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Shirley's Dog

shirley_s_dog_img_2252_lu_small_by_tricky_trees-da2do00.jpg

A good natured pooch it is. Cheers, Mike.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
shirley_s_dog_img_2252_lu_small_by_tricky_trees-da2do00.jpg

A good natured pooch it is. Cheers, Mike.

Oh my goodness, Michael! This is one classical picture I will not ever forget. Being at the window waiting for a loved one to come home is such a human experience. Hopefully the person waited for does return.

Sometimes a child waits for a father to return, but "divorce" is so beyond a child's framework of comprehension, that he/she will still wait, "When is my Daddy coming home?"!

A dog also has unquestioning love. But most often, "Daddy" or "Mommy" does come home, like the other things we rely on, sunrise and sunset and a full bowl of chow!

An important image as it speaks for a lot of families networks of affection and trust!

Asher
 

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
A great image. I love the disarray of things, everything seems so real - probably because everything in this image must be real. And, technically speaking, I like the detail in the shadowed areas. Gives a good everyday feel to the picture.
 
Thanks Asher, Jarmo. You both grasped the type of relationship Shirley has with her dog. She's an old lady who retained a loving disposition despite many hardships. The dog provides unconditional love. They live in a small but good world. Cheers, Mike.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thanks Asher, Jarmo. You both grasped the type of relationship Shirley has with her dog. She's an old lady who retained a loving disposition despite many hardships. The dog provides unconditional love. They live in a small but good world. Cheers, Mike.

Michael,

It appears that you understanding and insight into relationships can be exported and embedded into the photograph. If you were chosen to be "our new Norman Rockwell", but with this photography style, what other subjects might you have us observe and learn from?

Asher
 
Michael,

It appears that you understanding and insight into relationships can be exported and embedded into the photograph. If you were chosen to be "our new Norman Rockwell", but with this photography style, what other subjects might you have us observe and learn from?

Asher

Hi Asher, forgive this delayed reply but I'm visiting our newborn granddaughter in the prairies over our long weekend. Will respond properly next week.

Cheers, Mike
 
Michael,

It appears that you understanding and insight into relationships can be exported and embedded into the photograph. If you were chosen to be "our new Norman Rockwell", but with this photography style, what other subjects might you have us observe and learn from?

Asher

Hi Asher

I wasn't exposed much to Norman Rockwell, growing up in middle England, but know that his images reflected positive American cultural values, which made them attractive to an immense audience. Rockwell uses dogs in his pictures like an anthropologist who portrays culture in ways intended to flatter his audience. For example, his dog/puppy pictures mainly show loyal, loving, caring relationships between dogs and people, except for one titled "Crime Doesn't Pay" in which a dog bites the bum of a criminal running away.

My orientation is more that of a psychologist interested in relationships between creatures. For example, had a similarly posed photo shown Shirley's Cat (not that she has one) instead of a dog, would the levels of affectionate dependency between animal and human be different? How strong and how enduring is the affection between this man and a goat named Beer? The answers about cross-species relationships help to inform us about characteristics and capabilities within each species.

man_and_goat_by_tricky_trees-da3zr7r.jpg

For me, this ethological orientation resembles good practices in clinical psychology or counselling. It's important to get inside the patient/client's head in order to comprehend situations from their perspective so as to effect therapeutic change. Had happenstance differed when I was a student, I might easily have become an ethologist rather than a psychologist. But I think serendipity served me well.

Cheers, Mike.
 

Paul Abbott

New member
This initial image is such a fantastic shot. The dog is so well posed...just look at his face, and that tail hanging down over the sofa, it's just like an exclamation mark in my view; that tail being anywhere else and the impact of the pose would be lessened somewhat.
For a minute I thought that the vacuum cleaner? might have detracted but then thought that this is a home warts and all and it don't matter.

Great image, i'd be proud to own this one for my 'Dogs' project...
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Paul,

This initial image is such a fantastic shot. The dog is so well posed...just look at his face, and that tail hanging down over the sofa, it's just like an exclamation mark in my view; that tail being anywhere else and the impact of the pose would be lessened somewhat.

I enjoyed you observations about the photo, which are very apt.

For a minute I thought that the vacuum cleaner? . . .

I think it is actually a "walker", the fancy kind with safety brakes and a seat (quite common these days in the U.S.). They are used by those whose mobility capabilities are "compromised".

Here is an example if you're not familiar with the genre:

bba67fc9-46a3-4df6-bdcd-9cd344979f6f_1.c93aef3b1235c03a77c49c3fa6673366.jpeg

The term "rollator" is sometimes used for these (I suspect that is a proprietary name from some manufacturer).

Best regards,

Doug
 

Paul Abbott

New member
Doug, I think it just goes to show how powerful and commanding that dog's presence is within the photograph. I was clearly enrapt by the dog to not see the other side of the 'walker' and to not make it out. In fact, I now think that this 'walker' is a very worthy element in the scene and let's us envisage a relationship between it, the dog and the dog's owner.

Thanks for highlighting that, Doug.

Regards...
 
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