After 2 years of planning, shooting, retouching, designing, proofing and printing, Living With Dogs is finally here as a beautifully printed, 176 page hardback book.
Released on the 30th April by Unicorn Publishing Group, Living With Dogs is a photo book by photographer Dylan Collard examining the UK’s domestic bond with dogs. It points the camera at a diverse range of human / canine relationships by looking at people with pet dogs, assistance dogs, sports dogs, rescue dogs and working dogs.
The book explores how we share our homes, sofas, living rooms and lives with our canine friends. Living With Dogs is about love, family, support, connection, belonging and home.
The theme common throughout is companionship. In the detail of the interiors, in the gaze between dog and owner, in the touch of a hand, the pictures on the walls, in the resting of a head and the leaning on a leg, Living With Dogs presents vignettes of this mutually beneficial relationship in the context, privacy and sanctity of the sitters’ homes.
For an 18 month period, Dylan was given access to over 50 homes all over the UK. As the dogs settled and people relaxed, Dylan sat, chatted and photographed the scenes and relationships unfolding before him. He met big dogs, little dogs, hairy dogs, short-haired dogs, confident dogs, shy dogs, scary dogs, timid dogs, cuddly dogs, country dogs, city dogs and deaf dogs. Some had lived with multiple dogs all their lives, others sat with their first and only dog.
THE BOOK
The resulting images are all beautifully presented in this large format, high-quality, full colour book released by Unicorn as a first edition of 1000.
Featuring 53 images printed across 176 pages the book combines photography with 17 stories exploring the sitters’ lives, experiences and relationship with their dogs. These stories (gathered from interviews with the sitters) are personal accounts of human and dog companionship from a wide range of dog owners. They reveal how important this relationship can be and in many cases it’s a union that has been life changing for both people and dogs.
The book also features 3 essays by renowned specialists from the dog world to create a considered and tactile photographic book that gives an insight into how dogs live with their people.
Living With Dogs Book Specifications:
310 x 245mm
176 pages
Dust jacket with full colour image
One colour foil-blocking on the hardcover
170gsm Galerie silk art paper text pages
Sirio Color end papers from Fedrigoni
Printed and bound in Slovenia
Dylan Collard
Dylan Collard is a London-based, award-winning advertising photographer who shoots environmental and studio portraiture. He regularly works on personal projects like Living With Dogs which combines a 24-year love of photography with a lifelong passion for dogs. His work has been included in the National Portrait Gallery’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize several times as well as multiple appearances in publications like the Portrait of Britain, Creative Review, BJP and Communication Arts. He also has work in the V&A’s permanent photographic archive.
Dylan is also a keen dog owner and trainer. He has two of his own dogs Amos and Edie who he has worked in both Working Trails and Competitive Obedience. He also regularly helps other (usually new) dog owners train their dogs, passing experience he has gained training with some of the UK’s best dog trainers over the last 12 years.
Thank you to everyone who has supported Living With Dogs since its beginnings in April 2021. Dylan is forever grateful to everyone who encouraged and enthused about the initial ‘test’ images, and to all who shared their time and opened their homes to him as he developed and shot the project. Thank you, and we hope you enjoy Living With Dogs.
Dylan Collard is represented by
Swerve Represents
office@swerverepresents.com
swerverepresents.com
For more information or to speak to
Dylan Collard about the project contact;
