In many ways, Hannah Lee Bratz’s journey as a photographer is defined by second chances.
Bratz, a former corrections officer who now does pet photography, including working with local shelters like the Craven-Pamlico Animal Services Center, often sees those she works with in a temporary space. Working in a jail infirmary, she encountered people in valley-deep lows, hoping to make a difference while they were with her.
Today, Bratz spends time helping pets find new homes by photography shelter animals. Hopefully spending time in a shelter only temporarily before finding their forever homes.
She got inspired after seeing some of the photos a local animal shelter was using and knew she could showcase the pets in a better light — literally. If she’s not able to take photos outdoors, Bratz says she quickly got a light setup to improve upon the shelter’s atmosphere. From there, she did what all the best pet photographers do (and the best part of the job) and made sure all of the animals were relaxed and comfortable. Bratz says she creates a quiet, closed-off space where they can feel more relaxed. Then, she lets their personalities shine through. She’ll even throw in some fun backdrops, like a recent one she did for Easter.
Bratz tells PetaPixel she’s often gravitated toward creative pursuits, so it should come as little surprise that she took to photography after receiving a camera as a Christmas gift from her mother. Bratz says she found herself captivated by the macro setting, finding beauty in nature’s small details.
“It’s that kind of stuff that people normally may not see,” Bratz tells PetaPixel. “It’s the little things that I find beauty in that I hope other people will look at it and be like, oh, I’m going to take the time to look at this flower over here. Landscape stuff. It’s just a peaceful thing.”
When working in a jail, the rule of thumb is that for every year worked, it feels more like five, she explains. Bratz shares her experience working in the infirmary where she encountered people working through addictions, struggling with their mental health, or even going through a miscarriage. She says her job involved helping the nurses, but beyond that, it meant finding compassion in a place where you normally wouldn’t. It’s taxing, and photography was Bratz’s relief.
And though Bratz may not be working as a corrections officer today, she tells PetaPixel she still uses many of the lessons learned from that experience. When she was younger, the photographer notes, she wasn’t much of a conversationalist and tended to stick with the company of her horses. But working in a jail pushed her, and saw her not just opening up and talking to people but also doing so in a high-stakes environment.
“I can come up with a conversation with anybody, especially if they’re grieving,” she shares. “I’ve had to deal with inmates that they come in to the jail and they did what they did because of a certain circumstance. I can really talk people down and I can find that common goal and common ground with people.”
Working with shelters, she often sees people desperate to get an animal adopted in time. With limited space, some shelters are forced to euthanize pets who don’t find permanent homes within a certain timeframe. And no one, especially shelter employees who want to help animals, wants to be in that situation, Bratz notes.
Additionally, Bratz does private pet portraits as well as the work she does with shelters. While this is normally an upbeat experience, she also offers a “Rainbrow Bridge” package for end-of-life photoshoots.
“They’re just not here as long as we would like them to be, and I feel like everybody needs a little keepsake from that to kind of help the grieving,” Bratz says. Additionally, she puts $50 of the proceeds from those photoshoots toward sponsoring an animal at the shelter she works with. In this way, the end of one pet’s life can help save another.
Even on days when Bratz isn’t photographing under heartbreaking conditions, she still finds value stemming from her corrections officer background. For instance, her ability to multitask is incredibly handy when dealing with pets of varying personalities. In a jail, Bratz explains, there is only so much time to get things done and prioritization is key.
But the work is worth it to Bratz, who has found a community through her photography. Sure, there’s the symbiotic social media relationship where she and the shelter will promote photos of the pets, but it’s the reason behind that’s so satisfying. The photos she takes help pets get adopted, and the more those images get amplified, the more likely those animals will find a home. Bratz tells PetaPixel she’s still prospective pet owners take in animals from multiple states away. All because they saw the right photo.
“I tell their story,” she says, “and give the dogs an identity that other people will read and look at the pictures and be like, ‘Oh my god, I need her.’”
Image credits: Photographs by Hannah Lee Bratz