The acclaimed Norwegian photographer Per Maning (b. 1943) captured images of his faithful friend Leo every day for three years. Read more about the Norwegian photographer and his dog.
Per Maning‘s career as a photographer began with his labrador retriever Leo, which he photographed every day for three years and led him to leave the advertising industry in the 1980s to be a full-time photographer.
With the knowledge that Leo was unwell within his senior years and who was in declining health, Manning decided to take a photograph of Leo every day over a three year period, capturing his wonderful spirit and loyal character. The images of the last years of Leo’s life were never sentimental and often startling. The images did not document the dog’s physical decline, but revealed the dog’s identity, energy, and spirit. At the same time, it reflected the growth of Maning’s own self-awareness as a photographer.
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Maning is best known for his animal photographs and films. In an interview several years ago, he said that he has always been very interested in animals, but that it is easy to dwell on the subject artistically. He was looking for transitions to humans. “Through studying the animals, I feel that I have gained greater insight into our lives,” he said.
In 1988, Per Maning began making regular trips to an aquarium on the west coast of Denmark to photograph a group of seals as a part of a larger project.
The images of Leo, however, reminds us all of our lives living with our own dogs, how they are so much part of our world and a big part of our family life. Maning has a knack for depicting the ‘human’ qualities the we recognize in animals, steering us to the realization that we only label these qualities as ‘human’ because of their familiarity.
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In recent years, Maning switched from analogue to digital photography. The digital technology allows him to move in a completely different way, he claims. “I’ve always been concerned with black, make it really black. With the first analogue images of Leo, it couldn’t be black enough,” he adds.
A Norwegian Photographer and His Dog, written by Tor Kjolberg
All images © Per Maning