"The Ruff Sessions: Portraits of Beautiful Beasts" was created to bring attention to the plight of larger dogs in the Los Angeles Animal Services shelters who are often passed over for smaller dogs when it comes to adoptions.

The reasons are not easy to solve and I don't pretend to have answers. But there are many restrictions on breeds and sizes of dogs that are allowed to live in rented housing by landlords and management companies. Dogs over a certain weight limit are often banned from living in apartments or rented housing.  

Often, the dogs are returned for "not working out" in the adopters' lifestyles. As one example, the shelters are crammed with beautiful huskies that are simply not adapted to Southern California hot-weather lifestyle along with their needs for stimulation and their vocalizations. 

In doing this project, I wanted to convey the dignity of these dogs. I wanted to treat them as the extraordinary beings that they are. I wanted people to see them and feel them and be moved to help them. Adopt them, if possible, or to volunteer at the shelters where you can comfort them and walk them and ease the stress of shelter life. If you can't handle direct contact with the dogs, there are other ways to help, like volunteering when they have loads of food come for distribution. 

Los Angeles (and I'm not forgetting about you, surrounding communities), we are in a crisis. Yes, the world is on fire and there are so many things to be concerned about. I hope you can find a way to bring safety and love and companionship to these beautiful beasts. 

These dogs are all adoptable, all at the Los Angeles East Valley Animal Shelter on Vanowen Street in Van Nuys. 

I want to thank the staff and volunteers at East Valley for making these shoots fun and easy. You guys rock and are doing good work, the best work, and I appreciate you. Thank you.

Oh, finally! The faces of these dogs were picked mostly for not smiling, I want to stress that. I have other images of them with their big, meaty mouths in a toothy, maybe slobbery grin... but that wasn't the look I was going for. So don't take their somber countenance as an unworthy dog. They are worthy.