HRRN Volunteer Position
Rabbit Photographer/Videographer/ Biographer
What is a Rabbit Photographer/Videographer /Biographer
So these three roles can either be done together or separately. But it’s pretty much what it sounds like.
Photographer: We’re always in need of a photographer to take photos of our adoptable rabbits so we can post them online for adoption. It’s an extremely important job because the photos online of each rabbit are the public’s first introduction and therefore impression of that rabbit. It can make or break an adoption before a person ever meets the rabbit. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
We always need someone to take photos during our shelter events, and take some promo photos of our bunnies to put on our fliers, social media, etc. You can choose to be a photographer who does one or the other, or you’re welcome to do both types.
Videographer: Along with photos of our shelter bunnies and events, we need a videographer to take videos of our adoptable rabbits out playing in x-pens to post to their adoption pages and share on social media for our “Bun of the Week” posts. No video editing required, just raw footage sent to our Social Media and Marketing Coordinator.
We’ve found that rabbits featured on our website and social media platforms with a video along with photos are 50% more likely to be adopted within 2 months of that feature.
Biographer: This job entails hanging out with the adoptable rabbits and getting to know them a little bit, then jotting down notes on what each rabbit’s unique personality and sending it to our Social Media and Marketing Coordinator to write up for our “Bun of the Week” posts, and to add to each rabbit’s adoption page. This is an extremely important job as it gives potential adopters more insight to the rabbit online, and a rabbit with a small biography written is much more likely to get adoption interest versus those with none.
The Biography position does not mean you have to write the biographies. Our Social Media and Marketing Coordinator does that–she just needs the information about the rabbit to be able to create a short biography for them. She does not live near enough to the shelter to do this herself and hence needing assistance to get the information. But if you just jot down some bullet points, or just write her a short email of jumbled thoughts is perfectly fine and extremely helpful. She will put them into an organized write up and post it.
Some previous adoption photos of our shelter rabbits. A good quality photo and post makes all the difference to help get these rabbits adopted.
Photos below are when we didn’t have a photographer on hand.
What all does the job entail?
All three of these jobs are a “work at your own time and pace” position. If coming by the shelter every Tuesday evening for a few hours to do whichever job you choose (or a little of all of them), you can do that. If coming by for only 30 minutes every day in the early morning works, you can do that. What matters is that we get the photos/footage/biographies and sent to our Social Media and Marketing Coordinator to post to their respective places. . What matters is doing this consistently enough to keep up with new and upcoming adoptable rabbits as they come.
How much rabbit interaction do I get?
These positions all involve quite a bit of rabbit interaction. It’s best if you’re comfortable enough to take rabbit’s from their cage to the next rom into an x-pen to take photos/film them/ or watch them play around and get to know them to write their biography. However, if you’re not comfortable picking rabbit’s up and carrying them around, we can pair you with a volunteer that will be there the same time as you to help assist you with that.
How long does this take per visit?
As stated above, this is an extremely flexible position and you can make your schedule however works best for you.
How Much Training is Required?
You don’t have to be a professional photographer, just have a passion and ability to follow instructions. We have lots of photos of previous photographers to help you know exactly how to set up the backdrops and pose the rabbits for photos. While a professional camera is always great to have, iPhones have come so far when it comes to photos that iPhone photos should work fine too.
For Videographer, we will instruct you on best video angles and shots.
For biographies, we will give you some basic questions to help guide you but this is mostly just observational.
Want to Become a Photographer/Videographer/Biographer?
Yay! We’re so happy you’re interested in one or more of these positions!
Please fill out our volunteer application and our volunteer coordinator will reach out to you within a few days to schedule your first day at the shelter.
Questions?
If you still have questions about this position, please contact our volunteer coordinator at volunteer@rabbitresource.org