A selection from William Wegman's 1999 book, Fay:
"I see a lot of photographs of dogs in hats and sunglasses. Cute pictures. People started sending them to me years ago, and now I have quite a few, perhaps a zillion. I am known by many as the guy who dresses up his dog. Guilty. But that was only a recent development with Fay, representing only a fraction of my work. In the selection of props for Man Ray I steered clear of these articles, rarely dressing him in human clothes. It never seemed right. Instead I transformed him into other animals, an elephant, a frog, an Airedale, using found props and compositional devices - a sock, swim fins, a Ping Pong ball cut in half, tinsel wrapped a certain way. Outside the studio I never went about dressing the dogs for my own amusement. It's not done as a joke in a spontaneous moment of whimsy. Not that dogs mind it, mind you. They will go along with just about anything you do as long as it keeps them in the game. Don't laugh at them, don't confuse them or hurt their feelings."
P.S. Btw: I am a fellow Maineiac ... I hail from Kittery, ME :)
Posted by: Lisa Marie Cross | 10/25/2016 at 07:54 PM
I tried dressing up Dutch ( my weimaraner and LOVE of my life who passed away last year at the age of 13), and he didn't really go for it. I now have Axl (a 6 month old weimaraner), he he'll let me do just about anything!! Thank you for all of the work that you have done - it puts smiles on the faces of many dog lovers, including myself. I am a first grade teacher, and I motivate my students to work hard so they can look at your pictures if they finish early. And believe me - it definitely works :)
Posted by: Amanda Tentinger | 12/14/2016 at 11:01 PM