William Wegman

William Wegman never really wanted a dog. He was too caught up in his photography to be bothered, but his wife had a different idea. When William and his wife moved from Wisconsin to California they started looking for a dog. They decided to go with a Weimaraner when there was no luck with finding a Dalmatian. There first weimaraner was named Man Ray and the first thing William did when he took Man Ray home was take his picture, the rest is history.

Man-Ray was a hand full as a puppy he demand a lot of attention and the only time he was good was when he was working in the studio with Wegman. Man Ray was calm and very well behaved when his picture was being taken which led to a series of portraits of him through out his eleven years of life. After Man Ray died Wegman swore off getting another dog but Man Rays portraits were getting quite a lot of attention but it wasn’t till five years later did he get another dog.

Wegmans’ new Weimaraner, Fan Ray and later her puppies were Wegmans' inspiration for continuing photographing the dogs though out the rest of his career. This was not Wegmans' intention but the dogs were so attentive in front of the camera that Wegman developed such an interest in the way each dog had its own personality and how it was brought out in the pictures.

The photographs of Fan Ray’s puppies are my favorite. The photographs are less posed and more authentic. Puppies are like children everything is new to them and Wegman was able to catch those emotions of the puppies in all the pictures that he took.

The first few days the puppies were born photographing them was easy they where very cooperative, probably because they couldn’t do much but sleep. Wegman took this opportunity to photograph them with various still life objects. Potter plants, vases, lunch boxes and drapes became just some of the objects the puppies posed with. After the puppies started to get a bit older, Wegman and Fan Ray, venture with them outside. This collection sparked a series of nature photographs of the puppies.

When the puppies were twenty days old Wegman and the family moved to a cabin in Maine. Next to the Wegman cabin was an old lodge that was unlivable for humans but was perfect for weimaraners. The puppies lived there all summer while Wegman continued photographing them. Since the puppies were older and couldn’t sit still as long photographing became a bit of a challenge but Wegman discovered that if he posed them and gave them something to do they were just as much hams as there mother was.

Wegman’s' series of photographs of the puppies in Maine that summer are some of the most amusing pictures. The puppies are not dressed up or posed in a studio they are outside enjoying nature. Wegman captured them in gardens, on boats, in the lodge and their first adventure with water, which almost turned deadly for one puppy. As the summer drew to a close it was time for Wegman to give away some of the puppies, they were getting to be a bit to much. One puppy would stay with Wegman and Fan Ray while another two would stay in Maine with family members.

After that first summer in Maine with the puppies there were three more litters. None of which caught the innocence and playfulness that the first litter’s photographs produced. Wegman went in a different direction and started posing the dogs in the studio. The photographs of the dogs dressed in different outfits and as different characters really sent Wegmans photographs into the main stream. His art was not just photographs anymore; they were books, calendars, mugs, mouse pads and a plethora of other objects.

His style has always remained the same but his themes have varied for example, he has a whole book dedicated to strange photographs of the dogs and another one with the dogs dressed in high fashion. His photographs are no longer just portraits of his pets they have evolved to art pieces with messages that evoke thought. Like his Blue Period with Banjo, which shows a dog with a bone and a banjo with a picture of Picasso’s The Old Guitar Player.

William Wegmans photographs are some of my favorite pictures, mostly because I love Weimaraner’s. They are the cutest and most creative ways I’ve seen animals photograph.