The Rachael Ray™ Nutrish™ #ShelterCatsAreBeautiful Tour Came To Michigan And I Was There! Part One

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Rachael Ray Nutrish.   As always, thank you for reading and supporting our sponsors.

Back on July 29th I blogged about the Shelter Cats Are Beautiful tour that  kicked off with an event in New York City on July 11.

Sixteen cities. One goal —

To capture the TRUE BEAUTY of shelter cats

Millions of cats enter shelters every year, where they're often quickly put into cages. They're scared, confused and sometimes even dirty. A photo is snapped and then quickly shared, to be seen by people looking to adopt. Unfortunately, these photos don't always capture the full beauty and personality of the cats. That's why Rachael Ray™ Nutrish™ is proud to partner with GreaterGood.org® and One Picture Saves a Life™. Together, they traveled across the country taking photos worthy of these loving cats who are simply looking for a second chance.

 The The Shelter Cats Are Beautiful Tour!!

Rachael Ray Nutrish  took the “Shelter Cats areBeautiful” tour to 16 cities

across the country and offered professional grooming and photography services to

capture the full beauty and personality of cats in need of adoption. The

program  provided shelters with the necessary tips, tools and equipment

to groom and capture the best possible photographs of shelter pets in the future.

This program helped celebrate the launch of Rachael Ray Nutrish‘s new line of

natural food for cats, which is now available in stores nationwide. Rachael is

dedicated to helping animals in need and donates her proceeds from the sale

of Rachael Ray Nutrish to help animal support organizations, which has resulted

in more than $6.5 million in donations to date.

  Friends For The Dearborn Animal Shelter, in Dearborn, Michigan was one of the last stops on the tour. I have been working with them for the past few years helping to promote their adoption events, and when I heard that the Shelter Cats Are Beautiful Tour was going to be stopping there on September 13th, it was a no-brainer that I would attend! I brought my husband with me and he enjoyed it as much as I did.

This was a poster in the room where the session was held

The session was conducted by Miranda Hay who was warm and caring with the cats, knowledgeable, professional and fabulous! I recently contacted Miranda asking her to tell you in HER words how photographing shelter pets became a passion,  and she graciously obliged (at the last minute no less! Thank you Miranda!). The story behind how Miranda began photographing shelter animals is amazing, and I wanted to share that with you.

Miranda Hay and soon-to-be groomed
shelter resident, "Linc"
at Friends For The Dearborn Animal Shelter
Shelter Cats Are Beautiful tour

From Miranda Hay:

Full time I am a flight nurse and I am passionate about helping people when they are sick or injured, but I also have a  strong passion and desire to help animals.

 I started in animal welfare in 2008 when my small rural community in southwestern Indiana began to form their  first Humane Society. I started out as  the Fundraising Coordinator, and after the shelter opened in 2009 I found myself taking on more roles. I became the Volunteer Coordinator, PR/Marketing and Social media Coordinator, board Member, event and community outreach coordinator and became the board President in 2011.

Our shelter was fortunate to become a part of the PetSmart Charities Rescue Waggin' in 2010 which allowed is to send 40% of our dog/puppies population to partner shelters in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Through this program we were able to never  euthanize for space or time again. The training and education I received from PetSmart Charities, networking, reading and educating myself about the world of animal sheltering always left me hungry for more. I wanted to  improve our organization, and be the best small shelter we could be. We grew our adoption program and participated in four PetSmart National Adoption events per year with 3 other local shelters, and averaged 125-175 adoptions in a weekend.

Photo Courtesy of Miranda Hay

 Our success grew and grew and it was because of one reason...Marketing. I will say it until I am blue in the face. We are actually "selling" something and what we are selling actually means life or death.

Why do most small shelters lack knowledge in reference to marketing? 

There are several reasons:

lack of funds, experience, training and many more. I embarked on the path of  teaching myself how to market our animals in the best way possible. First, by providing excellent customer service, second, creating a  logo and brand, and third by utilizing social media to the best of my ability.

Photo Courtesy of Miranda Hay

Miranda's most recent photo
of a shelter dog
from a shoot this past weekend

As I grew our Facebook page, I wanted more. I wanted amazing, professional pictures of our adoptable animals that would catch people's attention on social Media and website searches.

  I bought a DSL camera and I researched pet photography and I bought every book on the market. I took a photography class at a local shop,  and a second one at a local college. While  I learned a lot about my camera and how to take pictures of people and objects, no one could tell me how to take pictures of dogs and cats, especially how to photograph them in  a dark shelter, and quickly, so I could photograph 20-30 animals a day.  I was frustrated..

Photo Courtesy of Miranda Hay
On the right is Seth Casteel, photographer On the left is the groomer Jorge Benderski from One Picture Saves A Life

 I attended the HSUS Expo in Nashville in May of 2013 and there I met Seth Casteel and the One Picture Saves a Life team. I knew of his work with Underwater Dogs and his work with shelter pets from my research in pet photography. He was gracious enough to look at some of my pictures and in 5 minutes he gave me all the tips and pointers I had been looking for!

 I went back to the hotel, watched his online tutorial videos and signed up for the workshop in August in Chicago. On my way home I stopped and bought a 50 mm lens and the rest is history! 

I am absolutely in love  with shelter photography  and I love to see how much my pictures make an impact on pets getting adopted, (and very quickly) all because we are marketing them in a positive way!! I was honored to be asked by the GreaterGood.org, Rachel Ray Nutrish and One Picture Saves a Life to join the tour and teach others to take amazing pictures.

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Before the Shelter pets can be photographed, they must be groomed. A pet that looks it's best BEFORE being photographed, will look that much better once they are photographed!

PART TWO of The Rachael Ray™ Nutrish™ #ShelterCatsAreBeautiful Tour at  Friends For The Dearborn Animal Shelter, with  grooming and photography tips that were provided by Miranda Hay,  will appear this Wednesday, October 1st! You won't want to miss it!