International Dog Day: Photographers who bring the spirit of dogs to life

From playful strays to dogs simply navigating everyday city life, street photographers have found endless stories in the animals that share our urban spaces. Their photographs capture humour, movement, personality and unexpected connections between dogs and people, turning ordinary street moments into memorable images. (Unsplash)

Dimpy Bhalotia: Indian street photographer Dimpy Bhalotia has photographed street dogs across India, particularly in her Urban Animal series. Interestingly, she began the project partly to overcome her own fear of dogs. Her monochrome images capture dogs as spontaneous participants in the urban landscape rather than simply as animal portraits. (official instagram page)

Rohit Chawla: In his Rain Dogs series, Rohit Chawla photographed stray dogs during the 2021 lockdown, when Goa's beaches were largely deserted and the animals were left without the food they once found among tourists. Walking nearly 20 kilometres a day along Ashwem beach, Chawla found the dogs following him as they searched for food. The resulting photographs are quiet and introspective, using the monsoon landscape, empty beaches and vulnerable dogs to reflect the loneliness and uncertainty of the pandemic. (official instagram page)

Elliott Erwitt: Legendary photographer Elliott Erwitt made dogs one of his signature subjects, often photographing them with the same wit and observational eye he brought to human street life. His canine photographs find humour in unusual perspectives, poses and interactions, and dogs became the subject of several of his books. (official website)

Neenad Joseph Arul: Mumbai-based photographer Neenad Joseph Arul created Dog Story, a street-photography project centred on stray and pet dogs encountered across India, from Ladakh to Hampi and Mumbai. He found dogs ideal street subjects because they largely ignored the camera, allowing him to capture candid moments while documenting life around them. (neenadarul.wordpress.com)

Steve Hoskins: Animal photographer Steve Hoskins has a dedicated Street Dogs Project, photographing dogs in everyday outdoor settings. His images range from dogs on pavements and steps to encounters around marinas, showing how much personality can emerge when animals are observed naturally in their surroundings. (official website)

Tony Ray-Jones: British photographer Tony Ray-Jones was known for his sharp, often humorous observations of everyday British life. His street photography focused on spontaneous interactions and eccentric moments, making his approach an interesting reference for photographing dogs as unpredictable characters within public spaces. (wikimedia commons)