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Attorney Uses Camera Lens To Help Save Shelter Dogs

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Marcos Javier Garcia's black and white photographs capture emotions in dogs we humans might recognize as fear, sadness, and hope.

The Miami lawyer is advocating for man's best friend through his photography hobby and his passion for rescue dogs. He says he started volunteering with Miami-Dade Animal Services about a year ago.

"I went there just to sort of help walk dogs and help wash dogs, and I started taking photos there," says Garcia who admits he has a soft spot for dogs' unconditional love.

Garcia's own rescue 'Obie' is his muse. His first dog photos were of Obie, taken with his iPhone. Now he uses a manual camera to photograph the dogs he worries about, the ones still at the shelter facing a grim reality.

"The shelter has more dogs than it has space for, that's why most dogs are euthanized. They're not euthanized because they're bad dogs or because they're injured or because they're sick. They're euthanized because they don't have a home and they don't have space."

The black and white pictures were recently featured in the New York Times' photography blog 'Lens'. Garcia says many people have since thanked him for flashing light on a dark subject, and he plans to keep it up.

"I'd like to keep shooting at the shelter, I'd like to keep photographing dogs. any way that I can take an image that evokes the narrative that dogs are dying and they're being euthanized all the time in shelters because people aren't rescuing dogs - they're buying them instead - that's what I hope to do," says Garcia, whose work is currently on display at a private gallery in Miami's Allapattah neighborhood.

Garcia hopes to create enough interest to put on a public exhibition. In the meantime, he's hoping many people see them posted to his Instagram. He believes the more people see his work, the more they will hear his message.

Click Here to see Garcia's pictures.

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