Sophie Gamand

I was honored and thrilled to work with the award-winning photographer Sophie Gamand on the design of her coffee table book PIT BULL FLOWER POWER. Her photos of pit bull rescues are gorgeous, sweet, and touching, but are also helping change our perception of these dogs — AND are getting them adopted from shelters around the country. Sophie has already received enormous acclaim for this series, as well as a huge worldwide following, which explains why in the space of a month she raised over $150,000 on Kickstarter towards her $55,000 goal for production costs. And this for a book that the publishing industry turned down because editors didn’t see it’s potential. It’s a mind-boggling success and a testament to the passion of animal lovers around the world who care, as Sophie does, about rescuing these dogs from shelters and educating the public about them. It turns out books can still surprise us — AND that compassion is alive and well!

Sophie hired me through Lantern Books, a publisher I’ve worked with for over twenty years. Working together we developed a flexible but effective grid for the hundreds of photos she wanted in the 9 x 12 book. Once the design was complete we began the painstaking production phase, placing photos, captions, and narrative text throughout the 250 page book. Remarkably, we completed the entire book — from initial editorial meetings with the publisher to final, printed book — in only nine months.

“Pit bulls have been demonized by society for decades. As a result, they are more prone to being abused, abandoned, and euthanized. Hundreds of thousands of them languish in shelters, with their stories untold. To combat the stigma surrounding these dogs, I decided to adorn them with handmade flower crowns, and share their stories with the world. I wondered if art could change their fate.” — Sophie Gamand