American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards™

Earlier in the year, we introduced you to one of our clients, a new member of our studio family, the Ganzert Family.
Robin Ganzert is from right here in Clemmons, but is the President & CEO of the American Humane Association. This keeps her very busy on a national level advancing the protection of  pets, children and farm animals. As a mom of 3 beautiful children and many pets, including some at her parent's farm in Mocksville, she has a lot of first-hand experience about the interaction and relationships of people and animals.
We recently updated some publicity photos for her and her family, and she was excitedly telling us about the American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards. They are down to the 8 finalists out of the 453 dogs nominated from every state in the country.  You can show your love and support for these Hero Dogs by participating in the next round of voting as they compete for the title of 2011 American Hero Dog! No purchase or donation is required to vote, but all votes must be placed by September 30.

More images on the American Humane Association Facebook Page

When we talked with her today, she was in Los Angeles in preparation for the Awards Event on September 30. She is getting to know celebrities such as Betty White, Whoopi Goldberg, Victoria Stilwell, Kristin Chenoweth, and Jillian Michaels who are also involved in the project. She mentioned that even though celebrities have such a different lifestyle and culture than we are used to, that they are really not that much different when you just get to know them as people.
The Hallmark Channel will feature profiles of the winning dogs later on in the fall, but you can be a part of the decision as you place your vote for these wonderful dogs!

Anne Grant ~ The National Village Photographer?

A few weeks ago, we received a call from someone needing an updated portrait since she had been appointed in a new position. This is not unusual, since we "upgrade" a lot of business portraits, sometimes several times a week.
However, she went on to tell us she recently became the President and CEO of the American Humane Association, "the nation’s voice for the protection of children and animals." It is quite an honor to portray someone who has reached this level of recognition and success.

We will be telling you more about this worthwhile organization later, as we plan to do a Pet Portrait fundraiser for them, but I want to introduce you Robin Ganzert, Ph.D through the portraits we did at her parent's farm in Davie County. We've had some extra cold weather lately and this was one of those really cold days, so we bundled up and just made it happen since she needed these images right away.

Robin, her husband and 3 lovely children live in Clemmons, as well as one of her sisters, but it turned out that their other sister happened to be visiting from GA, so we made the most of it and were able to create wonderful multi-generational and multi-species(!) portraits. I consider this type of portrait almost more treasured than any other because it is so hard to get the family together..all at one time.