, and another was that a medical situation arose within the owner and they were not physically able to take care of the pet anymore.

Photos curtesy of Brittany Jaked
May 27th 2012

Week 3: Day 2

I was surprised about the amount of animals that have found homes between one of my visits and the next visit. One thing I have noticed about the dogs though is that the pitbulls have stayed there the longest. If I were to give a rough estimate of how many new cats came into Room CA I would say that roughly 15 new cats were there from the last time I visited. Some of the ones that didn't leave were the older ones or the ones that were more timid and less vocal then the other cats in the room. I honestly thought that the animals would stay at the shelter longer then they do. When at the shelter I try to go through and find the animals that were there the last time I was and even if I don't photograph them I still enjoy giving them attention while I am there. I can't explain the amount of enjoyment I get when I see that some of the animals I visited with the previous time have gone home and now have a family to give them the attetion they need and deserve. Each time I leave there are always at least 3 pets I wish I could just take home with me.

This is a new photo of Colenel Whiskas.

I feel that 3 things that may make him less adoptable is his age, his size, and how friendly he is. Whiskas is an older cat, and because of his age sometimes he can seem to be grumpy.


photo courtesy of Brittany Jaked
May 23, 2012
location: WCAC

Week 3: Day 1

Above is one of the pictures that I took last week and feel that it has plenty of room from improvement.
1. The photo is dark. If the photo were lighter it would make it easier to see the features and details of the cat.
2. The cats ears were cut off. When photographing animals it is important to try and  capture their entire head. This leaves less up to the imagination.
3. You can't see the paws/feet/legs. It is easier to guess the size of an animal in the picture if you can see the entire body. In this photo I mainly only have the head and body.
There are some strengths that go along with this photo
1. There are no distractions going on in the photo. This allows you to focus in on the main purpose of the photo.
2. The cat is looking at the camera. When you have the animals attetion it allows for a more inviting photo and gives you more insight to the personality.
3. The catch lights are present, and could be adjusted as much as needed. Catch lights make the animal appear more friendly. The white light area that is enhanced in the eye makes the picture brighter and gives contrast.


As the visits progress I feel that I am getting better with using the camrera as well as getting the cats attention. I hope within the next few weeks I see significant increases in my pictures and their quality to make the animals more adoptable.

Week 2: Day 4

Before this post I had never really thought about where these animals come from. After thinking about it for a while I have come up with a few ideas. I feel that the animals at the shelter come from individuals who have recognized that they can no longer give the pet the attention and care that it needs, from individuals who wanted to use the animal for something other then a companion (money, fighting, etc.) or they come from individuals who have come across these animals in an unsafe and unattended environment but know that they can not provide the proper attention and care or do not have the time and space for additional pets that they had not planned for. Today  I spoke to a girl who was bringing her friends dog in because her friend was hired for a new job, and her new job does not allow for her to have enough time for the dog that she know she needs. This makes me feel happy and sad at the same time. I feel happy because she realized that the pet deserves more, and even though she loves the dog still she wants to make sure it recieve appropriate attention. It makes me feel sad because I know how hard it would before me to have to give my dog away, even after only having it for a few months.

This is the picture I am most proud of this week. I am proud of it because of the personality it captures in the picture and the colors that are illuminated. I used the vignette setting on photoshop to make the edges darker to draw the eye more toward the middle, on the cat and the details on her face.

A link to my PhotoBucket

http://s1064.photobucket.com/albums/u373/shotstosave/

Week 2: Day 3

Today's blog is based off of the lecture from thursday about meta-data. Basically, Meta-Data is what makes your pictures accessible. I feel that it is the profile for the pictures and tells you many important details about it. For this class Meta-Data could be used in many ways. According to dpBestFlow Meta-Data consists of Tags, Fields, Namespace, and Schema. Meta-Data is tied to a photo 3 different ways, through Automatic, Bulk, and Custom. One of the most important thing to remember abot Meta-Data is that the type you use depends on your intention, and how you apply the Meta-Data depends on your goal. You could use it to create a tag that goes along with the animals photo. This would allow for individuals to have an additional way to inform picture viewers of what has been captured. The most useful thing for this class would be the schema. I feel this way because you can put when you put the picture as well as the camera settings that were used at the time of the capture. Through this you can tag the owner of the photo as well.

