New Yorkers got an eyeful last fall when photographer William Wegman took to Madison Square Park with his famous Weimaraners dressed as people to shoot “Around the Park,” a 7-minute film that captures the dogs enjoying a fall day alongside their human counterparts.
“I wanted to capture how wonderfully nonchalant New Yorkers can be, no matter what’s in front of them,” Wegman told Time Out New York.
And what was in front of them was nothing short of spectacular: Weimaraner Bobbin “driving” a New York City sanitation cart. “A very skinny friend of mine,” Wegman jokes, hid behind the costumed dog and supplied the human hands. Another segment shows Weimaraner “taking orders” from behind that quintessentially New York eatery: the food cart.
Wegman says Bobbin, Penny and Candy aced their film roles. “They’re Pointer dogs, so it’s easy to get them to sit still for long periods of time,” he says. “I was worried about the squirrels in the park distracting them. But because the dogs would look over intently every few minutes, they ended up seeming much more active — and human.”
“Around the Park” screens daily Oct. 14 to Oct. 28, 2007, at Madison Square Park in New York.