We really do love dogs. Why else would we read this magazine? by Courtney Bernardo

I found it impossible to dislike the animal growing up. I had a Husky who bit my nose when I was 2 years old, my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel cries and whines every night at 3am (because he wants to snuggle), and currently, my German Shepherd runs away the second she’s off leash. You could say I am an amateur dog owner, though my dogs are no show dogs.

When I first spoke to Margaret Foxmoore a month or so before the Westminster Dog show, she had asked my what my experience was with dog shows and photographing them. To be honest, I really didn’t know much. The most dog show experience I had was watching The National Dog show on TV after the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade every year, and the most Dog photography I had done is photograph my own pets. She had the utmost faith in my abilities and told me to “photograph dogs being dogs”. This became the sentence that stuck in my head all throughout Westminster.

Back when I was going for my BFA, I recalled some photographers my Professors mentioned that photographed dogs as an art. William Wegman photographed his love for Weimaraner dogs. Tim Flach photographed the intimacy of the dogs physical form and personality. Keith Carter was my main inspiration, because he would photograph dogs showing what it meant to be “man’s best friend”. When talking about his book Bones he states:

“In Bones, I followed dogs under porches, down dirt roads, up cotton rows, and around hidden corners. The journey was an intuitive exploration of a commonality of spirit and a shared perception of the world. behavioral scientists have come to believe man’s best friend and much of the animal world share an informed consciousness as well as an emotional life. Is it too improbable a leap to suppose they might also have a spiritual life, one not defined by human sensibilities?” (https://www.keithcarterphotographs.com/bones)

My goal in my photographs for the Westminster Dog show was to not capture the dog being perfect, or maintaining the standards for its breed. No, I wanted to capture the personality and energy that dogs provide for people: their compassion, loyalty, and unconditional love for us.