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Plato's Dogs
For over two years, photographer Thomas Roma mounted his camera on an 8 foot pole and projected it out and over the dogs at a dusty Brooklyn dog run in order to photograph their shadows.Plato's Dogsis simultaneously foreign and familiar in its depiction of its subjects. On one hand, the dogs look little like themselves in the pictures, distorted and featureless in their silhouettes. But on the other, they appear truer to their essential self, their primitive substance and oddly-given the misleading nature of the shadow in Plato's cave allegory-closer to their Platonic form. Looking through the pictures, one shadow wilder than the next, it's hard not to come to view the canines' shade as their spirit-an outward projection of how they see themselves for those precious hours when they're off the leash at the park, self-actualizing. (Notably, in their obscured rendering, their collars disappear.) Some resemble fearsome wolves, some stoic water buffalo, and some a new breed of creature altogether, but never a pet, never the animal that will later sleep at the foot of your bed.
144 pages, Hardcover
Published November 8, 2016
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May 17, 2017
This is a book of photographs of shadows cast by dogs playing on a mostly dirt-covered field in S. Brooklyn, preceded by an essay by the photographer's son, Giancarlo, which is pretty good (as essays in photography books go).
At first, I was bemused and somewhat bored looking at the photos of shadows - even if the distorted canine shadow shapes were amusing or interesting, and if the photos as exercises in composition and massing of light and shadow were successful, essentially minimalist photos, without the eye candy one expects in much of photography. There is usually only one "subject" in each photo- and that is a shadow of a dog, sometimes cast on a grassy corner of the field, but usually just cast on a portion that is worn down to dirt.
This is what I thought at first and I have to admit was a little disappointed, or wondered why the photographer might have thought such a project might have resulted in an interesting book of photographs or a book of interesting photos. However, these photos eventually grew on me - I can't exactly explain why. After looking at dozens of these photos, perhaps there's a bit of a hypnotic effect. There is an uncanny fascination with the level of verisimilitude in reproducing minute details of shadows in the dust - meaning, even shadows of pebbles or debris or patters of sneaker sole prints, after a while take on a life of their own. You find yourself looking forward to the next photo in a way, and maybe even regretting the end of the book or the photo series, maybe because the scene has become so familiar/comfortable. I think when images are stripped down to their bare essentials, and one topic only is being studied or photographed, then the viewer begins to pay attention to minute details, perhaps to glean meaning from the images. This is a much more "involving" experience of viewing a photograph than merely registering a recognizable or familiar scene, with many identifiable things in it, such as people, or dogs, or buildings. Imagine looking at 50 photos of shadows of dogs on a dirt or sometimes grassy surface, which is what this book is. As I wrote above, at first I was skeptical and found the book silly even. But about halfway through, I found myself hooked - inexplicably, given that the information conveyed in each print isn't conventionally "interesting" or actually is conveying much the same information in print after print (dog shadows). However, it's the variation and seeming infinite variety of texture, perhaps combined with the focus on pure composition or massing/placement of shapes, that makes these photos finally fascinating, or even, entrancing. The viewer has to give these photos a chance. I usually really like Thomas Roma's photographs, at least those in the Thomas Roma photography books I've obtained thus far (I don't think I've ever seen a Thomas Roma photography show although I can't be sure since I haven't kept track of all the photography shows I've been to in my life) - I thought initially this book was a "gimmick" sort of a silly excuse for a photo series. I really didn't take it seriously - or maybe the photographer was reaching for some sort of phony pseudo-"profundity" a Zen-like statement in photographing fleeting shadows cast on a field. However, there is really something about these photos that is indeed very compelling that sets in after you've looked at about 30 or so of the photos in a row. Maybe similar to variations on a theme you listen for in a fugue or toccata. Also - the penultimate photo is a wonderful surprise, a cool comment on the entire series, which I enjoyed. The frontispiece and final photos I am guessing are of the shadows of Anna, Thomas Roma's wife, and their pet standard poodle, Toni - a nice way to bookend the series, considering that the genesis of the project started when the family was looking for a good place to let Toni get some exercise and they discovered the dog run that eventually led to the dog shadow photograph project.
Some of the photos also contain images of the dogs that are casting the shadows - the juxtaposition of shadow, dog, and sometimes other shadows makes for surprising compositions. A viewer might say these are fun - they are actually photos taken from an overhead boom and so from an angle an ordinary person would never actually see. Anything extraneous is eliminated - there are no surroundings but the shadows on the dirt. The high res photos of the textured surface of the dog run with the shadows is eventually very interesting or absorbing. As I wrote above, it's probably the absence of extraneous or "usual" visual information that makes the viewer then concentrate on deriving some meaning or, the viewer finds herself interested in, the variations in texture - and that interest does eventually grow on you. In the end, this was a really unique project, because a person happening upon a dog run, would never get the same effect - since they wouldn't view the dog run from an overhead perspective; also, the photographer must have shot many photographs of shadows to edit the collection down to the ones contained in the book (as the intro explains), again this says something in itself about patience and process, what it means to be an artist.
