Comments on: martin usborne – mute

By: Martin U

Martin U — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:44:25 +0000

Fisham and dah,
just saw these messages. Thanks for the note about Marcie Jan Bronstein’s book which I have just googled – yep, very similar subject matter but I am afraid it is a coincidence. I have never heard of or seen that book (genuinely!). I guess the idea of dog’s in cars is a relatively straightforward one but hopefully my execution of it is unique.

thanks

Martin

By: david alan harvey

david alan harvey — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:05:50 +0000

FISHAM..

it was certainly not my inspiration , but that of Mr. Usborne who submitted this work to Burn….i was not aware of the book by Marcie Jan Bronstein, but will now go search for it indeed…there are several quite well known dog books, but i just do not know Marcie or this book…we publish here based on a combination of works submitted and what we can find or folks tell us about…in any case, thanks for putting me on to the Bronstein book….if it warrants there is no reason why we cannot publish it here as well at some future point…

cheers, david

By: fisham

fisham — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:28:49 +0000

Just for general information, the book ‘I’ll wait in the Car, Dogs along for the ride’ by Marcie Jan Bronstein was published in 2008. I believe the photos were taken as she found the dogs in their natural settings.. parking lots etc. It is surely a coincidence that Mr. Harvey has discovered the same inspiration as Ms. Bronstein!

By: My World and More ..: Friday Good Reads (1/14/11)

My World and More ..: Friday Good Reads (1/14/11) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:55:21 +0000

[...] Good Reads (1/14/11) Photography:– Growing Up Palestinian in the Age of the Wall - MUTE: the Silence of Dogs in Cars - Contrast and Clarity - Patricia Lay-Dorsey lives with multiple sclerosis for [...]

By: Martin U

Martin U — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:01:04 +0000

Ha! I didn’t even realise comments were left on this site (realize – sp? – are we in the US?) until this cold London day after Christmas when I am wrapped up in a flu-ridden duvet and I decide to peruse the site. And here they all are! Well, I’m very flattered by all of the lovely things you say. My stuffy nose instantly feels better. You’ll probably not see my reply any more as the series is off topic now so I may as well fart into an empty elevator, but thank you, thank you. Yes, I am indeed trying to make it into a book – as we speak. But all the shots took time to set up, you see, mostly using three lights and tired dog-owner and a pack of ham/chewy things so the idea of doing another 40 or so suggests to me the best part of a year will be gone without much money coming in. Hmmmmm.

Have a lovely new year all. As you all know, London fails in the snow so I may not ever escape my home and end up as one of the dogs in my own series.

By: paultreacy.com

paultreacy.com — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:47:56 +0000

Dogs in cars from my archive going back 15 or more years. Riding in white Lincoln Town Car. Sad blue collar dog. Martin, would love to see your project fleshed out into a book. Good luck.

By: eloradaphne

eloradaphne — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 17:21:48 +0000

This is an absolutely fantastic essay – as has been said above just a bit short! But this means that more is on the way, right??
I especially loved Alfie – I am a cat person myself, but love dogs as well, and when I see them in cars, noses pressed against the window just waiting for their owners to get back, it just breaks my heart.
Well seen and well interpreted!

By: Charles Peterson

Charles Peterson — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 19:16:37 +0000

Fantastic! Yeah, now go for it! Maybe a bit more variety – like daytime, wider environment shots, and the puppy chewing the shit out of the dashboard! Or as my dog did once eating an entire flat of expensive pastries and cakes (so much for the “only popping in for five minutes should be fine” story).

By: emcd

emcd — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 16:04:35 +0000

Katia!

By: Thomas Bregulla

Thomas Bregulla — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:42:29 +0000

I like the idea, I like how you implemented it. Now … shoot many more of it.
And please make a book.

By: bob black

bob black — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:00:41 +0000

MONKEY POINT! :)))

god, i love this ‘monkeypoint’! :))))

by the way, a wonderful book for y’all:

http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s6543.html

By: katia roberts

katia roberts — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:31:40 +0000

monkeypoint–

i loved your comment! wish you’d write here more.

erica–

loved your dogs-in-car photo! too funny..

here’s my contribution and the only time i was ever glad to see a dog locked in a car:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/iamkatia/random/dog_s9.jpg?t=1292613764

haha.

By: michael kircher

michael kircher — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:30:29 +0000

“We created them to alert us to danger, to protect us, herd our livestock, track prey, kill rodents, warm our feet, amuse us, accessorize us.”

