John Drysdale's My Love Unleashed: A Dog's Gift of Comfort and Cheer

[First] on the continent of Africa and then throughout Europe, the dog delighted and seduced the merry photographic eye of John Drysdale. This African-born British photographer has been studying and photographing dogs – celebrating their rich personalities, venerating their intelligence and large-heartedness – for decades. His patience and playfulness, his endless capacity for joy and affection and humor, seem to mirror the spirit of the extraordinary dogs in his photographs. Luckily for us, seventy-two of Drysdale’s remarkable dog portraits are published together here – for the first time in the land of the first dog.

Throughout this book, and often in the same picture, tenderness and (dog) dignity rub shoulders with the comic and the quirky. And with the wondrous: The variety of interspecies friendships pictured reminds us that dogs have a special genius for togetherness. Enchanted and enchanting, fully living in the marvel of the moment, these dogs are friends to the world. They have been caught by Drysdale’s catlike camera while living their lives in full view of the world – living openly and busily and inquisitively, with an astonishing gift for adaptability, and with a manner uncritical and unfeigned. Each picture evokes the deep, abiding mysteries of dogdom and the enduring pleasures of mankind’s oldest and most constant friend. And in each unique Drysdale dog we can see all dogs as they share an unconditional kinship with the world, a secret understanding, which unleashes love and lasts forever.

–Margaret Regan

AF_SUM_04__P40_JOHNDRYSDALE_BULLDOG_ — Suzie the Bulldog’s puppies had recently been sold when someone bought three tiny gray squirrels to the farm where she lived, near Southam, England. Assuming they had been abandoned by their mother, the farmer undertook the laborious task of feeding the frail little squirrels with a syringe every two hours. He then successfully transferred nursing to Suzie, whose strong maternal instincts welcomed and protected them. As the squirrels recovered and began growing normally, they accepted the bulldog as their mother and seemed domesticated by her. Meanwhile, Suzie of the fearsome look and gentle nature was happy in her mothering role, and she was revivified – no longer forlorn over the loss of her puppies.

AF_SUM_04_P40_OHNDRYSDALE_JUMPBALL — In London, certain streets were once designated “play streets” and were closed to traffic. Though the goalposts in this play street were imaginary, the dog and a small group of boys were engrossed in a rousing football game, with the dog being treated as an equal player and acting as goalkeeper. He was such a skilled goalie that none of the boys were able to score.

John Drysdale’s is renown worldwide for his photography of the special and unusual bond between interspecies, often that of dogs with other God’s creatures, and for his photographs of children. His awards include prizes from British Press Pictures of the Year and from World Press Photo. He lives in England.

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