Information about Meta-Data Accessed from http://dpbestflow.org/node/298
Date Accessed: May 19, 2012

Week 2: Day 2

Unfortunately I was not able to attend the shelter this week. I got the stomach bug. I am going to be meeting up with the Volunteer coordinator soon to set up my orientation and get the ball rolling with the photos.

ADD-ON:

This is a photo of Colonel Whiskas. Although he has not been in the shelter for 30 days (When I was there they were cleaning the cages and the area that had most of the older animals in them) I chose to capture a picture of this cat because the one on his tag was not very fitting to his personality, and he is an older cat (7 years). This photo improves the adoption potential because he almost appears to have a smile on his face and his ears are perked up. Colonel Whiskas ID number is 71368.

From the NOVA's Dogs Decoded video there were many interesting facts that I learned. One of the first things I was surprised about was the eye tracking technology that is used to link how closely dogs are in-tune with humans and their emotions and feelings . I did not realize that when humans are expressing their emotions their facial expressions are not symmetrical and that the left side of the face does not express it as same as the right side. No other animal has the same ability to communicate with humans! I feel that these things, and others described in the video do have an impact on the way I view the animals at the shelter. I feel this way, one, because when I walk into a room and look at the animals the noise typically elevates, but not in a scared way. The noise is more of a look at me way, especially with the dogs. When I walk through I also feel as if the barks change tone to a more "Look at me bark" vs. "Help I need something" bark. The second thing it makes me think about is the dogs ability to complete tasks similar to those of a 2 year old child's abilities. This was especially interesting for me because I am a child development major so it helped me to make the connection between two things that I enjoy.

Week 2: Day 1

On Monday May 14th, 2012 I visited the Wake County Animal shelter along with a few other classmates, as well as our teacher, to get more comfortable with the animals and using our cameras at the shelter. While at the shelter I experimented with photographing the cats as well as dogs. My friend Brittany and I decided to work as a team, this made our time at the shelter more effective and enjoyable. Having another person to enter the dog cages with you or to hold a wiggly kitten while you try to capture their personalities in one shot is very helpful, and reassuring. Last week while at the shelter there was a dog I saw, Sinatra, who caught my eye right off the bat. When returning to the shelter yesterday I decided that I wanted to get the chance to interact with this dog, and help to find him a new home. Thankfully, after searching through each dog area, I was informed that Sinatra had in fact been adopted which made me so happy.

After looking through the animals posted on the Wake County Shelter site, I felt that this one was very eye catching. It has plenty of potential to be a picture that fits the personality of the cat being photographed. 

Photo Courtesy of Wake County Animal Center

http://services.wakegov.com/adoptiongallery/

Photo retrieved on  May 15, 2012

This picture could be a picture that helps the cat to get adopted if there were just a few corrections made. The pros of this picture is that your attention is drawn to the cat (the focus) and the background of the image is not what you are first drawn to. In order to improve this photograph, and make it more visually appealing, one could adjust the highlights, and even insert a dodge layer. By adjusting the highlights of the photo it would also help to adjust the shadows, making this photo more visually appealing and not seem to be as washed out. The shadows and darkness (Dodge Layer) around the photo could help to draw your eye back to the cat (which is the focus of this photo). 

          

This is a photo I took at the animal shelter on Monday May 14th. This photo is a reflection of our class so far because of the catch lights in the eyes that I adjusted, the shadows and darkness around the edge of the photo (Dodge layer)  using photoshop. The focus of this picture is the cat, which is important because it draws your eye away from what is going on in the background and directs you to deciding if you feel that the pet in the picture is adoptable (in a personal opinion) or not.

Week 1: day 4

To adopt a pet there are different fees that apply for different situation. There are general pet fees that are different for cats and for dogs and after that the fees depend on if the pet has been altered or not. To adopt a dog it is $45 and to spay/neuter a dog it is $50. To adopt a cat the fee is $15 dollars and to get the cat spayed/neutered it is $30.

