Customer Reviews

A Dog's Life: A Book of Classic Photographs

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It you appreciate great photography and love dogs, this book is the perfect blending of both! Our pooch pals are captured in numerous poses and activities documenting the many ways they are an integral part of modern life. This is a book I reach for if I want a good laugh, or some tugs at my heartstrings. Dog lovers---enjoy!

It is often said that in order to take a phenominal photograph, one has to be in the right place at the right time. Some of these photos, were obviously taken at the spur of the moment by someone who was indeed at the right place at the right time. Any book put out by Life Magazine immediately captures my attention and this one was no exception. While there are many spontaneous shots here, there were also several that looked just too "posed and stiff for my liking." For example, there is one of a white poodle posing for the camera that looks cute in a book, but you better hope the guy never takes off out the back door and heads for the woods! His brushed out poodle cut rather resembles one of Dolly Parton's wigs. My preference is natural photographs that are taken when one least expects the click of the shutter and, thankfully, there are several of those here as well. This is not one of my favourite books on canine photography, but it is still one worth having.

As usual this collection by the editors of LIFE Magazine is more than just a bunch of cute dog shots.

LIFE has many many special editions which choose a subject and showcases the subject with photographs and captions that span the magazines lifetime in production. This time the subject is the dog. William Wegman writes a wonderful introduction and shares his love of dogs and some of the techniques he uses to capture those wonderful studio shots as well as fun stories.

The photography here is so much better than any of the endless email forwards people send around with 20 syrupy sweet shots of puppies doing stupid things which obviously have been photoshopped, chopped up and are fun but not the truth. No...this is the real deal when great photographers were out there pounding the pavement bringing us incredible images as seen through their eyes and lenses.

Some of my favorites are "Judge gets hissed at by Honey Pie" Honey Pie is a Siamese cat standing horizontally on a pole looking at Judge who has obviously just put her there. Above her is a sign that says no dogs allowed - I guess it was a cat park. There is one where Robert F. Kennedy runs along the beach with his dog, Freckles. It reminds me of the shot LIFE ran of Bobby Kennedy walking Freckles on the tarmac at the airport. In both shots it's just Kennedy and his dog. In the latter, he was killed just a week later. The images are not only funny, heartwarming and sometimes haunting but they also shows us how much our society has changed and grown in the mid to late 20th century. And LIFE was there documenting it all.

A dog's Life is definitely worth owning if not for the fabulous photography then for a small but interesting slice of Americana.

Almost every page of this book is filled with heart-warming photos of how amazing dogs are in their behavior, talents, appearances, and ways they communicate their love for LIFE itself. If you are familiar with LIFE magazine's photography and their uniqueness to show true LIFE in action and the humor and warmth of life itself, then this book is what you can use to cheer up your day and entertain your family, and sit on your coffee table for your guests to enjoy. It' not just a book filled with cute photos of dogs. It's a bog about dogs in action and their love of LIFE. Amazing photography.