Featuring the work of more than 100 photographers and supported by interviews and thematic essays, the latest photography book from Huw Lewis-Jones sets out to answer the question posited on its cover – why do we photograph animals? With around three million photos of dogs posted to Instagram every day in the UK, it’s a valid question.
However, aside from the first couple of pages in the introduction, this isn’t really a book about dogs – it would probably be easier to list the species that aren’t included in Why We Photograph Animals. Lewis-Jones presents the history of animals in front of the lens, asks why they are one of the most popular subjects for humans to capture and provides interviews and profiles of some contemporary greats of the genre. Some are household names, others aren’t so well-known, but the photographs speak for themselves. Ahead of the book’s publication, we sat down with Lewis-Jones to discover more about the book and how it came together.
Let’s start with the most obvious question of all: why do we photograph animals?
It’s a really good question and every individual you ask will have a different range of responses. The simple answer to a complicated question that I’ve taken over 300 pages to try answering is that we love animals. While we’re innately drawn to animals for all kinds of storytelling reasons, the simple answer is that we take photographs of animals because we love them.
Many photographers use photography to try to learn more about themselves. If I ask my daughter why she keeps taking pictures on her smartphone of our dog, then there are all kindspictures of the closest animal to her in an effort to improve her photo skills as much as to just have some cute pictures of our dog on her phone.