There are also Little Critters that can be adopted from the Wake County Animal Shelter, These fees are as follow: Bird adoption fee: $20.00, Ferret adoption fee: $45.00, Guinea Pig adoption fee: $15.00, Reptile adoption fee: $30.00, Rodent adoption fee: $10.00, and Rabbit adoption fee: $20.00

The wake county animal shelter can not give away the animals that they take in because of all the services that they provide for the animals before they are at an adoptable state of health. The individual(s) adopting the pets must also be able to demonstrate some sort of financial ability. By having a free adoption individuals coming in may also feel that the pet does not have as much of a value when they bring the pet home.

I did not post any pictures for this given day because I was not able to ask the given questions or to take any pictures  that depict it. Upon our return to the WCAS on Monday I plan to add this part of the blog in when I have the necessary pictures.

The majority of the information from this post was retrieved from
http://www.wakegov.com/pets/default.htm. 

Week 1: Day 3

Visiting the WCAS on Wednesday May 9th was an interesting experience for me. In the past I had only been to the SPCA of Wake County, and the environments are very different. When first walking in the WCAS I quickly picked up the scent of bleach (it smelled very clean), heard the barking of dogs from behind the closed door, but the colors made the environment more inviting. After going through the WCAS on our tour my eyes were opened up to a different perspective on things. The operation of a facility like this must be very rigid (as we were informed) to prevent the spread of disease.
After walking through the Cat and Animal holding areas I began to think about how they felt. I feel that it would be very hard to have to sit in a cage on a daily basis with minimal interactions with humans and no interaction with any other animals. The animals frequent barking and meowing is probably just an attempt to get the passerby's to stop and even take a peek at them in the cage.

Week 1: Day 2

The Camera I will be using for this course is a Nikon Coolpix point and shoot. The pros for my camera in terms of this class is the ease of use and ability to change the ISO, Flash Options, and other settings with just a few simple clicks, the small convenient size, and that it is very durable. A con of the camera I will be using is that the pictures that it takes, when the ISO is at its highest setting, appear blurry and have obvious digital noise. This camera is also difficult to use when the flash is not on, we have discovered that the flash has an impact on the clarity of the pictures the camera takes as well as how focused the camera is.
I hope that there will be many opportunities for me to use my sisters Cannon DSLR camera that she has. By doing this I will also be able to become more comfortable with both types of cameras.

Week One: Introduction

My name is Brittany Jaked. I am a Child Development major and working toward my Birth through Kindergarten teaching license. I will be graduating in May 2013. 

I signed up for this course to meet the gen-ed requirements, and I wanted to ensure that when I took my Arts & Aesthetics course it would be a rewarding course and something I was able to enjoy. 

From this course I hope to gain a better understanding of editing photos appropriately (especially for the web) as well as to gain a better understanding of what the Wake County Animal Shelter does to improve our community.

I am really looking forward to being able to look back at my progress of the photos I take early on during the course compared to the last week of the course. By doing this it will allow me to have physical evidence of my understanding about how to use Adobe Photoshop. 

Currently, the only thing I am intimidated about is going to the shelter and remembering that I am there to help save the animals, and that saving them does not mean I have to take them all home.
This is the 2nd online course that I am taking. Last Summer (2011) I took Psychology 312- Psych of Exceptional Individuals. 
From this course I expect for it to require a decent amount of time and effort to successfully complete the tasks. Part of the reason I chose to take this online course is because of the flexibility with my schedule. I will be babysitting this summer, and with babysitting schedules comes sudden changes in plans and the need to be more readily available. Another reason this course was appealing to me is because it does not require us to meet face to face on a daily basis which is nice because I would not be able to commute from my home to Meredith on a daily basis.  
I am really looking forward to the outcome of this class in terms of volunteering with the Wake County Animal Shelter. Ever since I was a little kid I have always had a big heart for animals, but sadly I can not take all the dogs home with me. By doing this it is giving me a way to help the animals in a way that will benefit the dogs as well as myself. 
I currently have 1 dog that is mine, but growing up I remember having a dog (or animal since I was about 6 years old). My first dog that I had in my home was a tan Pug, Neiko. Over the years I have had many animals in between, and the last dog I had, Snickers, I unfortunately had to rehome after my mom got sick and having 2 large dogs in our house was not possible. 
By taking this course my goal is to help the animals out, and hopefully help my friends and family to gain insight to the benefits of rescuing animals rather then going through a breeder, and that you should spay and neuter your pets.