Photographer Travels the World Capturing Dogs in Their Ancestral Homeland

A photographer has spent ten years on his project Dogs of the World which sees him travel across the globe to capture dog breeds in their ancestral homeland.

Photographer Craig Turner-Bullock who is based in New Zealand has captured a French Bulldog in Paris, Italian Greyhounds in Venice, and an Alaskan Malamute in, well, Alaska.

All-in-all, Turner-Bullock has visited 20 countries and more than 50 cities documenting 60 breeds so far. He tells PetaPixel that in 2017 he photographed a pitbull in New York, a corgi in London, and a French Bulldog in Paris which formed the basis of the project.

“As far as I can tell, this approach to photographing dog breeds has not been done before, usually books about dog breeds feature two things: The dogs are photographed in a studio and they are stacked to show conformation of breed standards,” Turner-Bullock explains.

“In Dogs of the World, I’m not necessarily looking for perfect show standards of any given breed, I’m looking for real-life examples of the breeds in those places.

“It’s funny because I’ve noticed that actually, many of the breeds look quite different in their country of origin to the show standard dogs you see at shows around the world. It’s been a really interesting part of the process of finding these dogs.”

However, determining exactly which breeds come from where is a tricky and argued-about subject. For example, Turner-Bullock photographed a corgi in London even though it is a Welsh working breed.

“But it is so strongly tied to London because of its connection to Queen Elizabeth II and Buckingham Palace, it just seemed right that I photographed them in the city,” adds the photographer.

“There was certainly a debate with myself about how close to their place of origin I would photograph them and how much creative license I could use.

“In the case of dogs like the Australian Shepherd, which was created and first recognised in the USA, they got their name after some of the collies used in their creation were imported from Australia. I photographed them in Australia seeing as that was their namesake country.”

Regardless, Turner-Bolock says he discovered that each breed has a fascinating history. Adding that in “virtually every civilisation and culture” dogs have aided humans and made their lives better in some way.

Publishing the Project

Turner-Bullock is planning to publish Dogs of the World via a Kickstarter campaign. He previously had three books published by Penguin Random House in New Zealand but decided to go down the self-publishing route.

The book will feature what he calls “Dogoramas”, a panoramic image of dogs in their ancestral land.

“It is the kind of image clients specifically come to me for now and it is a style of shot that has become so important in the making of the book to showcase dogs in the landscapes, while still making them the true hero,” adds Turner-Bullock.

The Kickstarter campaign can be seen here. For more of Turner-Bullock’s work, head to his website and Instagram.

Image credits: Photographs by Craig Turner-Bullock