We all know that dogs are the best people—but what about the people behind the dogs, the ones who help shelter pooches find their forever homes?
That’s where Dog Breath comes in. The Dog Breath Foundation is a non-profit with a mission: to use the power of photography to give a voice to homeless and abandoned dogs. It was founded by Kaylee Greer, a pet photographer whose talents have made her one of the most sought-after “dogtographers” in the world.
An elite ‘dogtographer’
Through her camera lens, Kaylee Greer captures the unique spirit and whimsy of her canine subjects. Her talents have earned her international acclaim as a leader in animal photography. Her work has graced the covers of books, magazines, product packaging, greeting cards, and advertising campaigns throughout the commercial pet industry. She’s even the star of National Geographic WILD’s three-part TV miniseries Pupparazzi, which chronicles her adventures in photographing shelter dogs across America.
But fame has never been Greer’s focus. She and her production team—which includes videographers Emily Mender, Doug Young, and photographer Sam Haddix—spend most of their time and energy organizing photo shoots for shelter dogs in need. In fact, Greer’s journey to becoming a famous pet photographer began at her local dog shelter.
“I didn’t even consider photography until I was volunteering,” Greer explains. “I was just walking a dog and doing whatever I could to make a difference. That was when I realized, ‘Oh my God, I think a photograph really could have the power to change a dog’s life.’”
Since then, Greer has been snapping pics of shelter dogs whenever she can. Her goal is always to use photography to connect unhoused pets to caring, permanent owners. But despite her continued success, Greer hasn’t been quite satisfied with the impact of her work.
“I really wanted to affect more lives,” Greer explains. “There are hundreds of thousands of dogs in the shelter system. I wondered, ‘How can we make a bigger impact? How can we cause a ripple effect that can continue exponentially?’ Well, most shelters don’t have photography training. Why don’t I teach them what I know?”
No surprise, then, that the Dog Breath team has an audacious project in mind to do just that…
Hitting the road
The Greatest Adventure is a road trip mission across America to find in-need dogs with incredible stories. With help from shelter workers and volunteers, Greer and her team will take adoptable dogs out of their cages for one incredible day of sightseeing. They’ll hike up mountains, swim in lakes, and run through forests, all to get a one-of-a-kind photo that will help that dog get adopted. And Frame.io is very proud to be one of the sponsors helping to make this happen.
Throughout this journey, the team will document their process and push their journey out to the world through social media, videos, blog posts, and editorials. It’s a pretty intense production schedule that includes:
- An eight-episode YouTube series (approximately 30 minutes each) featuring a cross-country road trip visiting animal shelters across the United States.
- Multiple television and editorial spots.
- A retrospective book featuring the story of The Greatest Adventure and the amazing images captured along the way.
- A strong and consistent presence on social media.
- Show-stopping photo and video assets to create awareness around each shelter they visit and heavily promote their chosen ‘adventure dog.’
On top of all this, the team will also be training volunteer staff at every shelter they visit. They’ll learn how to photograph dogs in Greer’s whimsical trademark style, giving their dogs the best chance at finding a new home. They’re even giving out Canon-sponsored camera-and-lens kits to every shelter they visit on their trip!
The right tools for the job
With such an intense social media schedule and a team spread across the US, Dog Breath decided very early on that Frame.io would be the best foundation for the job, so each of the team have been equipped with Frame.io Version 4 accounts. It’s something that editor and videographer Doug Young is excited about.
“Even before discovering Frame.io, I was looking for solutions for key-wording my videos,” Young tells me. “Version 4’s Metadata and Collections feature makes it easy if I need to find a shot of a particular dog or to keep things organized between cameras and drones. That’s going to save me a lot of time—and time is probably going to be my limiting factor.”
Sam Haddix, Dog Breath’s lighting and photography expert, is looking forward to using Version 4’s mobile app features. He knows that “Kaylee is going to love opening her phone and making notes right in the Frame.io app. She won’t have to get on a computer to open the software. It’s going to be very easy for her to answer questions and make decisions, which I think is awesome.”
