X

This Wet Dog Is Very Important In Photography Right Now


May 5, 2014 | Sophie Weiner

The winners of the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards have been announced. Alongside serious photos of kids growing up without parents in Moldova, protests in Istanbul and abstract light experiences, the winning photograph in the Portraiture category went to Sophie Gamand, a New York-based French photographer, for a photo entitled Wet Dog… of a wet dog.

The dog in question bears the Popeye expression when he’s about to punch somebody, probably because wet dogs really, really hate being wet. The photo series featuring similarly wet dogs, ranging in appearance from terrified and ridiculous to terrifying and Alien-esque.

Garmand’s work focuses on the blurred line between animal and human in a species that’s been shaped by unnatural selection, so long that they’ve begun to communicate via human expressions. For this series, she describes her motivation as a desire to capture these pets at a “vulnerable and humiliating moment.” The humiliation has definitely been captured. (Photos: Sophie Garmand)