Photographer captures pooches puzzled by human behavior in latest series

Humans make the oddest noises to get the attention of their dogs. And usually it results in a pet pooch giving their owner a quizzical look just like the canines snapped by German photographer Elke Vogelsang for her latest series “Dogs Questioning The Photographer’s Sanity.”

How did you come up withthis creative idea?

When trying to make the dog look into my camera,I use noises —sometimes very strange ones. This can be really funny, especially as very cool or smarter dogs instantly get that it’s justa trick and won’t react at all or sometimes look a bit pitying. I realized that some pictures actually show the dog with a bewildered or shocked expression.

Why did you choose the name “Dogs Questioning The Photographer’s Sanity” for your project?

I guess it’s because I mostly feel a bit like I’m slightly mad when trying to motivate dogs to look into my camera.

How do you manage to interpret their expressions?

Personally, I think that’s actually very subjective;every viewer might have his own interpretation. We love to humanize dogs. Some of my pictures show the dogs with human-like expressions. Often we interpret it as such. A dog chewing ona treat looks for a second like it would smile or laugh or smirk. Dogs can smile in a similar way as human beingsand dogs do have many different emotions, but there are lots of differencesbetween canine and human facial expressions.

What is the funniest part of working with dogs?

Dogs are funny characters. They find pleasure in the most mundane things. My dogs are my joy, recreation and constant source of laughter, though they can be shy and sad as well.

– By Daniel Casillas