This is a beautifully designed book - some of the photos bleed off the page, while others are contained within margins. The book has a great feel to it - with the linen/cloth textured cover somehow echoing the tactile quality of the photos - given that they are mainly of the textured surface of the dog run, some of which is shaded by a dog (that is usually "off-screen").
So far, I would say the book of subway scene photos is probably the most compelling Roma book of photos, but this book, is perhaps the most astonishing, since the greatly minimized subject matter - dog shadows - actually results in a highly fascinating book!
At first, I was bemused and somewhat bored looking at the photos of shadows - even if the distorted canine shadow shapes were amusing or interesting, and if the photos as exercises in composition and massing of light and shadow were successful, essentially minimalist photos, without the eye candy one expects in much of photography. There is usually only one "subject" in each photo- and that is a shadow of a dog, sometimes cast on a grassy corner of the field, but usually just cast on a portion that is worn down to dirt.
This is what I thought at first and I have to admit was a little disappointed, or wondered why the photographer might have thought such a project might have resulted in an interesting book of photographs or a book of interesting photos. However, these photos eventually grew on me - I can't exactly explain why. After looking at dozens of these photos, perhaps there's a bit of a hypnotic effect. There is an uncanny fascination with the level of verisimilitude in reproducing minute details of shadows in the dust - meaning, even shadows of pebbles or debris or patters of sneaker sole prints, after a while take on a life of their own. You find yourself looking forward to the next photo in a way, and maybe even regretting the end of the book or the photo series, maybe because the scene has become so familiar/comfortable. I think when images are stripped down to their bare essentials, and one topic only is being studied or photographed, then the viewer begins to pay attention to minute details, perhaps to glean meaning from the images. This is a much more "involving" experience of viewing a photograph than merely registering a recognizable or familiar scene, with many identifiable things in it, such as people, or dogs, or buildings. Imagine looking at 50 photos of shadows of dogs on a dirt or sometimes grassy surface, which is what this book is. As I wrote above, at first I was skeptical and found the book silly even. But about halfway through, I found myself hooked - inexplicably, given that the information conveyed in each print isn't conventionally "interesting" or actually is conveying much the same information in print after print (dog shadows). However, it's the variation and seeming infinite variety of texture, perhaps combined with the focus on pure composition or massing/placement of shapes, that makes these photos finally fascinating, or even, entrancing. The viewer has to give these photos a chance. I usually really like Thomas Roma's photographs, at least those in the Thomas Roma photography books I've obtained thus far (I don't think I've ever seen a Thomas Roma photography show although I can't be sure since I haven't kept track of all the photography shows I've been to in my life) - I thought initially this book was a "gimmick" sort of a silly excuse for a photo series. I really didn't take it seriously - or maybe the photographer was reaching for some sort of phony pseudo-"profundity" a Zen-like statement in photographing fleeting shadows cast on a field. However, there is really something about these photos that is indeed very compelling that sets in after you've looked at about 30 or so of the photos in a row. Maybe similar to variations on a theme you listen for in a fugue or toccata. Also - the penultimate photo is a wonderful surprise, a cool comment on the entire series, which I enjoyed. The frontispiece and final photos I am guessing are of the shadows of Anna, Thomas Roma's wife, and their pet standard poodle, Toni - a nice way to bookend the series, considering that the genesis of the project started when the family was looking for a good place to let Toni get some exercise and they discovered the dog run that eventually led to the dog shadow photograph project.
Some of the photos also contain images of the dogs that are casting the shadows - the juxtaposition of shadow, dog, and sometimes other shadows makes for surprising compositions. A viewer might say these are fun - they are actually photos taken from an overhead boom and so from an angle an ordinary person would never actually see. Anything extraneous is eliminated - there are no surroundings but the shadows on the dirt. The high res photos of the textured surface of the dog run with the shadows is eventually very interesting or absorbing. As I wrote above, it's probably the absence of extraneous or "usual" visual information that makes the viewer then concentrate on deriving some meaning or, the viewer finds herself interested in, the variations in texture - and that interest does eventually grow on you. In the end, this was a really unique project, because a person happening upon a dog run, would never get the same effect - since they wouldn't view the dog run from an overhead perspective; also, the photographer must have shot many photographs of shadows to edit the collection down to the ones contained in the book (as the intro explains), again this says something in itself about patience and process, what it means to be an artist.
This is a beautifully designed book - some of the photos bleed off the page, while others are contained within margins. The book has a great feel to it - with the linen/cloth textured cover somehow echoing the tactile quality of the photos - given that they are mainly of the textured surface of the dog run, some of which is shaded by a dog (that is usually "off-screen").
So far, I would say the book of subway scene photos is probably the most compelling Roma book of photos, but this book, is perhaps the most astonishing, since the greatly minimized subject matter - dog shadows - actually results in a highly fascinating book!
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