At a recent shoot, photographer Sophie Gamand was assembling equipment, finessing lights and letting her models give their floral headpieces the sniff test. "I'm always surprised by how mellow they can be," Gamand says of her subjects, all adoptable pit bulls from New York City shelters. Gamand fell for the breed while volunteering with rescues and wanted to see whether she could change the perception that pit bulls are "tough gangster dogs wearing chains"—one reason an estimated one million of them are euthanized every year.

Within a few weeks of launching her Flower Power series on her website and social media in August, three models found homes, and shelters around the country began requesting portraits of their own pits. Join Gamand's movement by posting a photo of your own petal-adorned star with #PitBullFlowerPower or shop the prints at SophieGamand.com.

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