My New Book of San Francisco Dog Photography
October 22, 2019
Introducing Canines of S.F
Longtime Bay Area Pet Photographer Mark Rogers announces the launch of his coffee table book of San Francisco Dog Photography
It’s official! My book Canines of San Francisco --published by Weldon-Owen on it's Bluestreak imprint--hit the shelves (real and virtual) today. I hope you find it to be the quintessential collection of San Francisco dog photographs that I set out to create. They say doing a book is a labor of love and whoever they are is 100% correct, possibly 110%! I spent the first 4 1/2 months of 2019 shooting almost exclusively for this project which in the end constituted 500 photos of almost nearly 300 SF Bay Area dogs photographed all over this canine-crazy city by the bay I’ve called home for more than 20 years.
Writing the Book
In a real sense I’ve been working on this book for a decade and building up to it. About 10 years ago I began photographing Bay Area rescue dogs for promotional posters displayed in Pet Food Express, a local pet supply chain here in Northern California. I wanted to give the posters a sense of location and place but make sure the animals remained the heroes so I started playing around a lot with subject and background scale using a lot of the monuments and iconic locations around the city.
I’ve tried to bring that same sensibility to the images in the book along with more intimate portraits that focus on some of the amazing canine personalities I encountered along the way.
The book is organized around dog photographs grouped by San Francisco location categories such as landmarks, neighborhoods, beaches and parks. I made an effort to give it appeal to locals and non-locals alike so there are a mix of well-known spots along with real hidden gems that only San Franciscans will know. Here are some examples of images you’ll see in its pages.
Landmarks
No book of San Francisco dog photographs is complete without images of pups in front of iconic locations like the Golden Gate Bridge but I also wanted to included newer ones like SalesForce Tower, which now dominates the San Francisco Skyline. The trick with
Lulu wondered how on earth I'd get her to seem bigger than the Golden Gate Bridge. I told her to leave it to a professional dog photographer
Abby the Brussels Griffon wasn't nearly as impressed with SalesForce Tower as most folks
Neighborhoods
It’s said San Francisco is a city of neighborhoods and that’s very true. Each one has a distinct vibe and along with hidden gems that only locals know about. I made it my mission to include lots of both.
Harold the Chinese Crested seemed an appropriate dog model to use for Chinatown
Beaches
Swimming in the waters off San Francisco is not for the faint of heart. Dogs
Parks
From the Golden Gate park to tiny little patches of green between houses, San Franicisco is loaded with parks for humans and dogs alike.
The book is available at bookstores all over San Francisco as well as online through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and the Weldon-Owen website. As I mention in the books intro and acknowledgements it was truly a group effort and I thank the countless friends, family and the many dog-loving folks and their furry models who showed up for me at all hours across San Francisco to make it happen.