Greer agrees. “It’s hard when you’re working in a moving RV,” she says. “Plates are flying, things are moving around… I don’t like to get out any heavy-duty technology when we’re on the road like that. But now I can pop open my phone while I’m sitting in the passenger’s seat and actually get my work done through Frame.io mobile.”
Super-fast support for a cross-country team
Uploading media is not always easy when your shoot is a nine-month-long road trip across the United States. You’re not always going to have the time or ability to hook up hard drives and download footage. That’s why the team has chosen to lean on Frame.io’s Atomos integration to add Camera to Cloud to their workflows.
C2C integration is important to Dog Breath because a lot of the work involved in The Greatest Adventure will be handed off to Charles F. MacDonald, a Washington D.C.-based editor, and Jay Frisco, a Berklee-based sound designer. Both will be handling much of The Greatest Adventure’s post-production needs.
Greer and company are also sharing media with Nichole Marsh, a graphic designer responsible for compiling a retrospective book about The Greatest Adventure. All three of these team members are plugged into The Greatest Adventure remotely via Frame.io. And with Camera to Cloud, they’ll get their media instantly.
“This workflow is ten times faster than if I was doing it manually,” Young explains. “I used to have to offload SD cards, convert them to proxies, and upload them to a server. And with our shaky internet access, that could get interrupted and cause all kinds of trouble.”
This workflow is ten times faster than if I was doing it manually.
“With C2C, all I have to do is record on my camera and hit stop. Then I can watch my files upload right on the Atomos. Even if I’m shooting in a remote area, the Camera to Cloud system creates a queue that will start uploading when I connect to the internet again. It’s way easier than I expected. It really simplifies my workflow.”
Here are shelter dog Vigo’s adoption photos before and after Dog Breath’s Greatest Adventure.
One shelter at a time
The final component of The Greatest Adventure might be the most important: Dog Breath wants to eventually create long-term training materials that can be hosted online and eventually distributed to shelters.
“In the future, we want to put photography, graphic design, and illustration all into a PDF with our branding which will live forever in shelters across the world,” Haddix says. “The Greatest Adventure isn’t just a video project. There’s photo, sound, graphic design, and a physical book that we’re creating. So having everything and being able to organize it all in one spot is really important.”
“Plus, we’re on limited time frames,” Young adds. “When we’re driving, we can’t do a whole lot of work. Having those copies of files for everyone is great for time saving and simplicity, and it keeps us on our pretty rigorous timeline.”
Not having to worry about the tech also frees Dog Breath up to concentrate on the real project: the dogs. Greer notes that when she’s working, she has “a million concerns. The dog may not like my camera, I might not like the lighting. What if we plan an epic trip and the dog isn’t comfortable with it? That’s the hard part of being a dog photographer, the ability to flex and know that the best-laid plans often go awry.”
“But I think things always shake out,” Greer adds. “Honestly, everything usually goes better than my expectations if I can just relax and roll with it.”
Rhett found his forever home right after his Greatest Adventure!
Ongoing effects
As Dog Breath embarks on The Greatest Adventure, Kaylee Greer and her team are proving that a photograph can do more than just capture a moment—it can change a life. And by combining Greer’s talent with tech support from Frame.io and its integrations, Dog Breath is not just helping dogs find homes; they’re revolutionizing the way shelters operate.
Through their dedication, creativity, and a whole lot of heart, this team is making a country-wide impact that will be felt long after their road trip ends. With every shelter they visit, every volunteer they train, and every pup they photograph, Dog Breath is making the world a little brighter, one wagging tail at a time.
Frame.io loves rescues! Meet a few of the shelter dogs adopted by members of the Frame.io team.
If you’d like to add your own support to this cause, you can donate at The Greatest Adventure campaign page, where you’ll find some great rewards for your generosity.
