Travis Patenaude

Background

About Travis Patenaude

My name is Travis Patenaude from Crystal Lake IL. The gift of photography was given to me by Leena, the first Galgo my wife and I adopted. When we adopted Leena, I was in a very dark place, and Leena came into our lives unexpectedly. Leena was rescued by SOS Galgos in Barcelona, Spain, and this very traumatized girl would end up profoundly changing the lives of my wife and me. Leena taught us far more than we could have ever taught her. She inspired us to go far outside of our comfort zone. In 2013, we started Love Hope Believe Galgo Adoption to transport and find loving homes for these dogs here in the Chicagoland area. We had never been to Spain, did not know anyone in Spain and could not speak Spanish, but we were determined to help these dogs. After brining our first four dogs to the US I knew I we needed to take photos of the dogs for adoption. Our group was fortunate to have a member of HeartSpeak.org come and take photos of our adoptable dogs. After seeing the beautiful images, she was able to capture, I knew I had to learn how to take better pictures. In 2014 during our second trip to Spain, I captured a photo of a very scared Galgo who was recently dropped off by her hunter. After seeing people’s reaction to the photo, I realized that I could tell the story of the hunting dogs of Spain through photography. My passion for these dogs has driven me to learn as much as I can about photography and continue to become a better photographer. We had to say goodbye to Leena March 2015 due to cancer. When we said goodbye, we promised we would be a voice for her and all the hunting dogs in Spain. Since we have started our adoption group we have transported and found homes for 140 dogs as of July 2020. I have been able to use my photography to help raise money for the shelters and adoption groups for Galgos in Spain and US. I have also published three photo books for the Galgos. My mission is to share the story of Leena and all the hunting dogs of Spain with as many people as I can. Fun Facts: • My wife and I currently have 7 Galgos. Radar, Gemma, Fernando, Yima, Vilal, Keala and Amai • I work as a Chief Information Security Officer for my County Government, when I'm not behind the camera. • My left arm has a full arm Tattoo sleeve that is dedicated to our second Greyhound Savanna. • The most relaxing vacation I have ever had, was sleeping in the middle of a Spanish shelter with 550 dogs. The following week, I slept in a hotel with one dog outside that kept barking and got no Sleep.