Dogs as Art

In November we did a series of dog portrait sessions as a fundraiser for two area humane societies and food shelves. I tried to catch the unique personality and style of each dog. Sometimes this wasn’t all that hard to do.



















The event was hosted by One-Stop Country Pet Supply in Brattleboro and their new Keene store and Leslie acted as my assistant. Riley and Rufus’ mom is giving this picture to her husband as a surprise Christmas present.



















Over the course of two weekends, I did portraits of over 70 dogs, including Wesley.




















We raised over $1,000 for pets in need of food and care. Cash donations were made to the humane societies and bags of dog food were delivered to the food shelves. A national dog food company helped out by donating even more food.



















This is Johnny, who stole our hearts.





















We call this our miracle shot, and not only because we were able to get this image with no PhotoShopping involved. Four of these dogs are rescues, each with a rich story, including the three-legged Collie, who was found on a rainy night on Route 9 outside of Brattleboro.










These portraits reflect both Leslie’s years of dog showing experience and Jeff’s portrait work. It didn’t hurt that Moxie was so photogenic.












Merlyn, a beautiful Australian Shepherd, looking for someone to herd.





















Chopper, as you can see, is a distinguished gentleman.





















Zack was one of several rescue Greyhounds from dog racing tracks.




















This is Christine and Kyla. Christine is a friend who cuts our hair, so we hear about Kyla’s antics all the time.




















Some shots are fine art, like this image of Burilla.





















And some of them just make us laugh. Wesley gave us this look when he thought we were making fun of his coiffure.




















This image of Gigi, a Cavalier show puppy, reminds us of a Rembrandt.





















Sam is over it.





















Moxie doesn’t have to do anything to be funny.





















Sunday, the Boxer. Do I stay or do I go?










Stoli, demonstrating infinite patience.





















Jesse does a seal imitation for the camera.





















This is Batman, a rescue Collie who is now a therapy dog. He was beautifully brushed out by his adoring owner Amee.




















If you’d be interested in hosting a pet portrait fundraiser in your area, we’d love to do it again. We had a ball.




















I love doing event, wedding, product, and campus photography, but doing these portraits was a real treat.




















This is PK, a recent rescue from Puerto Rico. I so enjoyed meeting dogs like PK, who are wonderful survivors, and making images of them for their loving owners.





















Thanks for taking the time to look at these. I hope you had as much fun looking at them as I did making them!