The Nature of Dogs by Mary Ludington

Kassi, The Doxie With Moxie, dropped Darby a note to let him know Mary Ludington's new book The Nature of Dogs comes out today. Ludington, who has been photographing dogs for over 10 years, has a unique approach towards her subjects; she aims to "make them more distant from us in order to reveal something new about them."

I never thought about our closeness to dogs blinding us to their true nature, and I admire Ludington's attempts to "bypass the sentimental layer" we impose on them. But judging from her photos, I think she's set herself an impossible task. Her images are so wonderful we simply fall in love with the dogs, hence blinding us to their true nature.   I guess that's the paradox of dogs and love and dog-love.

Anyway, the book looks gorgeous and right in time for Christmas. It would make a great hostess gift for a dog-lover too.