Customer Reviews

Dogs in the Sun

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

Hans Silvester does an amazing job of capturing the spirit, personality and playfulness of dogs in this book. The photographs are wonderful, and the book is designed so that you can linger on each image and appreciate Silvester's skill as a photographer. I particularly enjoyed the photographic stories--sequences of images that show us dogs playing, exploring, being. I've never been to Greece, but now I feel like I have--at least to see the dogs there! Makes a beautiful coffee-table book.

All of Hans Silvester's photography books of dogs, cats & kittens in the Greek Cyclades Island are lovely examples of fine photography. As a fine art photographer myself, I respect Mr. Silvester's level of skill and artistry, and I find his other books very beautiful.

However, when I became aware of his books about the cats and dogs, I was thoroughly dismayed by his choice of subject matter and the way he has chosen to portray the lives of these creatures as idyllic and carefree.

Having been to these Greek islands, I have learned firsthand that the large majority of these poor animals are ignored, injured, or mistreated by people there-anything but "respected." The photographer has omitted portraits of the true conditions of most of the dogs and cats in Greece-crippled, starving, dying of thirt, hurt or maimed, with the humans around them barely taking notice.

The full horror of the story was revealed to me by locals on the islands. Each year, the cats & dogs are allowed to breed uncontrolled, because tourists are fond of seeing the cute animals around the island & on the beaches. At the end of each tourist season, as many of them as possible are rounded up and killed (I couldn't bear to learn how), until the following year when the ones that survived begin the cycle all over again. I found this same story on all the islands I visited, including Mykonos, and I was so appalled that I shortened my stay and left Greece altogether.

The situation is a tragedy, and my feeling, as a photographer & animal lover, is that Mr. Silvester should not be misrepresenting the condition of cats and dogs on the Greek islands, especially when it is for monetary gain. I hope animal lovers around the world will agree, and send a message to anyone who profits in any way from the suffering of these dogs and cats in the sun.

I bought this for my grandmother for mothers day and am returning it. Judging by the cover I was expecting a little brighter content. However, I was keeping an open mind as i flipped through it and was appreciative that it was a little more in tune with the reality of being a stray dog in greece. However, at the end there are 2 pictures of dogs mating. Thats fine, but not for grandma.

I enjoy good photography, dogs and Greece has got to be one of the most photogenic places on earth. This book promised to be a great one but I found that ultimately I was disappointed. Although some of the pictures of the dogs were likeable, this book didn't really seem to bring out the beauty of the Greek Islands.

Furthermore I found the author's attitude that somehow being a stray dog on a Greek Island is an easy and desirable existence to be naive and silly at best. Greece has a pretty bad record on animal welfare and I shudder to think how the dogs are really treated when not being photographed. Being homeless, hungry and subject to human abuse all the time is not a desirable situation for any animal, even on a fantastic Greek Island.

This is another book review by the boonie dogs, Wolfie and Kansas. "Dogs in the Sun" by Hans Silvester is a book of photos of the stray dogs on Greek islands. We love the concept, although a Pacific island, like our own, would have provided a more colorful setting. The photos here portray real canine life, as opposed to the cute, but posed or staged, photos usually found in dog picture books. Unlike most books of this type, "Dogs in the Sun" might not be an appropriate gift for human puppies, as it contains some pictures of dog sex and violence.