Even if you don’t know him by name, chances are that you’re familiar with photographer Vincent J. Musi’s incredible work. For over 20 years, Musi traveled the world photographing a variety of subjects for National Geographic (and made the cover 12 times), cultivating a specialty in animal photography along the way.
Nearly two years ago, Musi ended his travels to spend time with his wife and son at home in South Carolina. He opened The Unleashed Studio, focusing on fine-art portraits of dogs using the same lighting and photography techniques that he picked up during his career.
Aside from his popular Instagram account, Musi’s photographs, coupled with clever and captivating “dogographies,” can be found in his latest book, The Year of the Dogs, now available wherever books are sold. We recently interviewed Musi to find out more about the project and get some of his top photography and storytelling tips.
I did not grow up with any substantial wealth, nor was I exposed to travel as a child. Photography was a way to see the world, meet people, and get paid to do it.
Yes, there was always a dog around our home. My brother lived next door and he always took in injured squirrels, unwanted birds and kept a dog or two as well.
I didn’t plan on it, it just happened. I do enjoy photographing the common more than the exotic, but do it in such a way that it hasn’t been considered. I see dogs, like many animals, as mysterious and majestic, full of personality and character. That’s behind every photograph.
I think the relationship between humans and dogs–going back to the beginning of domestication–is a great and complex story that just keeps evolving. It tends to be very personal and hard to express for some folks, and I kind of take license to explore that territory in a way that is sincere but also takes some liberties with reality.
It was, it isn’t anymore, but a friend of a friend of a friend offered it and I took them up on it. For the last 2 years, we’ve been in a huge, old Sears warehouse from the 1940’s. We are looking to relocate again, as the building has been leased to a distillery.
There are 100 or so in the book, more that didn’t make it, and we are still working at present. The farthest was Los Angeles, I think—around 2,500 miles. We’ve also had dogs come from as far as Canada, the Mexican border, and Illinois.
They are all difficult, honestly. I can say that dogs are not easy for me. The challenges are different, but there is a commonality in that you can never really make an animal do what you want them to do just because you want them to do it.
My son and wife pressured me to do more than just show the photograph. I said, “Nobody cares about other people’s dogs,” but I was wrong about that. The stories are really a response to the dog and their backstory mixed with some observation from the photo session and perhaps a memory from my past, like mood rings, boyhood crushes or failed wiffle ball games.
It was a leap of faith, really, but I don’t know where it came from then or where it does now. I look at these photographs and they trigger some emotion that comes spilling out of my subconscious.
Every day I get to work with my wife, son, and some of the nicest dogs and people. I don’t have to ask for permission or get on a plane to do it, and I get to make people happy by doing this. They laugh or cry or connect in a way that is very humbling to me. It’s become a responsibility in way, as I know people are counting on this to show up in their feed.
In the TEDx talk, I was speaking of cognition, a subject I covered extensively at National Geographic. The relationship between humans and dogs is pretty rich territory for a lot of different interpretations and directions. I’m not really doing journalism here, so I can have more fun exploring this stuff and taking a more fantastical approach. It’s far more fun.
How personal it has become. I’m actually kind of an introvert, but I share my family, life, and other people’s dogs with 350K people on Instagram, and when I post on National Geographic’s Instagram account, I’m reaching 120 million people.
It’s worth noting that these people share their lives and dogs back with me. This is wonderful. I get hundreds of emails, messages and comments every day and I read and answer each of them in some way.
My goal initially was to keep my house and not have to travel so that I could spend time with my son and family. So far, so good!
I need some tips myself, I’m terrible with an iPhone! I would say that dogs spend most of their time looking up at us. I’m always at their eye level when I work. As for stories, most of the ones that I read maybe go too far in cute and not enough in grit and hardship and reality. I think those are valuable components to the work.
Another person is the most valuable thing you can have. I could not do what I do without my wife. After that, a suitable background and decent light. I would never suggest anyone do what I do with lights and a studio or you’ll go crazy.
You are very kind. I’m motivated by a love and respect for the craft of storytelling. I also have a kid who wants to go to a nice college, and I’m motivated by that too!
Feature image credit: © Vincent J. Musi / The Year of the Dogs