Monday 9/13/10

Valerie Shaff

Artist Bio

Valerie Shaff was given her first camera when she was seven years old. Photography has since become her career. Her work has appeared in many popular publications such as the New Yorker, Paper, Good Housekeeping, and Martha Sterwart Living. Valerie is best known for her sepia toned portraits of dogs. Her 1998 collaboration with Roy Blount, Jr., If Only You Knew How Much I Smell You/True Portraits of Dogs was such a success that more have followed of puppies, barn yard animals and now, cats.

She is equally skilled at capturing the essence of other animals, places and people, too. Her work of Silent Pioneers - 13 Portraits of Gay Activists appeared in Out magazine. She describes herself as having a "romantic vision" and says she seeks "truth in both subjects and beauty." Her commercial clients include the Gap, Ralph Lauren, Vintage Press and Atlantic Records. She is the recipient of a Polaroid Corporation grant and her work is in the corporate collections of Polaroid and Colgate Palmolive.

"canine measure somewhere between ordered and free."
Blount Jr., Roy. I Am Puppy, Hear Me Yap. HarperCollins Publishers. New York, 2000.

"... people still keep dogs and cherish them, pet photographers run thriving businesses..., producing portraits which take their place within family iconography... In her (Shaff) remarkable series of studio portraits, we can glimpse the dedication of their owners..."
Williams, Val. New Natural History. National Museum of Photography, Film and Television. Bradford, England, 1999.

Editorial Reviews of : If Only You Knew How Much I Smell You: True Portraits of Dogs

Amazon.com Review:

Who hasn't put words into their mutt's mouth? From "yes, the chicken-flavored treats are my favorite," to "no, I'm not quite ready for my bath," all dog devotees are guilty as charged--although not all do it in such a hilarious and endearing manner as writer Roy Blount Jr. and photographer Valerie Shaff in If Only You Knew How Much I Smell You: True Portraits of Dogs. Blount, humorist and author of Be Sweet, brings us closer to "understanding the 'inner dog'" through his use of Doggerel, a uniquely Blount brand of verse with the "canine measure somewhere between ordered and free." The effect of this puppy poetry--when paired with Shaff's truly remarkable duotone photographs of mixed and pure breeds--is comic genius. A Boxer coyly stares into the camera wondering, "What does that mean, 'expensive shoe'? / I ate it because it smelled like you," while a chubby-tummied bulldog declares "Good stick. / Got a good stick. / A real / good / Stick. / Getting all the good / Out of this good / Stick / That's in / This / good / Stick." You'll never be able to resist this entertaining and affectionate look at our canine friends as "they ponder the confusions, certainties, pangs, and pleasures of a dog's life."

Review:

Man's best friend, but what exactly goes through a dog's mind when he looks at us? Photographer Valerie Shaff and American humourist Roy Blount Jr. have joined forces to produce a book every dog lover should have. From the pertinent to the poignant, the farcical to the fancy, terriers, hounds and everything in-between are impeccably captured on film and in word. In play or portrait, Shaff's snapshots capture the marvellous range of looks that can cross our canine friend's faces while Blount succinctly encapsulates the dogs mind from simple two liners to longer verse. A must for all dog fans, with humorous and in some cases hilarious slants on their emotions as seen by humans. And anyway, who can resist that longing look emanating from the book jacket? - Lucy Watson

Carrie Haddad Gallery

http://www.valerieshaff.com/