Kelly Frankenburg specializes in newborn and infant photography at her home-based studio, 11 Sixteen Photography, in Richmond, Virginia. Usually those newborns are human, but when she started fostering a rescued Chihuahua and her 3 puppies, she knew a photo shoot was in order.
Frankenburg and her family recently started fostering for Richmond Animal Care And Control. When she brought mama Paris and her three 2-week-old puppies home to foster, she knew she wanted to take professional pictures of them to help get them adopted. She told us:
“My hope with these pictures is to get these puppies great homes, but in addition to that I want to raise awareness for animals in shelters and also the need for foster families for shelter animals.”
She used a heater to keep the babies warm, and their mama was relaxed enough to go take a nap during the bulk of the photo shoot.
All three puppies are boys. Tito is the smallest and lightest in color. Frankenburg’s 9-year-old son named Messi after his favorite soccer player. Her 5-year-old daughter named the largest, darkest one Love Bug.
Frankenburg and her husband decided to foster specifically so that they could help more dogs than they could by just adopting. They’ve made sure their kids understand that the puppies won’t be staying forever.
“While the kids will probably be a little sad when they go to their forever homes, I’ve been explaining to them that we are able to help more animals through fostering. Our job is to give them a safe place to grow.”
Mama dog Paris is a little shy, so the Frankenburgs are working on socializing her so that she’ll be easier to adopt once the puppies are weaned at 8 weeks.
Frankenburg has decided that she will take pictures of every dog she fosters in the hopes of helping them find permanent homes. She continued:
“I’m also going to donate my time to go to the shelters to photograph animals there who need some great shots for their adoption profiles. The pictures of their faces in those cages breaks my heart. This is such a simple thing for me to do and it will make a huge difference in how potential adopters view them.”
Frankenburg encourages people to consider fostering and adopting dogs from their local shelters. If you’d like to put in an application to try to adopt Paris, Tito, Messi, or Love Bug, contact Richmond Animal Care And Control. Please be sure to check out 11 Sixteen Photography.
A big thank you goes out to Kelly Frankenburg for her time and permission to use her beautiful photos.
(H/T: People, Richmond Times-Dispatch, WTVR, The Dodo, 11 Sixteen Photography, Richmond Animal Care And Control)
