Where to Next for Resident Dog?

For Nicole, photographing Resident Dog taught her about “the spontaneity required to work with the dogs”, she says. “Even though each shot was set up, we still had to be quite quick. Architectural photography is not normally very spontaneous, I can easily spend half an hour to set up the shot, then there’s the waiting for the right light and shadow. With Resident Dog, I didn’t have that luxury!”.

“Receiving messages from people all around the world, it’s been incredible”.

While she quickly learnt the value of peanut butter in convincing a dog to stand in one spot, Nicole focused on shooting as she normally would. “The shoot was definitely directed by the dogs”, she reminisces. “If the dog was lying in a favourite sunny spot, that’s where we shot”. The result of this approach is the beautiful composition and focus of Nicole’s professional architectural photography combined with the element of the unexpected introduced by the dog, in many cases the antics of a dog transforming an otherwise-ordinary shot into something special. “In the editing process for the images, I always chose the random image with that unpredictability”, Nicole says.

Now that the book has been released, with a reprint released in February, the question of the project’s future arises. A project that will surely never lose its joy, Nicole has continued photographing ‘resident dogs’ in their home and publishing the images on the Resident Dog blog and Instagram account. She remains unsure about the possibility of a second Resident Dog book, although, where the first book focuses exclusively on Australia, she says she is tempted by the possibility of a second volume capturing dogs all around the world. Another option is to shift from the residential to the studio, photographing art and design studios and their dogs.

While the precise form may yet to be determined, Nicole is clear that Resident Dog will continue – great news for dog and design lovers alike.