We’ve all seen it: the dog sticking his head out the car window. The expressions run the gamut from pure joy to confusion and indifference. A photographer wanted to capture these unique looks – but instead of a car window, she used a beautiful retro fan.
In an open studio, photographer Illona Haus shot a series, aptly named Blow, showing how dogs interact with wind from an antique fan.
Under her company Scruffy Dog Photography, Haus spent years putting together the project, getting dogs from all walks of life to engage with the fan.
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“Variety was key to the project over all. I did not want this to be a drab series of simply one dog after the next being walked up to a fan. This series, like all of my private sessions, had to be about the individual dog and their experience, their unique personality and their engagement with the fan,” Haus tells This Dog’s Life. “So while it was important to observe how each dog’s hair reacted to the wind created by the fan so as best to capture it, it was just as vital to pay attention to each dog’s body language and engagement with the experience of the fan itself and truly capture that unique reaction. ”
The project all started with her own dog, a puppy mill rescue. “When I saw my rescue dog Merrick’s beautiful coat blowing in the breeze of a fan one hot summer day, it started the vision behind Blow,” she says.
The original Blow dog, Merrick. Image credit: Scruffy Dog Photography.
And interestingly, for the veteran photographer, the project isn’t her usual forte. “Usually you will find me lying in the dirt and mud out in a field or forest or even a back alleyway to capture the scruffy dog images which I have over the past decade,” she says.
While Haus has ambitions of turning this into a coffee table book, as of right now, she is posting updates on her blog.
Below are some of the highlights:
A Chinese crested dog named Sofie, the perfect model. Image credit: Scruffy Dog Photography.
Keno, the borzoi. Image Credit: Scruffy Dog Photography.
Luke the shih-tzu loved the fan. Image credit: Scruffy Dog Photography
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Chewy is struggling with possible cancer, and has lost one of his eyes. Haus calls him Winky and still as handsome as ever. Image Credit: Scruffy Dog Photography
Party, the bearded collie. Image Credit: Scruffy Dog Photography
Viva, another Chinese Crested. Image Credit: Scruffy Dog Photography
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