Thursday October 2nd

It seems like the days just get better and better. Today we went to Baton Rouge and met with Thomas Neff at LSU. He's a photographer that is popular for his book on Katrina called "Holding out and Hanging on." He went through a slide show of some of his images that he took during Hurricane Katrina. The stories that went with these images almost brought me to tears. When we were through with the slides he showed us some of his actual prints. Thomas Neff shoots large format, I believe he said 5x7, so the quality is ideal. When we were through we bought his book and he signed it for us. Once again it was an unbelievable experience.

Last minute we decided to go to the LSPCA shelter. It was HUGE. I met with Gloria who walked with me and talked to me as I photographed. It was a great place with very nice people. They have wonderful art on the wall by children and professionals. It was a happy environment to walk into. It's a spotless shelter. They have a ventilation system for the dogs and cats that live there. It was interesting to hear about their spay and neuter center for the animals. They have a mobile vehicle that offers low cost spay and neutering. I thought that was pretty cool. They also have two air conditioned trucks in case they need to evacuate all of the animals for a hurricane, which they did for Katrina and Gustav. I was only there for about 25 minutes and I met the CEO! I'm excited to be going back this saturday for when they have some kids coming to read to the dogs. How cool is that!?

The conflict is interesting between the shelters. The man with 290 dogs runs a no kill shelter and so does ARNO, but the LSPCA DOES euthanize their pets. I don't believe in euthanizing pets, but it's hard to see which side I stand on now. The animals at the LSPCA were cleaner, had more oppurtunity, and maybe a little happier. To be perfectly honest, I don't know if the 290 dogs stand a chance at adoption at the other shelter, but I'm not sure if euthanizing is a better option.

When I was finished shooting at the LSPCA, Colleen picked me up in the mini van and we got on the ferry to come back to the hotel. It was a nice view of the city.