And some, Chihuahua’s for instance, we created for a nice tasty treat!

By: Lee Guthrie

Lee Guthrie — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:42:35 +0000

Exceptional work Martin. Yesterday at the post office there were two pit bulls left in the car with their windows partly down. Everyone was very aware of them! Barking and snarling at passerby’s. One man actually walked up and started to pet one to calm it and then thought he might need that hand for something later.

That photo would have introduced a different feeling into your essay of dogs that seem to be connecting on a higher emotional level as your dogs portray. LOL

Stunning shots. Did you light the interiors or just managed to find the perfect lighting situation?

By: monkeypoint

monkeypoint — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:59:25 +0000

There is a natural symbiosis between humans and dogs, but dogs are not closer to us than primates. We live our lives ruled by our existential fear and an awareness of our mortality. Dogs are governed by their limbic system. When we look at great apes, we see ourselves and we are often horrified, especially when they reach sexual maturity and become aggressive, violent, shit-flingers. When we look at dogs, we see what we would like to be. The dog’s main evolutionary adaptive trait is its ability to interpret our behavior. We are God. 15,000 years ago, we created DOG and have since genetically manipulated, modified, and tweaked according to whim and fancy. Elongated snouts became snubbed. Pointy ears flopped. Lateral eyes became frontal, large, round set in heads proportionally larger than the body. We created them to alert us to danger, to protect us, herd our livestock, track prey, kill rodents, warm our feet, amuse us, accessorize us. Modifications meant to accentuate one particular behavioral or physical trait are accompanied by a host of undesirable traits: asthma in dogs with scrunched up faces, cancer, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, short life spans, hip dysplasia, among others. And then, just like God, who allegedly created us in his image, we routinely betray our creation, breeding them like cattle, dumping them off in shelters. What kind of god selectively breeds a hairless dog? The genetic trait that creates this boutique brand is accompanied by bad teeth and skin cancer.

Oh! Martin: cool, cool photographs! I think number 8 is my favorite. It’s the sobering counterweight to the amusing Great Dane in the boot.

Someone said there are going to be a lot of photographers smacking their foreheads because they didn’t think of this. I would agree, had I not beaten everyone here on a similar project called Dogs Left Alone in Backyards For Excessive Farting Indoors.
God, I love this Burn thing.

By: paultreacy.com

paultreacy.com — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:43:25 +0000

I’d love to know what that dog is thinking. I’m sure dogs do think. Their expressions would certainly suggest so. That dog above has seared itself into my memory.

By: mark g

mark g — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:18:36 +0000

I didn’t expect to like this because doggy pics (like cat/kitten pics) are ubiquitous just about everywhere, and I really don’t possess that built-in that auto-’awwww!’ that so many emit when confronted with a cuddly animal or baby human. But this series is exceptional, as resonant as the best of Erwitt. What strikes me is the emotion in those faces. Also the quality and simplicity of the images: the tonal variations are gorgeous (I had to do a double-take with the first one, as I initially saw a monochrome dog with orange eyes: a third-rate special effect).

Martin’s writing is also perfect, concise and lucid. ‘… in a child’s mind it is possible to be alone forever.’ Very true; I was once left in a car and imagined my mother had been kidnapped [sic]. I recently saw a documentary on dogs that implied that (in some important ways) they are actually closer to us than primates. Looking through this excellent essay, I can believe it.

By: MH

MH — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:54:08 +0000

Love it!

It points our attention to such a simple element of our daily life, and is still telling a full length story.

Brilliant!

By: Jason_Houge

Jason_Houge — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 03:39:32 +0000

Frostfrog – that story – Love it!

My cat usually sits on my shoulder like a neck warmer when in the car.

By: Frostfrog

Frostfrog — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 03:04:31 +0000

Once, my son took our late cat Royce to a friend’s house so that Royce could visit his brother, Little Guy. He put Royce in a carrier but on the way home, Royce broke out. Royce was then all over the car and the driver, shrieking, clawing, trying to get out. So my son gunned it, came flying towards home at about 55 or 60 on a 35 mph road. A cop stopped him. The cop came to the door. My son rolled the window down, just a crack. The cop told my son to get out and come and sit in his car with him. My son told the cop he couldn’t. The cat flew to the crack and tried to get out. The cop told my son to roll the window down, so he could talk better. My son said he couldn’t. The cop told him to show him his driver’s. He couldn’t. The cop looked at the cat, told my son to get the cat the hell out of there and home. So my son did. No ticket. No warning.