Childhood friends Robson-Scott and Grove are releasing a book published and designed by Victory Edition entitled “In Dogs We Trust,” a play on the traditional “In God We Trust.” The play on the “In God We Trust” quote was to show the comparisons that could be made between how people often become reliant on their dogs, their company, and their companionship, much like people confide and rely on their respective religions.
“We started out just really wanting to do an almost survey of modern-day dog ownership,” Robson-Scott said in an interview to CNN. “And trying to show the widest spectrum possible — from the average Joes on the street to CEOs to entertainers.”
“We worked on the project for about five or six years, so it’s good to have fresh eyes on it,” Robson-Scott said. “Also, when you put it in a book format you want things to read well together.”
With both Robson-Scott being based in New York and Grove in London, they were able to take a lot more photos and cover a lot more ground than usual and enhance their observations. It allowed them to really build a lot more diversity in the project and it also allowed them to notice trends such as where French Bulldogs are most popular, and where Pitbulls seem to be a popular breed- and amongst what demographics.
“I would say there’s this wave of pit bull dog breeders on the West Coast of America, specifically Los Angeles,” Robson-Scott said. “There’s a direct correlation for how (the pit bull owners) build their lowrider cars up. They want to make (their dogs) as big and bulky and low to the ground as possible, exactly like their lowrider cars.”
Robson-Scott explains that the reason he believes a lot of people were interested in participating was because the photos were with their dog:
“A lot of people would open their doors to you who wouldn’t necessarily want their photograph taken — celebrities or people of importance,” Robson-Scott said. “There’s a sense of pride as well. It’s almost like a family photograph. … Including the dog, it opens people up.”
The goal of the project when taking the photos was to create a sense of comfort and ease, and to help both dog and human feel safe and at ease.
When speaking to if dogs look like their owners, Robson-Scott states:
“I’m not a big subscriber to the idea that dogs look like their owners, but they definitely follow their traits. You can see people’s personalities rub off on their pets,” Robson-Scott said. “It’s not really bad dogs, it’s bad owners who breed bad traits in their dogs. Each dog is an individual, is a person, but really the way they act is bound to how they’ve been brought up and trained by their owners.”
“It’s a little labor of love as well,” Robson-Scott said.
For more about the photographers, their project, and their work, you can take a look here:
Will Robson-Scott Ollie Grove .
You can follow Robson-Scott on his Instagram and Tumblr.
You can follow Grove on his Instagram and Tumblr.
Source: CNN
