Road Dog

This photograph, "Road Dog," was taken by Maude Schuyler Clay. I really love the subtle but effective contrast. Everything seems gray and white, except for the black spots on the dog's coat. The gray that contrasts with the dog's coat really emphasizes the barrenness and loneliness of the already barren landscape. In essence, the landscape is not a tool for insights about the dog, but vice versa. Something I found interesting is that originally, Clay shot pictures solely of the Mississippi Delta, called "Delta Land," but then incorporated dogs into a later exhibit of more pictures; the set of photographs is called "Delta Dogs." The focus is also effective in adding to the description of the landscape. The dog is crisp in focus, and the background is all blurred together, creating a larger insight into the feeling of the area, like nothing is really there (one car on the road) or that it is all the same. If the background had been clear, the photograph would not have elicited the same emotions, such as emptiness, in the viewer.