photographer Richard Phibbs has taken portraits of Oscar-winning actresses, a presidential candidate, and legendary tennis players. He has also photographed countless Ralph Lauren campaigns, including Fall 2016 for men's Polo. But in his new book, Rescue Me, Phibbs trains his eye on some of the most vulnerable creatures on earth: the abandoned and often abused dogs at the Humane Society of replica men polo ralph lauren no-kill shelter on East 59th Street.
Phibbs has been volunteering his services there for the last four and a half years, photographing all of the animals that come through the organization in the hopes of finding them a home. In that time, he’s found great joy and purpose in the process, restoring dignity to mistreated dogs and learning how to bring the most out of his four-legged subjects. We spoke with Phibbs about his commitment to these canines, his upcoming book, and the driving objective behind all his photography.
I remember I was watching Charles Osgood [on CBS News Sunday Morning], and there was a segment about a woman who was dressing up dogs at the local rescue shelter like a fashion shoot—it increased their adoption rate by a lot. She said if every photographer did this in their town, there would be so much less suffering. I had some connections to the Humane Society of New York—I had donated prints to their silent auctions in the past—so I approached them with the idea, and they said let’s do it.
I was really surprised at how successful they’ve been. When we first posted the portraits online, people started writing about them, and the HSNY got a big bump of traffic to their site from these different blogs. These replica ralph lauren t shirts pictures were taken solely to find these animals a “forever” home, and they’ve been successful in that regard.