The Genuinely Interested Podcast Ep 31 - Sophie Gamand - Pitbull Flower Power
Sophie Gammand's story is one of serendipity. Sophie is a photographer - you may know her from her Pitbull Flower Power series - which went viral and, in the process, helped many Pitbulls in shelters.
Her serendipitous start came one day when she was walking down the street to shoot a project for a photography class she was taking. Her task was to shoot people on the streets of NYC. A man presented himself, asking her to photograph him - upon which Sophie says she "chickened out" and essentially ran the other way. Fully uncomfortable with the prospect of shooting strangers, Sophie decided to visit a nearby veterinarian's office - and her subjects ended up being dogs, not humans. From here, as they say, the rest is history.
Since then, Sophie has gone on to publish books, amass a massive social media following, and, most importantly - helped many Pitbulls and other dogs in shelters with her flower power portrait series.
Sophie and I had a really fun conversation - both having had the immigrant experience, both moving to NYC and taking up photography when we arrived, and a mutual love of dogs and Pitbulls. We talked about the bad rap that Pitbull type dogs get, the media propaganda that caused the biased dialogue around the breed, how she came up with the ideas for her portrait series, and much more.
This was my longest episode to date. I felt as though we still had so much more to cover. Perhaps, in the future, Sophie will come back on the podcast.
Enjoy the Podcast
My Take - Pitbulls are some of the most misunderstood dogs out there. They are actually exceptionally sweet and get along well with kids and babies. I'm glad Sophie saw through the media disinformation campaign and decided to dedicate so much of her time/career to help change hearts and minds. If you do something with your heart, you will be rewarded on many fronts.
Comments, requests or questions, please reach out - my email is roybntz@gmail.com