"August 1960" reads the processor's stamp on the back of this Ampersand bulk-bin find. So those plastic chairs were still pretty groovy then, but that's not the point of this photo. No, it's all about the shaggy gray dog. Is that football a special toy? Did it just happen to be there? I must admit that were this my dog, I'd give him/her a bit of a wash, comb and trim before snapping the photo. Yet at the same time that is precisely why I appreciate this image: apparently all the dog had to be, to be beautiful and special to the photographer, was itself. Same concept as that behind many of Rembrandt's portraits of his companion Hendrickje, for example. Well, it has been said that truth and beauty are the same thing.
3 comments:
I wonder what joy that dog brought his (or her) humans.
Hi Parlance - I wonder that too, but I am sure he/she did indeed bring joy to their lives. I can tell from how firmly the dog is centered in the shot!
Yes, I hadn't thought of the central position - I just assumed the joy because of the trouble taken to get the picture in the days of real film and processing, and cost - oh, don't get me started about how much trouble photography was in "the old days"!
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