Marcel Winatschek

Dogs At Night

Nathan Whipple takes pictures of dogs at night. The premise of Doggies At Night is simple enough: point a camera in the dark and catch whatever expression lands. It’s always confused, always stupid.

In daylight, dogs have a kind of performance running. They’re alert, or at least they’re busy enough to seem intentional. But in the dark, in a flash, you just get the animal—blank and unrehearsed, the face they wear when they’ve forgotten why they’re in the room. Whipple documents that face over and over.

There’s something honest about it. Photography with no flattery. The dog doesn’t come across as cute or clever, just dumb and caught off-guard. For some reason, that simplicity works. The whole thing is pointless in the best way—no statement, no concept, just a record of dogs being themselves, which apparently means not thinking about anything.