Assignment 2: A dog and its owner
The second assignment of the portrait photography course was all about a dog and its owner. This offered the additional challenge of having to direct two subjects instead of just one. Especially one which does not necessarily understand your instructions.
Ellen & Nova
In this case it was more of an opportunistic photo shoot. It was new year’s eve and I knew that I would be going to a house where both the dog and the owner would be present.
However, during the course of the evening, after first having spent it with other friends in the same town, I sort of forgot about the whole thing until my photography became a topic of conversation. That is when I mentioned I had actually bought along my camera because I was hoping to take the opportunity to do one of my assignments. At this point it was January 1st at 3 in the morning.
Even so, I did manage to get some pictures and while Nova the dog was on her last legs in terms of energy, the pictures turned out quite nice! It’s funny to see how a dog who previously greeted you so excitedly, can become so mellow.
During a series of pictures that I took during this shoot, this narrative unfolded of a dog losing more and more interested, and its owner becoming more and more eager to get a good pose.
Nao & Noa
Below is a series of pictures I took during my last trip to Japan, which happened to feature the same subject as the assignment.
Pictured are Nao and Noa. Noa is a dachshund, and was, perhaps quite obviously, named after Nao. Compared to Nova, Noa is the most easygoing carefree dog. When I came to Nao’s house to spend a couple nights as a couch surfer, Noa greeted me with a few high pitched barks, but after that he was quite indifferent to my presence there.
Nao loves Noa a lot, and the both of them formed some kind of unity which was a delight to photograph. I think it was because of this that the critique I received from the photographer who is leading our course was far more positive compared to the series I took of Ellen and Nova.
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