Michael Kloth Photography Completes Editorial Staff Portrait Project for Humane Society of Southern Arizona

Sep 3

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 31, 2026 — Michael Kloth, MFA, CPP, completed a new series of editorial staff portraits for the Humane Society of Southern Arizona on Aug. 20, photographing HSSA staff and shelter animals with a mobile studio built inside the organization's Tucson facility.

The project created individual staff portraits alongside photographs pairing staff members with shelter dogs. HSSA planned the photographs for its website, donor communications, conference appearances, media coverage, podcasts, professional profiles and other editorial uses.

Kloth worked with HSSA Art Director Eric Gonzalez and Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Cody Half-Moon to develop the visual approach. A test session with Half-Moon and shelter dog Sparky three days before the full staff session led to changes in camera distance, traffic through the training room and the use of movable V-flats around animals.

“The test session gave us a way to solve the room before the full staff day,” Kloth said. “Once the dogs came in, the set could stay consistent while the pose changed around each animal. A large dog who wanted to stay on the floor needed a different photograph than a small dog who was comfortable being held.”

During the Aug. 20 session, Kloth kept the lighting and background treatment consistent while adapting posing, subject height and working distance to each staff member and animal. He tethered the camera to a computer so HSSA staff could review expressions, wardrobe, framing and animal position before each participant left the set.

Kloth has photographed shelter animals throughout his professional career and has volunteered as a photographer at Pima Animal Care Center since 2013 and at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona since 2025.

About Michael Kloth Photography

Michael Kloth Photography is a mobile photography studio in Tucson, Arizona, serving business and professional clients and pet owners throughout the greater Tucson area. Michael Kloth holds an MFA in Photography from Academy of Art University and has held the Certified Professional Photographer credential since 2010. He has been a member of Professional Photographers of America since 2008 and the American Society of Media Photographers since 2011. He founded the business in Lexington, Kentucky in 2006, relocated to Richland, Washington in 2008, and has operated in Tucson since 2011. His photographs appear in the TMC Foundation Healing Arts Collection. He is the author of Shelter Cats, Shelter Puppies, and the German-language edition Findelkatzen. He writes The Art of Photography AI: The Art and Business of Photography in the Era of AI at artofphotographyai.com.