Here, doggy doggy!

I thought I'd show one that has something in it that most of mine don't have - animals and people. OK, so it's only the sole of a foot, but that's people as far as I'm concerned, and the dog is definately an animal. I tend to avoid showing images containing sentient beings.

I think I have a reason: I don't like having to tell people what to do, so I don't really do portraits unless they're informal and I can take them while chatting. I'm good at chatting. And I can't do street photography - I don't like having my photograph taken by strangers so why should anyone else? I admire people who can do it, though, unless they're paparazzi, who I have no time for at all.

And while i take a lot of photographs of animals while i'm wandering about, they're usually more of a snap because it's a cute dog/horse/pig rather than with any thoughts towards a structured photograph.

Lately though, I've found myself including bits of dogs, the odd limb, the occasional pigeon in the love landscape images, and there are one or two that even have people in the background, though it's all very deliberate and they're there as a compositional element or because they wouldn't get out of the damn way! I think I'm growing in confidence. I'll be shouting celebrity names and poking cameras in through car windows next.

This was on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Very nice, and a mass of hearts in the centre where crowds of tourists stop to take pictures of the view. This dog looked particularly pissed off with the crowds, and fitted my mood at the time of shooting. Also, I wanted some pavement, and this was about as clear as it got!