Retail Products Group Senior Art Director Steffani Clark; Dr. Karen Fling, president East Lake Pet Orphanage with one of the dogs from the shoot named Prozac; and photographer Brenda Cabanski, on the set of the shoot at the new East Lake Squash Blossom Studios.

The folks at East Lake animal clinic and pet orphanage are always coming up with amazing new ways to support their commitment to treating all animals, even the ones who can’t afford treatment.

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Squash Blossom Studios, a new photography and movie studio located near Buckner and Forney, near Skyline High School, is an offshoot of East Lake Pet Orphanage, our neighborhood no-kill animal shelter and veterinary clinic.

Eastlake’s Dr. Karen Fling is very creative about raising money for the orphanage so that she is able to treat every sick pet, whether they can afford it or not, so years ago she founded a thrift store, Second Chance Treasures, whose profits (100% of ’em) benefit the orphanage. Recently, while looking for a warehouse to store excess inventory, Fling discovered this studio.

“Our store got full so we started looking for a warehouse to put donated items until we had room in the store,” Fling explains. “We were fortunate enough to find this wonderful warehouse space that just suits itself perfectly to photography. So it’s all working out to benefit our homeless pets.”

Recently, Retail Products Group — which brands and markets, primarily, pet-care products — rented out the studio for a commercial shoot, which included many animal actors, including a dog that will star in an upcoming Dallas Children’s Theater production. Some of the other dogs in the shoot were from Paige Anderson with BEAST Animal Representation, a animal talent agency we wrote about a few months ago. See how it’s all coming together here?

When a photographer or filmmaker rents out the studio, profits go back into East Lake — more info about that here.

East Lake's new Squash Blossom offers 18,000 square feet of studio space.