Four Legged Friends

Taken with: Canon EOS 550D

This image was inspired by the work of photographer Nick Brandt, of his work in Africa. For this image I had to point the models body directly sideways, so that i could capture the body at full length, I had to keep the dogs attention pointing away from my camera, and then swiftly taking photos whilst it stood frozen solid for a while. This captures the identity of the dog, With its head pointing directly forward and its legs and body stood still, it resembles a sense of proudness, and dominance. Composing the image so that I was down to its level, placing it in the centre of the image, concentrates all interest towards the dogs head and its gleaming fur as the bright sun reflects of its shiny black fur. I made the dog a lot darker than the rest of the image, so that the dog stood out, this resembles the dogs proudness to be a dog, as most humans would set the dog down on a lower level on importance to a human. I also focused the image so that it was crisply, focused on the dog, this caused a blurred effect on the background and once again adds the effect of dominance, and the concentration towards the dog. I though it would be interesting to capture the identity, and the personality of an animal such as a dog, as most identity themed photography is usually based around humans, and the expression of emotion by facial features and positioning, so for identity or portrait photography, breaks the convention of most photography. I believe I captured this image through a use of different methods and ideas behind it.