Chatham Photographer Captures Canine Patience With ‘Dogs Wait’

by Jennifer Sexton 

            CHATHAM--- “Like the voice of God coming from even the tiniest of dog trainers, the command to sit and stay is often given in a drawn out baritone voice. Some dogs—most likely border collies—respond respectfully. Others, like my Irish terrier, will hold the stay, but yawn and look around for something better to do,” explains Chatham artist Barbara Ford Doyle in an introduction to her photo essay “Dogs Wait.” The touching and humorous series of images documenting the patience of dogs is on exhibit at Orleans Camera for the month of July.

         Doyle grew up in rural Connecticut, where her family always included one or more dogs. She and her husband share their lives with their terrier, Quigley. However, turning the camera onto man’s best friend is a bit of a departure for the artist, who has illustrated and operated her business Calendars: Barbara Ford Doyle since 1987.

            “The only dogs that have been in the calendar have been ones we’ve owned. This is a different direction for me,” Doyle says.

            The idea of photographing dogs began when Doyle’s husband began taking their dog to obedience and agility classes. He became quite enthusiastic about it, and Doyle found it fascinating to watch. She soon noticed the widely varying attitudes of dogs as they wait for their owners, wait for a walk, wait for just about anything. Observing the difference in canine waiting styles, she began to document the patience of dogs through the eye of the camera. Rule number one, she says, is always be prepared.

            “I like to move in low, focus on the dog’s eyes, and capture as many shots as possible,” she says.  “You may recognize some of these dogs about town. The process is ongoing, and I try to take my camera with me every time I go out because you just never know when there is going to be a wonderful image to be captured. Then I kick myself if for some reason I don’t have my camera. Every trip I go on, even down to the local post office, I have my camera. I’ve got quite an extensive file. At this point there are 14 images that I have processed and will have in Orleans.”

            Doyle’s photographic process for “Dogs Wait” begins with raw digital negatives that she loads into the computer and layers with Polaroid transfers and scanned textured papers. Her completed images are soft, richly pigmented prints. Although she says that she does appreciate computer technology and realizes that she could easily use it to create a dog with three heads, the integrity of her subjects is unchanged by her process. She is most interested in narrative situations, neither flights of fancy or simple portraits. Each picture tells its own story.

            Doyle hopes to take her images to another level by pairing them with literary quotes on the subject of the patience and perseverance of dogs and turning the project into a book.

            “I’ve created a dummy book, which I’m hoping to send out to a publisher,” Doyle explains. “Right now I am working on finding literary examples that might be about dogs waiting. E.B. White wrote a good one: ‘I can still see my first dog. For six years he met me at the same place after school and convoyed me home — a service he thought up himself. A boy doesn't forget that sort of association.’ If I can find a variety of selections, it might enhance the power of the book in a literary way. That’s what I’m working on.”

            For those who are interested in purchasing Doyle’s images of dutiful canines, she has teamed up with two other local artists to create a website where the images will soon be available.

            “I have my website right now for my calendars, and very soon there will be another one called artsynergies.com.  This is a group of three digital artists, Mary Doering, Martine Jore and myself. The website will represent a collaborative group exchange of our digital work. That’s where I will put all the dog images within the month. Images will be available in a very limited edition called a varietal edition. So they may be printed possibly in different sizes, but the ones in the show are 12-by-12 inches with a much bigger frame.”

            “Dogs Wait” by Barbara Ford Doyle will be on exhibit at Orleans Camera for the month of July. To learn more about Doyle’s calendar art, visit www.bfdoyle.com.

7/2/09