Fifty-Two on Friday – “Dogs in Our Lives” (11/52)

Welcome back to Fifty-Two on Friday, a 52 week project where super talented pet photographers from all over the world collaborate on a different theme each week for a year in order to push our creative photographic limits. Visit this site every Friday to see each photographer’s take on the theme for the week. I’ll be linking to another pet photographer’s site and they’ll be doing the same so make sure to go through all the links until you arrive back here.

This week’s theme was “Dogs in Our Lives”, meaning that there are little clues everywhere that our furbabies leave us that make their presence known, even if they aren’t in the same room at the moment. Our challenge this week was to photograph these clues, without including our pet.

Starfox’s clue:

His nasty habit that we can’t seem to shake. When he’s bored at home while we’re at work, the chewing begins.

Seren’s clue:

Her hair is this all surrounding, omnipresent force that I’ve tried to battle time and time again. But it wins every single time. Just when I think my trusty lint brush and I will emerge victorious, there are always stragglers creeping behind every corner. I’ve come to the point where I have accepted defeat and accepted her hair as a part of me.

Check out the Skyy Blue Photography blog, where super talented owner Ali Peterson reveals some of the clues her own pets leave for her.

I leave you with a poem by Paul Fersen. It’s a poem that this week’s theme is based on and that all pet owners can relate to.

“Dogs In Our Lives” by Paul Fersen

We aren’t house-proud.
If we were, we wouldn’t abide the scratches on the door-frame, the holes in the screen, the darkened shine of worn spots on the chair.
We would wince at the mottled carpet and fret at the hair clinging to our clothes.
We don’t.
If anything, we lovers of dogs are a tolerant lot, finding greater value in the unabashed affection of our friend than immaculate sofas.
Shoes can be replaced, but heroic retrievers are timeless.
Without dogs, our houses are cold recepticles for things.
Dogs make a fire warmer with their curled presence.
They wake us, greet us, protect us, and ultimately carve a place in our hearts and our history.
On reflection, our lives are often referenced in parts defined by the all-too-short lives of our dogs.