I am Mariah Mountanos. I am 11 years old. I am a home school student and my teacher is Sage Mountainfire. I began taking photos when I was 5 years old. My dad got me a Polaroid camera and ever since that I have been improving my photography skills.
Last fall there was an article about Kendra Luck in the SF Chronicle, where she once worked as a photojournalist. My teacher, Sage, emailed her, asking if she would help me improve my photographic skills. She said, �Yes!� Kendra really put me into gear with my photography. She helped me learn a lot and she made me want to be like her, a dog photographer.
I was born a dog lover. There is really nothing that made me start being a dog lover. When I saw my first dog, Dottie, I just fell in love with her and then every other dog I met.
Sage and I thought of taking pictures of dogs that live at the Humane Society of Inland Mendocino County so they would get adopted. I felt sorry for them being in a kennel most of the day, most of the week and sometimes even being there a year! My goal, for this show, is to get 3 or more dogs adopted.
By taking photos of these dogs I learned, no matter what the size or the color, the dog could be the best dog in the world.
I have 2 dogs, Lucky and Mocha. They are just the perfect dogs for me. Somebody might say that they are ugly or too big or too small. However, they are just perfect in my eye.
If you go to the shelter and see a dog that is perfect in your eyes I bet it will be the one for you�
Mariah P. Mountanos
May 2003
