Sophie Gamand

Halo

Handmade flower crown, photography

"Halo is a pit bull who was found abandoned in the woods, injured, starving, and blind. A local resident had spotted her and called the authorities to say a ‘vicious pit bull’ was living there. Halo was a victim of human cruelty and prejudice. She turned out to be a very sweet dog in need. Her portrait is part of my ‘Pit Bull Flower Power’ series, rebranding the 'monsters' shelter pit bulls to help them find homes. The series has been used as an advocacy tool for pit bulls around the world.

Anchored in photography, my multidisciplinary work explores the dog-human bond and what it reveals about our humanity."

— Sophie Gamand

About the artist

Sophie Gamand

Sophie Gamand is a French award-winning photographer, artist, and animal advocate who lives and works in Los Angeles. She was recently ordained an animal chaplain and explores the sacred bond between dogs and humans. Passionate about rescue dogs, Gamand uses her art as an advocacy tool to explore what this millennia-old bond reveals about our humanity.

Since 2010, Gamand has traveled around the U.S. (and abroad) to photograph shelter dogs and at-risk dogs. By telling their stories on her social media, Sophie helps these dogs find homes, and brings support to the nonprofits that care for them. Her best known series are Wet Dog and Pit Bull Flower Power.

In her acclaimed Pit Bull Flower Power series, she has photographed over 450 shelter pit bulls wearing handmade flower crowns. Shared on her popular social media accounts, the portraits often lead to adoptions. Some of her models waited up to 8 years before their portraits connected them with an adopter. Pit Bull Flower Power has become one of the most powerful tools in today’s pit bull advocacy worldwide, changing the public’s perception and renewing the conversation around these misunderstood dogs, while saving countless lives.

Gamand has won several prestigious photography awards for her work (including a Sony World Photography Award in 2014), as well as advocacy awards for her dedication to animal rescue and adoption. Her work has been published in the press worldwide, online and in print (from National Geographic to Oprah Magazine). Her first book, Wet Dog, came out in October 2015 and her second, Pit Bull Flower Power, in 2018, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign.