Recreation of Untitled

UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER (AMERICAN). Untitled, z. 1900-10

I was drawn to this photograph because often times when I think of portraits I think of human subjects. So for me, this photograph brought about a new outlook on what a portrait can be. I do not think that the photographer was concerned about the lighting and background. I think it could have been taken so that the dog does not blend in with the background. 

Conceptually it can be assumed that this dog was a family pet and therefore was photographed as a member of the family, not just an animal. The idea of capturing a pet in the same way you would a person was an interesting idea/concept to me.  

I find this photograph to be somewhat comical. In my mind I can easily replace the dog with a human sitting on the stool. The dog starts to have human like characteristics since it is being posed instead of capturing the dog in a natural state of being. I think that it also says a lot about the value of the dog and photography at the time it was taken. 

For my recreation I wanted to focus on the framing and concept of the original. When I first saw the original I immediately thought of my cousin's dog, Gino. He is not just a pet, but more so a member of the family. As you can see in the photograph he is wearing a bow tie, in fact, his bow tie. The tie is a part of one of his halloween costumes. 

The framing was the element of the composition I focused on the most. Along with that I wanted to keep the simplicity of the original, so Gino is posed on a stool which was placed in front of a solid colored wall.