CR Blog
Tim Flach's Dogs
Posted by Gavin Lucas, 20 October 2010, 15:02 Permalink Comments (21)
Meet Alan – he's a Standard Poodle. If you're an avid dogshow attendee, you might just know him as Afterglow Sugar Daddy. The above image of Alan / Afterglow Sugar Daddy is one of dozens of photographs of all kinds of dogs taken by Tim Flach specially for his new book, rather appropriately titled Dogs, published by Abrams...
Hardback, an inch thick and 12 x 12 inches in size, the book is quite a beast in itself but that's no bad thing – it's great to see Flach's imagery produced at this page size, and there are plenty of full bleed double page spread shots too. However, the book is not merely a book of beautiful images of all kinds of dogs, large small, ugly, graceful, well groomed, hugely hairy and otherwise – it's more. It's a look at the relationship between man and his best friend. "The book explores questions around our diversification of that species," Flach tells us. "The dog was a grey wolf until mankind got its hands on it."
A Siberian Husky
Complete with text by one time Creative Review editor Lewis Blackwell, the book offers all kinds of insights to the different dog breeds photographed specially for the book. Did you know, for example, that a Dalmatian's spots actually signify one of the breed's less favourable genetic traits that leads to a degree of deafness in up to thirty percent of all born? This weaknesss could, theoretically, be bred out as the more black patches on a Dalmatian, the less likely it is to suffer deafness. But breeders like the spots, rather than larger black patches so that's how it is...
Did you also know that the Labradoodle, a cross between a labrador retriever and a poodle, was deliberately bred for the first time in 1989 with a view to mixing the low-shedding aspects of a poodle's coat with the trainability of a labrador - the outcome being to produce a guide dog for those with allergies to dog hair? Did you also know that a representative of the breed narrowly missed out (to a Portuguese water dog) on being the current White House dog? All true!
Freddy is a French Bulldog. He hangs out in a London advertising agency by day. No idea what he likes to do when he's not at work
Another fascinating fact I gleaned whilst immersed in a copy of the book this morning was that racism appears to exist in the human / dog relationship. For some unknown reason, we prefer other colours of dogs, black being the least favourite. Rescue homes have more black dogs in need of re-housing than any other colour.
"Reasons for this 'black dog syndrome' vary," runs the text in the book on the subject, "but one of the most plausible links to our need to find a dog face that we can fall in love with. Black dogs are less obviously showy in their facial features, less baby-like on first glance compared to some young dogs. This all says much more about the weaknesses of humans than dogs."
Flach's Dogs book contains images of pure breeds, cross breeds, genetically cloned dogs, dogs that sniff out explosive devices, show-winning dogs, sitting dogs and leaping dogs. From dogs owned by wealthy land owners to dogs found in rescue homes, the book offers beautiful, page-turning imagery, insight and commentary in equal measures. Here are a selection of spreads and images from the book:
A Chow Chow and a Little Lion Dog
This bundle of fluff is a Pekingese. "DNA research reveals that it is one of the most ancient of breeds, with the smallest variation from the ancestral Asian wolves." Amazing, but you can't argue with DNA
Another ancient breed, the Afghan Hound. Nice hair, too. Very chic
Bichon Frise - a friendly little dog that is good for those with allergies. The particular style of doggy haircut being sported by the little chap above is known as a 'Lion Cut'
Komondor - a wolf in sheep's clothing. And on the right is a Leicester Longwool – which is a sheep. Not a dog
A Pointer. Doing what he does best
English Springer Spaniel
This pair of Doberman Pinschers are having their ears 'trained' to stick up by bandaging them to posts. That's the way American Doberman breeders have traditionally liked them to look – and to achieve this look, the ears are cropped (trimmed) and set in the upright position for a month or so. American Doberman owners will also have their dogs tails docked too. This means their tails are cut right back shortly after birth.
This is a trained German Shepherd dog – the kind used by the police the world over. Known by criminals as a "land shark" apparently. This image shows why!
No, this isn't a lion with a zebra tattoo. It's a standard poodle that's been groomed creatively. 'Creative grooming' is worth Googling if you have a spare moment. Some of the images of such extreme grooming have to be seen to be believed
A Boxer. Possibly the cleanest, best groomed example of the breed ever photographed
Rafferty is a "Staffie" or, to give him his full breed name, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. He was a resident of Battersea Dogs Home when Flach photographed him for the book. If he's still there, I suspect he won't be for much longer
Dogs by Tim Flach is published by Abrams, £30
See more of Flach's work at timflach.com
If you picked up a copy of our recently published Photography Annual issue, then you might have spotted Flach's images of a particular breed of hairy dog which featured in the Best in Book section. More info about the Photography Annual issue here
21 Comments
Great Pictures! I like these!
2010-10-20 17:56:40
amazing!
