The goal of Paper Hats is to show that all anyone or anything needs to shine is a second chance. Whether it’s a foster dog who was dealt a rough hand or a newspaper circular printed only to be never read, that with a little love, patience and creativity could be something amazing.

Our approach for the series was pretty straightforward. We raided our recycling bin for materials and designed elaborate headdresses and collars for rescue dogs.

All anyone needs to shine is a second chance

As a professional dog photographer, clients often ask what are the best dog breeds to photograph, where pet owners can find the best pet costumes for shoots or what camera they should buy if they want to take good photographs themselves of their own pets. But in reality, none of that matters.

What is important is what you do with what you have. Every dog has the potential to be a great dog. And, I hope after viewing Paper Hats you’ll agree with that sentiment.

Which is why for this project I partnered with one of my favorite dog rescues and nonprofits, Bella’s Bully Buddies, a 501c3 all volunteer operated pit bull rescue and foster organization.

What I love about Bella’s is that they really take the Paper Hats philosophy to heart. I can’t count how many times I’ve watched their organization take on fosters that are “hard cases”, dogs that in in the care of some other rescues or shelters would have most likely been euthanized without a second thought, and transform these “hard cases” into healthy, well socialized and amazingly trained dogs. Often after fostering with Bella’s Bully Buddies, some these dogs become almost unrecognizable. Their health and training is really just that improved.

Which is why we are proud to work with Bella’s Bully Buddies and while we’ve already made a sizable donation from Paper Hats print sales,  we’re hoping that is just the beginning.

Oh – and just in case you were which Paper Hats portrait is Bella – she’s the Queen, of course.

Prints from Paper Hats can be purchased at puptrait.com/paperhats

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