More than 140,000 photos from 166 countries were entered in the Sony World Photography Awards, and one of them, a photo of a dog caught mid-bath, with sopping fur streaming and a sour look on his face, stunned the judges. We imagine them seated at a table, passing around the photo.
“Look at this,” says one. “A wet dog,” coos another. “Finally …” breathes a third.
They stopped judging right then, and burst from the room and stood on the balcony, waving the portrait to the throngs — perhaps. In any case, they had their first place in the Portraiture category.
This is Wet Dog:
Stunning, no?
The photo was taken by Sophie Gamand, a New York-based French photographer, and it is no fluke, no opportune moment caught when she was washing her dog. Rather, wet dogs are her business, her bread and butter. They’re around her all the time, waiting, sopping, for their turn in front of the camera. Sophie Gamand is our premiere wet dog photographer. She even has a book, Wet Dog, coming out in the fall.
She describes the book:
Wet Dog is a series of portraits of dogs photographed during their least favorite activity: bath time. Exposed at a vulnerable and humiliating moment, the soggy doggies wiggle, shake, haul themselves out of the groomer’s soapy grasp. The series celebrates dogs for what they really are: more than just animals. After millennia of close collaboration with humans, dogs have acquired a unique status in our society. Have they also taken some of our expressions?
And now, are you ready? Here are a lot of wet dogs:
You can see all the photos at Sophie Gamand Photography. And, good news, prints from the series are for sale. To purchase, visit her American store and her international store.
Read more about the bond between humans and dogs on Dogster:
