This photo essay will document the life of my dogs, Tobi (brown) and Kubo (black) on a daily basis. It will also be used to show the responsibility that comes with owning a dog.
Title: Good Morning
F5.6 1/60 ISO12800 46mm
Title: Stretch the paws
F5.6 1/60 ISO200 18mm
Title: Breakfast time
F5.6 1/30 ISO1600 18mm
Title: Afternoon nap
F4 1/30 ISO1600 35mm
Title: Searching for Tobi
F5.6 1/125 ISO400 38mm
Title: Dinner after a ‘ruff’ day
F5.6 1/30 ISO12800 18mm
Title: Well-earned rest
F5.6 1/60 ISO12800 18mm
Title: One last walk before bed
F4 1/40 ISO12800 24mm
Title: Playtime before bedtime
F4 1/30 ISO6400 24mm
Title: Same time again tomorrow
F3.5/125 ISO12800 18mm
Artist’s Statement:
I made this photo essay by following my dogs around during different stages of the day. I used a Nikon D5300 for all of the photos which you can see above. All of the photos are a combination of pictures from different days in order to tell the story of one day in the lives of my dogs, Tobi and Kubo. I tried to incorporate certain techniques which I have gotten familiar with in my digital photography module, such as the rule of thirds and the depth of field. There was no editing in any of my images in order to show the progression of the day using the natural daylight.
The aim of this photo essay is to not only tell the story of my dogs’ lives on a daily basis but to also show the responsibilities that come with owning dogs. Once you own a dog or multiple, then they become a part of your life for as long as they are with you. You have to fit them into your daily routine and potentially sacrifice something that you would have done if those dogs were not there. This could be work, coffee with a friend or a party. The main reason for this being the main message of the photo essay is because the holiday season is coming up. With that being said, people often buy dogs as a present without knowing the true responsibility which is needed in order to take care of these animals. Upon realising this, the owner then dumps the animal onto the side of the street leaving it with nowhere to go.
Critical Evaluation:
I think that the general idea of this project was portrayed well. However, there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. The only real issue when it came to portraying my idea was timing. This is the reason as to why the photos taken are from different days as I was not always free to take photos of a particular stage of the day for the dogs. One thing I would consider for future projects is the incorporation of more photographic techniques. I tried to capture movement by altering the shutter speed but when I looked back at the results there weren’t any images which stood out to me that I could use for the project. For next time, I also think that I should be braver when it comes to shooting these images. I tried to constantly stick to 2 or 3 techniques as I was afraid of getting bad results. As I worked on the project, I realised that the more I would have practiced with different techniques, the more likely I was to achieve results which I would have been satisfied with.