2010-10-21 05:07:40
Lovely Shots!
2010-10-21 08:43:10
These are beautiful photos.
2010-10-21 10:04:53
Adorable - looks like a good book.
2010-10-21 11:54:38
The first picture should be the lead, if they ever make a Planet of the Dogs film. A world where dogs take over mankind.
2010-10-21 13:54:08
Beautiful Images. I can't wait to buy that book. I have a Chow chow and he just makes me happy everyday.
2010-10-21 20:09:41
makes me want you to photograph my dogs.
nice one.
2010-10-21 20:54:47
I think I'm getting a copy of this for christmas.. cannot wait!!!!! his other book (EQUUS) is gorgeous also....
2010-10-22 13:41:51
I just love Tim's work. I was given his book Equis for christmas last year, and if I leave enough hints, will I get this book this year? I can only hope.
2010-10-22 13:47:54
I have Equus and think it's wonderful. This has all the promise of being the same. Great photographs Mr Flach. :o)
2010-10-22 14:29:57
Such nice photos, love the two dobermans.
2010-10-22 16:04:08
Don't get me wrong, I like some of these photos, although I do feel a number of them are not particularly special. However, it really turns me off when Creative Review promote and laud work that just happens to have some input from someone with a close association with CR. Many people would absolutely love for their work to receive some promotion from CR, so given that power CR holds, an unbiased approach is vital.
However good Tim Flach's images are, for the book to have text by Lewis Blackwell and then be included in the Photography Annual feels problematic to me. Here, online, the project receives yet further publicity. I'm reminded of The Annual a few years ago, when John Hassay was one of the judges and conveniently Colonel Blimp dominated the music video awards.
I admit that I have not read the smallprint that comes with entering work for The Annual or the Photography Annual which may touch on these issues. These are simply some observations of mine. There's no harm in friendly PR favours, but I do feel that Creative Review should not be able to accept submissions of work to any of the Annuals if CR staff past or present are involved, or a judging panellist has some connection to the work. Maybe you can shed some light on your policy here, and correct me if I'm wrong.
But it's your magazine, and your website, and you're not the BBC, so do what you want. Just don't think nobody notices these things...
2010-10-22 16:39:00
@ Ann Onymous
What a charming comment to end the week with.
For the record, Tim Flach's images were chosen for the Photography Annual by the judge in that category, Claudia Donaldson, who has nothing to do with CR and arrived at her decision entirely independently. No judge in any of our Annuals is allowed to vote on any work that they or their company had anything to do with. For the Photography and Illustration Annuals we specifically state that judges are not allowed to select work that they or their company had any involvement with.
Perhaps you'd like to withdraw your entirely unwarranted slight on John Hassay in the light of this.
When writing up his project for the Photography Annual, Tim Flach told us that it was related to a forthcoming book and so, given the amount of praise his images attracted when they were published in the PA it seemed only logical to post about the book once it came out. Judging by the comments here and on Twitter people love these images so we were right to draw readers' attention to them.
Personally, I had no idea that Lewis (who left CR over ten years ago) was involved in the book until Gavin put the post up. He is involved in a great many books, only one of which we have mentioned in CR before this.
PatrickBurgoyne
2010-10-22 16:58:00
I believe you Pat!
2010-10-22 20:47:28
Some impressive images and what looks like a wonderful book - on my Christmas list definately. With some honest, thoughtful reponses to criticism on a blog - very refreshing and interesting to read :-)
2010-10-23 08:52:49
Beautiful photos of beautiful dogs, my only complaint is that the Dobermans are shown with the ears cut, a barbaric practice which is thankfully, has been and is being made illegal in many countries. Plus, the creative grooming of that poor poodle, it's A DOG, people, let it be one.
2010-11-08 21:34:42
Great post. I am definitely going to have to pick this book up. In my opinion this creative grooming is going a tad far. It looks awesome and the groomers are clearly very skilled but a dog needs to be a dog as Heather mentioned. The ear clipping is definitely not my favorite either.
2011-05-17 23:04:00
I would really like to buy a print of the puli - where can I get one from?
2011-09-14 20:06:21
Beautiful images, he has captured the dogs in the most inspiring way. I would like to bring Heather's comment in regard to the creative grooming shot in to question though, "The creative grooming of that poor poodle, it's a dog...", in fact, those with keener eye sight will notice that it's a toy model and not a dog at all! If indeed Heather did spot that and the idea was to rant about creative grooming you should probably find another review site.
2011-10-10 11:07:31
The dog in the creative grooming photo is in fact a dog & not a toy. This dog was groomed by a very talented indvidiual with amazing creativity & vision. The dog, by the way, is happy & healthy. He is most definately "a dog" leading a dog's life. He is extremely well balanced, well natured, & social.
2012-05-04 06:26:46
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