William Wegman
William Wegman never really wanted a dog. He was too caught up in his photography to be bothered, but his wife had a different idea. When William and his wife moved from Wisconsin to California they started looking for a dog. They decided to go with a Weimaraner when there was no luck with finding a Dalmatian. There first weimaraner was named Man Ray and the first thing William did when he took Man Ray home was take his picture, the rest is history. Man-Ray was a hand full as a puppy he demand a lot of attention and the only time he was good was when he was working in the studio with Wegman. Man Ray was calm and very well behaved when his picture was being taken which led to a series of portraits of him through out his eleven years of life. After Man Ray died Wegman swore off getting another dog but Man Rays portraits were getting quite a lot of attention but it wasn 't till five years later did he get another dog.
Wegmans ' new Weimaraner, Fan Ray and later her puppies were Wegmans ' inspiration for continuing photographing the dogs though out the rest of his career. This was not Wegmans ' intention but the dogs were so attentive in front of the camera that Wegman developed such an interest in the way each dog had its own personality and how it was brought out in the pictures. The photographs of Fan Ray 's puppies are my favorite. The photographs are less posed and more authentic. Puppies are like children everything is new to them and Wegman was able to catch those emotions of the puppies in all the pictures that he took.
The first few days the puppies were born photographing them was easy they where very cooperative, probably because they couldn 't do much but sleep. Wegman took this opportunity to photograph them with various still life objects. Potter plants, vases, lunch boxes and drapes became just some of the objects the puppies posed with. After the puppies started to get a bit older, Wegman and Fan Ray, venture with them outside. This
Wegmans ' new Weimaraner, Fan Ray and later her puppies were Wegmans ' inspiration for continuing photographing the dogs though out the rest of his career. This was not Wegmans ' intention but the dogs were so attentive in front of the camera that Wegman developed such an interest in the way each dog had its own personality and how it was brought out in the pictures. The photographs of Fan Ray 's puppies are my favorite. The photographs are less posed and more authentic. Puppies are like children everything is new to them and Wegman was able to catch those emotions of the puppies in all the pictures that he took.
The first few days the puppies were born photographing them was easy they where very cooperative, probably because they couldn 't do much but sleep. Wegman took this opportunity to photograph them with various still life objects. Potter plants, vases, lunch boxes and drapes became just some of the objects the puppies posed with. After the puppies started to get a bit older, Wegman and Fan Ray, venture with them outside. This
Bibliography: Wegman, William. "Puppies." New York: Hyperion, 1997 Wikipedia website: (March 8, 2007), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wegman_%28photographer%29 (accessed March 15, 2007)