Blimey, this is fantastic!
Technical Stuff...
Outta this world pictures!
The bunny peeking up over the lip of the house plant, the parting shot of her on the roof with the skunk next to her, these kind of shots make this memorable. Is the cat alive? What's alive and what's dead in the photos? WEIRD!!
The pictures are unbelievable. The angles are great. There is one shot of a Puma skin on the wall and some sort of canine looking down from a book case. This angle is fantastic because it forces you to orient yourself quickly to the shot or be confused, both of which are acceptable, I think.
There is a shot of a cat sniffing or rubbing against an antler. This is wonderful because you don't know whether she's that good, that she can pose a dead cat so well, or that she has a cat that wonders about her studio.
Bottom line: The pictures keep you guessing, haunt you, draw you in, and force you to watch it over and over.
Audio:
Excellent editing. Can barely tell editing gaps.
Her thoughtfulness shows in her voice. You can her passion, excitement in her voice. She laughs, she's thoughtful, you can hear her thinking as she is talking. The audio works, all over for me, all of it. I can't pick out one bad part in the audio.
Bottom line; she loves what she does, and it shows in every syllable she speaks.
Emotional Stuff...
My emotional reaction to this is curiosity and fascination.
I did a profile about a local fellow that cremates pets for a living and Steve took the greatest care of the pets he cremated. I can see the same care in her work.
Melissa Dixon's mention of not preserving pets reminded me of Steve.
Steve likes to keep his work private and isolated from the pet owners because he said that if he let owners come watch him work, and cry all over the place, then he'd never be able to do his job -- every pet would become a ceremony, an emotional experience.
Melissa's policy of not giving people an unreal expectation is similar to Steve's policy.
I think the journalism of this piece lies between the loving animals and having animals as your business.
In both Melissa and Steve's cases -- I can safely assert this for Steve and can assume it for Melissa -- they are animal lovers, but have created a business around animals. This ground seems to be rather dangerous because of the emotional investment that comes with pets, who are indeed family members.
The interesting thing is the personal policy that the people have to create in order to keep their feet in both arenas -- keep the business running and being able to go home to hug and kiss their cat, dog, rabbit, etc. at the end of the day.
Bottom Line; people that deal with death everyday will always fascinate readers or viewers.
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