06-11-2023 Capital Style - Flipbook - Page 14
HIGHLIGHT
BY ABIGAIL GRUSKIN Capital Style
The Tilly Project connects end-of-life pet photographers with people whose pets are nearing the ends of their lives. Emma Bailey, owner of Pretty Poppy Pet
Photography, has done one Tilly Project session so far in Quiet Waters Park. She is in the park with her 3-year-old dog Lupo. PHOTO BY KIM HAIRSTON
‘They are getting a memory’
The Tilly Project matches pet owners with end-of-life photographers
In February, Emma Bailey, who lives in Annapolis, went
to Quiet Waters Park to photograph a family and their
12-year-old Australian shepherd who was seriously ill after
being diagnosed with a “rare and aggressive cancer,” she
said.
“It felt really important to do,” recalled Bailey, 25, who
had put down her own dog the day before. “It was kind of
therapeutic, in a way.”
The photo session was coordinated through the Tilly
Project, founded in 2021 by Lauren Kennedy to match pet
owners across the globe with photographers willing to
document their furry friends’ final days, sometimes free of
charge, via the website’s searchable “Find a Photographer”
feature. Kennedy, who lives in Maine, named the endeavor
after one of her own pets — an orange cat she adopted as a
kitten — that died suddenly and unexpectedly.
Now, in Anne Arundel County, there are a handful of pro-
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| CAPITAL STYLE | Summer 2023
Robin was
17 years old
and had been
diagnosed with
kidney failure.
Robin’s owner
described her
as a happy
and energetic
dog despite
the health
issues. PHOTO
COURTESY OF
JONATHAN
BRUCE
