I saw this photo series and it nearly took my heart. Anyone who has ever considered following the career path of art or even being an aloof artist has probably made a portrait before. I remember an incident while in my high school photography class. We were having a class discussion about what it means to take a portrait. I remember my teacher saying that portraiture can only pertain to humans. It's now 4 years later and I still think about what my teacher had said. I feel that a good portrait opens the identity of a soul to the viewer. I feel that these pictures really showcase that. I know that a dog doesn't know that it's being photographed or what a camera is, but I think that Kent has given a cool perspective of somethings mundane--a life of a dog. Most of these dogs are just lying down or sleeping, but I think that there's something special in these dogs not posing for portraits like people do. This is truly their life.
Your comments make me think of the first issue I had with Catholicism when I was a kid; which was that animals didn't have souls and didn't go to any sort of afterlife. That never sat well with me, and I feel you can certainly take a portrait of a dog and capture its soul. Dogs certainly mostly reflect or mimic the emotion they are interacting with. But much like a portrait of a human, context in scenery and their state of mind is still very evident even in a portrait of an animal. It is read differently, and still is mostly interpreted through their relationships to humankind. But thats because we believe ourselves to be the center of the world, so anything not human is always read in relationship to our lives. The fact that these dogs are clearly in human environments makes the connection to humans even stronger and thematically important. I would say National Geographic photos of animals are more distinctly portraits (although more candid) of animals because they are commonly seen through a lens of their own individual environment separate from humans.
ReplyDeleteI cant believe that an art teacher would go make such a definite rule like that. It seems like it goes against a basic principle of art, to me, which is work can be made of any subject and can be powerful if done the right way. To me dogs have such expressive faces and I really do believe animals souls just I believe people do. I think that images of some animals, specifically dogs and cats, can be cheesy if they aren't done the right way. However, I too think that portraiture of animals can be extremely compelling.
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